Boerhavia
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Authority
Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.
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Family
Nyctaginaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - Slender herbs with forking stems and branches, opposite leaves, and small minutely bracted flowers on jointed pedicels. Calyx campanulate to funnelform, its limb 5-lobed. Stamens 1-5, exserted, the slender filaments united at the base. Ovary oblique; style filiform; stigma peltate. Fruit obovoid or elavate, 5-angled or 5-ribbed. [In honor of Hermann Boerhaave, 1668-1738, a celebrated Dutch scientist.] About 50 species, natives of warm and tropical regions. Type species: Boerhaavea diffusa L.