Cajanus scarabaeoides(L.) Thouars

showy pigeonpea

WFO wfo-0000179114 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cajanus scarabaeoides, photographed by 葉子
fig. a 葉子, CC0 1.0 / 2022-02-26 / obs. 184799728
Cajanus scarabaeoides, photographed by 葉子
fig. b 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 184804501
Cajanus scarabaeoides, photographed by 葉子
fig. c 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 178206361
Cajanus scarabaeoides, photographed by 葉子
fig. d 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 178208376
Cajanus scarabaeoides, photographed by 葉子
fig. e 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 173814830
Cajanus scarabaeoides, photographed by 葉子
fig. f 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 173572146
Cajanus scarabaeoides, photographed by 葉子
fig. g 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 173568109
Cajanus scarabaeoides, photographed by 葉子
fig. h 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 171413027

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 31 botanical countries

Regions where Cajanus scarabaeoides is native: Comoros, Madagascar, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Pakistan, Philippines, South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Marianas MadagascarChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanAssamBangladeshCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPakistanPhilippinesSri LankaSumateraThailandVietnamWest HimalayaNorthern TerritoryQueenslandWestern Australia ComorosNansei-shotoNicobar Is.South China SeaMarianas
Native distribution of Cajanus scarabaeoides, 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
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Pakistan PAK
Philippines PHI
South China Sea SCS
Sri Lanka SRL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
Northern Territory NTA AUSTRALASIA
Queensland QLD
Western Australia WAU
Comoros COM AFRICA
Madagascar MDG
Marianas MRN PACIFIC

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 297 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 9.9 °C 13.7 °C 20.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 28.4 °C 30.3 °C 38.2 °C
Annual rainfall 863 mm 1,862 mm 2,768 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 16 mm 77 mm 257 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 297 research-grade observations of Cajanus scarabaeoides 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 26 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.

  • Atylosia pauciflora (Wight & Arn.) Druce
  • Atylosia scarabaeoides (L.) Benth.
  • Atylosia scarabaeoides var. argyrophlla Y.T.Wei & S.K.Lee
  • Atylosia scarabaeoides var. argyrophylla S.S.Cheng ex Y.T.Wei & S.K.Lee
  • Atylosia scarabaeoides var. pedunculata S.T.Reynolds & Pedley
  • Atylosia scarabaeoides var. queenslandica Domin
  • Atylosia scarabaeoides var. scarabaeoides
  • Atylosia scarabaeoides var. typica Domin
  • Atylosia villosa Baker
  • Cajanus scarabaeoides var. argyrophyllus (S.S.Cheng ex Y.T.Wei & S.K.Lee) Y.T.Wei & S.K.Lee
  • Cantharospermum nervosum Royle ex Baker
  • Cantharospermum pauciflorum Wight & Arn.
  • Cantharospermum scarabaeoides (L.) Baill.
  • Cantharospermum scarabaeoides (L.) Koord.
  • Cantharospermum scarabeoideum Baill.
  • Desmodium biflorum DC.
  • Dolichos minutus Roxb. ex Wight & Arn.
  • Dolichos scarabaeoides L.
  • Dolichos scarabaeoides L.
  • Dolichos scarabaeoides Roxb.
  • Glycine mollis Willd.
  • Hedysarum biflorum Willd.
  • Rhynchosia biflora DC.
  • Rhynchosia mollis (Willd.) DC.

and 2 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.