• Family : NYCTAGINACEAE
  (Four-O'clock Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : BOOGANBEL FAMILY (बूगनबेल फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : NYCTAGINACEAE
• Synonym(s) : Boerhavia repens var. diffusa (L.) Hook.f.; Boerhavia repens var. repens L.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Boerhavia diffusa L.
• Common name : Common Hogweed, Spreading Hogweed, Pigweed, Gorgon, Prickly Water Lily, Hogweed, Pigweed
• Vernacular name : Beshakapore, Gadhaparna, Pathar chetaka, Santh (Hindi); Punarnava, Adakaputtana gida (Kannada); Mookkaratti, Saarai (Tamil); Punarnava (Sanskrit); Punarnava (Marathi); Thamizhama, Thavizhama, Thazhuthama, Thumizhama, Tharana (Malayalam); Karkaria, Parni, Kechna, Atikapudi sag, Guodapuruni (Oria); Rakta punarnava, Atakamamidi (Telugu)
• Habit : Herb
• Comments / notes : Often on hills to 1000m. Common on the wayside, wasteland and even on poor soil. A low altitude replacement of Boerhavia chinensis (L.) Asch. & Schweinf.
• Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
• Distribution :
  • Karnataka : Mysuru district, Dakshina Kannada district, Udupi district
  • Maharashtra : Akola district
• World Distribution : Pantropical, Australia
• Conservation Status : Least Concern (LC)
• Literature : J.L.Ellis, 1990- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 2; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 3; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Boerhavia diffusa. Downloaded on 3 July 2025.

Botanical Description

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