Boerhavia rubicunda Steud.
حدمدان، حدمدام، شجار، كشة الراعي
For people
- Eaten by people
- Unknown
- Toxic to people
- Unknown
For livestock
- Grazed by livestock
- Limited fodder
- Toxic to livestock
- Unknown
Edibility and safety notes
The field guide says sheep graze this plant and that its seeds are eaten, but no second reliable source confirming human food use, or describing how the seeds are prepared, could be found, so it should not be treated as a confirmed edible plant. The vegetable and medicinal uses previously shown on the site belong to a different species, Boerhavia diffusa. No reliable information on toxicity to people or livestock was found.
This guide is a hobby project, not expert advice. Never eat a wild plant, or feed it to animals, on the strength of this page alone. Read the disclaimer
Description
A perennial herb up to 50 cm tall with spreading, downy stems that are woody at the base. Leaves simple, opposite, sessile or with a short petiole up to 6 mm long, lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate or ovate-oblong. The flowering branches are slender in the upper part, hairless and repeatedly forked. Flowers small, about 2 mm long, gathered in near-head-like clusters on very slender stalks 2-3 mm long; perianth simple, bell-shaped, pink, five-lobed. Stamens 3, not protruding. Fruit an oblong achene about 3 mm long, widening gradually towards the rounded tip, five-ribbed and downy in the furrows. Flowers November to December.
Habitat
Dry rocky places.
Distribution
Africa (Chad and Niger east to Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya), the Arabian Peninsula including Oman, Iran, Pakistan and north-west India.
Pastoral value
Grazed by sheep. The field guide also states that the seeds are eaten.
Other uses
No uses specific to this species could be verified. The medicinal uses and the use of leaves as a vegetable often quoted for 'Boerhavia' refer to the related species Boerhavia diffusa.
Sources
- الدليل الحقلي المصور للنباتات البرية في سلطنة عُمان (BOOK.pdf p.144)
- GBIF backbone — Boerhavia rubicunda Steud. (synonym of Boerhavia elegans) — api.gbif.org
- GBIF — Boerhavia elegans distribution (WCVP) — api.gbif.org
- IPNI — Boerhavia elegans Choisy — ipni.org
- eFlora of India — Boerhavia elegans subsp. stenophylla (synonymy, Oman records) — efloraofindia.com
- Wikipedia — Boerhavia elegans — en.wikipedia.org
