Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Boerhavia erecta
hierba blanca, pata de paloma, golondrina, erect spiderling
Annual herb, branches usually puberulent on lower parts; with brownish, viscous bands on each internode and ovate or elliptic leaves. Flowers in cymes, white or pink (Wiggins and Porter, 1971).
Abundant in many neotropical regions (Wiggins and Porter, 1971).
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Magnoliophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida (= Dicotyledoneae)
Order
Caryophyllales
Family
Nyctaginaceae
Genus
Boerhavia
Species
erecta
Taxon category: Accepted
Syn.: Boerhavia discolor Kunth; D'Arcy (1987) as Boerhavia elongata Salisb. In Andersson (1855) Robinson (1902), Stewart (1911) et al as Boerhavia paniculata Rich., fide Wiggins & Porter (1971). In Hooker (1847) as Boerhaavia decumbens fide Wiggins & Porter (1971).
Origin: Native
Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.
Distribution: The native range of this species is Tropical & Subtropical America (POWO, 2023).
- Wiggins, I.L. Porter, D.M. (1971) Flora of the Galapagos Islands Standford University Press, Stanford.
- Van der Werff, H.H. (s.a.) Pers. obs. and colls. Personal observations and collections.
- Abbott, I. Abbott, L.K. (1973) New distribution records of 65 plant species within the Galapagos Archipelago. Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS), unpublished.
- Jørgensen, P.M. León-Yánez, S. (eds.) (1999) Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Ecuador. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 75. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, 1181 pp.
- Hooker, J.D. (1847) An Enumeration of the Plants of the Galapagos Archipelago; with descriptions of those which are new. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 20: 163-233.
- Tropicos.org. (2017) Database of Missouri Botanical Garden. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 06 Oct 2017 <http://www.tropicos.org
- D'Arcy, W.G. (1987) Flora of Panama. Checklist and Index. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 17(1): i–xxx, 1–328; 18(2): i–ix, 1–672.
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Missouri Botanical Garden (eds.) (2013) The Plant List, Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/ (accessed 1st January).
- Andersson, N.J. (1855) Om Galápagos Öarnes Vegetation. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps Akademien Handl., Stockholm: 61-256.
- Robinson, B.L. (1902) Flora of the Galapagos Islands. Papers from the Hopkins-Stanford Expedition to the Galapgaos Islands. Proc. Amer. Acad. 38(4): 78-270.
- Stewart, A. (1911) A botanical survey of the Galápagos Islands. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 4th Series, 1: 7-288.
- Svenson, H.K. (1935) Plants of the Astor Expedition, 1930 (Galapagos and Cocos Islands). Am. J. Bot. 22: 208-277.
- Itow, S. (1997) List of Plant Specimens collected in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Bulletin of the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Nagasaki University, Natural Science, 38 (1): 53-144.
- Eliasson, U. (1966) Studies in Galápagos Plants. III. Centrospermae. Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift 60: 393-439.
- Andersson, N.J. (1858) Flora of the Galápagos Islands (translated from Swedish). Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Academien Botanik 1: 3-34
- Andersson, N.J. (1861-1862) Ueber Die Vegetation der Galapagos-Inseln Linnaea 31: 571-631
- Heleno, R. Blake, S., Jaramillo, P., Traveset, A., Vargas, P. & Nogales, M. (2011) Frugivory and seed dispersal in the Galápagos: what is the state of the art? Integrative Zoology 6: 110-128.
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2022) Plants of the world online POWO (2022): Plants of the world online. Published on the Internet; Https://powo.science.kew.org/
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Boerhavia erecta", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=635. Accessed 9 June 2025.