Spreading Spiderling
Boerhavia diffusa
Found in longleaf pine sandhills, vacant lots, road shoulders, other dry disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 76%
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to moist
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual or perennial
- Bloom
- January to December
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Leaves
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 55 Florida counties.
Habitats
Sandhills; roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Who uses this plant?
7CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Boerhavia
- Archirhoe neomexicanaNew Mexico Carpet
- Disclisioprocta stellataSomber Carpet, Bougainvillea Looper
- Euptoieta claudiaVariegated Fritillary, (?)Gulf Fritillary
- Hyles lineataWhite-Lined Sphinx
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Spoladea recurvalisHawaiian Beet Webworm
- Megalorhipida leucodactylus
1BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Boerhavia
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Boerhavia
- Callipepla gambeliiGambel's Quail
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Nyctaginaceae
- Flower color
- Red or purple
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “January to December” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Red or purple” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Annual or perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Dry; Moist (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Conservation status
| Florida rank | S5 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: South Central (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Florida (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications