Cestrum elegans(Brongn. ex Neumann) Schltdl.

purple cestrum

WFO wfo-0001020477 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cestrum elegans, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. a Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-05-19 / obs. 201006526
Cestrum elegans, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. b Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 200967816
Cestrum elegans, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. c Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 182818200
Cestrum elegans, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. d Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 182969970
Cestrum elegans, photographed by gnapp
fig. e gnapp, CC0 1.0 / obs. 136696171
Cestrum elegans, photographed by Sarah Richardson
fig. f Sarah Richardson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 133094530
Cestrum elegans, photographed by Don Loarie
fig. g Don Loarie, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 127503055
Cestrum elegans, photographed by Ryan Elliott
fig. h Ryan Elliott, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 120331668

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 4 botanical countries

Regions where Cestrum elegans is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southwest Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico Southwest
Native distribution of Cestrum elegans, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southwest MXS

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 15 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.

  • Cestrum benghalense Kalidass & Mallia
  • Cestrum elegans var. elegans
  • Cestrum elegans var. longiflorum Francey
  • Cestrum elegans var. totutla Dunal
  • Cestrum elegans var. truncata Fernald
  • Cestrum nutans hort. ex Francey
  • Cestrum paniculatum (M.Martens & Galeotti) Schltdl.
  • Cestrum purpureum (Lindl.) Standl.
  • Cestrum rubrum hort. ex Francey
  • Cestrum smithii (hort.) Biswas
  • Cestrum sylvaticum Dunal
  • Habrothamnus elegans Brongn. ex Neumann
  • Habrothamnus paniculatus M.Martens & Galeotti
  • Habrothamnus purpureus Lindl.
  • Meyenia purpurea (Lindl.) Heynh.

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.