Azima tetracanthaLam.

WFO wfo-0000558022 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Azima tetracantha, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. a Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-29 / obs. 191797462
Azima tetracantha, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. b Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 130650109
Azima tetracantha, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. c Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 126312156
Azima tetracantha, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. d Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 117765216
Azima tetracantha, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. e Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 115544419
Azima tetracantha, photographed by Di Turner
fig. f Di Turner, CC0 1.0 / obs. 117452510
Azima tetracantha, photographed by Andrew Gillespie
fig. g Andrew Gillespie, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 103750017
Azima tetracantha, photographed by Mahomed Desai
fig. h Mahomed Desai, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101890596

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 25 botanical countries

Regions where Azima tetracantha is native: Aldabra, Angola, Burundi, Cape Provinces, Comoros, DR Congo, Eswatini, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Oman, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka AngolaBurundiCape ProvincesDR CongoEswatiniKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMalawiMozambiqueNamibiaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSomaliaTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweOmanBangladeshIndiaMyanmarSri Lanka AldabraComoros
Native distribution of Azima tetracantha, 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
Aldabra ALD AFRICA
Angola ANG
Burundi BUR
Cape Provinces CPP
Comoros COM
DR Congo ZAI
Eswatini SWZ
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Somalia SOM
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Bangladesh BAN ASIA-TROPICAL
India IND
Myanmar MYA
Sri Lanka SRL
Oman OMA ASIA-TEMPERATE

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.

Also published as 8 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.

  • Azima nova J.F.Gmel.
  • Azima spinosissima Engl.
  • Azima tetracantha var. laxior C.H.Wright
  • Azima tetracantha var. pubescens H.Perrier
  • Fagonia montana Miq.
  • Kandena spinosa Raf.
  • Monetia barlerioides L'Hér.
  • Monetia tetracantha Salisb.

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.