Clethra scabraPers.

WFO wfo-0000890029 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Clethra scabra, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. a Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-04-25 / obs. 123710551
Clethra scabra, photographed by Cristiane Colodel
fig. b Cristiane Colodel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 109069192
Clethra scabra, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. c Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 123710533
Clethra scabra, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. d Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 123710576
Clethra scabra, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. e Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 123710510
Clethra scabra, photographed by B. Phalan
fig. f B. Phalan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 7514833
Clethra scabra, photographed by B. Phalan
fig. g B. Phalan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 6573444
Clethra scabra, photographed by B. Phalan
fig. h B. Phalan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 9901388

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 7 botanical countries

Regions where Clethra scabra is native: Argentina Northwest, Bolivia, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Paraguay Argentina NorthwestBoliviaBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralParaguay
Native distribution of Clethra scabra, 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
Argentina Northwest AGW SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bolivia BOL
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Paraguay PAR

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 17 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.

  • Clethra alnifolia f. scabra (Pers.) Zabel
  • Clethra alnifolia var. scabra (Pers.) G.Nicholson
  • Clethra alnifolia var. scabra Rehder
  • Clethra brasiliensis Cham. & Schltdl.
  • Clethra brasiliensis var. bracteata Meisn.
  • Clethra brasiliensis var. reticulata Meisn.
  • Clethra brasiliensis var. venosa Meisn.
  • Clethra gardneri Turcz.
  • Clethra laevigata Meisn.
  • Clethra maromensis Villa
  • Clethra micrantha Remy
  • Clethra scabra Loisel.
  • Clethra scabra var. laevigata (Meisn.) Sleumer
  • Clethra scabra var. scabra
  • Clethra scabra var. venosa (Meisn.) Sleumer
  • Crossophrys brasiliensis (Cham. & Schltdl.) Klotzsch ex Meisn.
  • Crossophrys chamissonis Klotzsch ex Meisn.

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.