Boerhavia helenaeSchult.

WFO wfo-0000567975 Accepted WFO 2026-06 4 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–d · 1 observation

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 1 time, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Boerhavia helenae, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. a Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-08-20 / obs. 91772206
Boerhavia helenae, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. b Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 91772230
Boerhavia helenae, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. c Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 91772245
Boerhavia helenae, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. d Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 91772174

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 42 botanical countries

Regions where Boerhavia helenae is native: Algeria, Angola, Ascension, Azores, Botswana, Burkina, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madeira, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Senegal, Socotra, Somalia, St.Helena, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Western Sahara, Gulf States, Iran, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Yemen, India, Pakistan AlgeriaAngolaBotswanaBurkinaCentral African RepublicChadDjiboutiDR CongoEgyptEritreaEthiopiaKenyaLibyaMaliMauritaniaMoroccoNamibiaNigerNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaWestern SaharaGulf StatesIranOmanPalestineSaudi ArabiaSinaiYemenIndiaPakistan AscensionAzoresCanary Is.Cape VerdeMadeiraSt.Helena
Native distribution of Boerhavia helenae, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Angola ANG
Ascension ASC
Azores AZO
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Canary Is. CNY
Cape Verde CVI
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Djibouti DJI
DR Congo ZAI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Kenya KEN
Libya LBY
Madeira MDR
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Morocco MOR
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Socotra SOC
Somalia SOM
St.Helena STH
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Western Sahara WSA
Gulf States GST ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iran IRN
Oman OMA
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Sinai SIN
Yemen YEM
India IND ASIA-TROPICAL
Pakistan PAK

Not drawn on the map: Socotra. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 50 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 6.7 °C 12.5 °C 19.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 24.0 °C 32.2 °C 37.7 °C
Annual rainfall 21 mm 394 mm 636 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 0 mm 5 mm 71 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 50 research-grade observations of Boerhavia helenae that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 4 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Boerhavia stellata Wight
  • Commicarpus helenae (Schult.) Meikle
  • Commicarpus helenae var. barbatus Meikle
  • Commicarpus stellatus (Wight) Berhaut

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.