Aerva javanica(Burm.f.) Juss. ex Schult.

Java aerva

WFO wfo-0000521761 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Aerva javanica, photographed by P Jeganathan
fig. a P Jeganathan, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-05-20 / obs. 144855875
Aerva javanica, photographed by Kym Nicolson
fig. b Kym Nicolson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 115162054
Aerva javanica, photographed by T. Hammer
fig. c T. Hammer, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 71562486
Aerva javanica, photographed by Jacky Judas
fig. d Jacky Judas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 64196570
Aerva javanica, photographed by P Jeganathan
fig. e P Jeganathan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 70398201
Aerva javanica, photographed by Kym Nicolson
fig. f Kym Nicolson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 76020889
Aerva javanica, photographed by Kym Nicolson
fig. g Kym Nicolson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 75283304
Aerva javanica, photographed by desertnaturalist
fig. h desertnaturalist, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 44863176

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 41 botanical countries

Regions where Aerva javanica is native: Algeria, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Western Sahara, Afghanistan, Gulf States, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Yemen, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka AlgeriaBotswanaBurkinaCameroonChadDjiboutiEgyptEritreaEthiopiaKenyaLibyaMadagascarMalawiMaliMauritaniaMoroccoMozambiqueNigerNigeriaSenegalSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaWestern SaharaAfghanistanGulf StatesIranIraqLebanon-SyriaOmanPalestineSaudi ArabiaSinaiYemenIndiaMyanmarPakistanSri Lanka Cape Verde
Native distribution of Aerva javanica, 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
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Cameroon CMN
Cape Verde CVI
Chad CHA
Djibouti DJI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Kenya KEN
Libya LBY
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Morocco MOR
Mozambique MOZ
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Senegal SEN
Socotra SOC
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Western Sahara WSA
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Gulf States GST
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Oman OMA
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Sinai SIN
Yemen YEM
India IND ASIA-TROPICAL
Myanmar MYA
Pakistan PAK
Sri Lanka SRL

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.

Flowering 173 in flower of 207 examined

Peak flowering in Jul. Each bar is the share of Aerva javanica observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 173 of 207 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 27 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.

  • Achyranthes alopecuroides Lam.
  • Achyranthes incana Roxb.
  • Achyranthes javanica (Burm.f.) Pers.
  • Achyranthes lanceolata Zoll. & Moritzi ex Moq.
  • Achyranthes persica Steud.
  • Aerva aegyptiaca J.F.Gmel.
  • Aerva alopecuroides (Lam.) Dum.Cours.
  • Aerva bovii Edgew.
  • Aerva incana Mart.
  • Aerva javanica var. javanica
  • Aerva javanica var. latifolia Vahl
  • Aerva ovata Ehrenb. ex Schweinf.
  • Aerva persica (Burm.f.) Merr.
  • Aerva persica var. bovei (Webb) Maire
  • Aerva persica var. latifolia (Vahl) Maire
  • Aerva platyphylla Ehrenb. ex Schweinf.
  • Aerva pseudotomentosa Blatt. & Hallb.
  • Aerva suaveolens Edgew.
  • Aerva tomentosa Forssk.
  • Aerva tomentosa var. bovei (Webb) C.B.Clarke
  • Aerva trichophylla Ehrenb. ex Schweinf.
  • Aerva wallichii Moq.
  • Celosia lanata var. latifolia Vahl
  • Illecebrum javanicum (Burm.f.) L.

and 3 more.

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.