Shweta / Erect Spiderling
Boerhavia erecta
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu & more
- Flowering
- Throughout the year
How to identify Shweta
Identify Shweta by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Upright growth habit.
- Confirm flower colour: White.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: Throughout the year.
- In India, compare location records such as Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Nyctaginaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Shweta.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Boerhavia erecta
- Genus
- Boerhavia
- Family
- Nyctaginaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Habitat
- Deciduous forests and wasteland
- Distribution
- Pantropical weed
- Found in India
- Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Uttarakhand, West Bengal
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Whiterecorded
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Cyme
- Fruit
- Achene
Characters marked “recorded” are for Shweta itself; the rest are typical of the Nyctaginaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- श्वेता shweta
- Telugu
- అడవి మామెన, అటకమామిడి
About Shweta
A member of the Nyctaginaceae family, Erect Spiderling (Boerhavia erecta) is a herb. In India it has been recorded in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and 9 other states. It grows in deciduous forests and wasteland. It flowers and fruits through much of the year.
Uses
In practice it is grown for parts that are eaten and long used in traditional medicine. Those medicinal uses are traditional attributions, not medical advice.
Nyctaginaceae
Four-O'clock Family
Shweta belongs to the Nyctaginaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Nyctaginaceae familySnap it. Know it.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
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