Cordylostigma virgatum(Willd.) Groeninckx & Dessein

WFO wfo-0000917477 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cordylostigma virgatum, photographed by Andrew Hankey
fig. a Andrew Hankey, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2016-12-20 / obs. 119296189
Cordylostigma virgatum, photographed by Nicola van Berkel
fig. b Nicola van Berkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 85616321
Cordylostigma virgatum, photographed by Matthew Fainman
fig. c Matthew Fainman, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 99619825
Cordylostigma virgatum, photographed by Nicola van Berkel
fig. d Nicola van Berkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 15143065
Cordylostigma virgatum, photographed by Sunčana Bradley
fig. e Sunčana Bradley, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 165579887
Cordylostigma virgatum, photographed by Dave Richardson
fig. f Dave Richardson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 189429167
Cordylostigma virgatum, photographed by rosshawkins
fig. g rosshawkins, CC0 1.0 / obs. 183389235
Cordylostigma virgatum, photographed by Manuel R Popp
fig. h Manuel R Popp, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176913122

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 27 botanical countries

Regions where Cordylostigma virgatum is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cape Provinces, Comoros, DR Congo, Eswatini, Free State, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Réunion, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe AngolaBeninBotswanaBurundiCape ProvincesDR CongoEswatiniFree StateGambiaGhanaGuineaIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMalawiMozambiqueNigeriaNorthern ProvincesSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabwe ComorosRéunion
Native distribution of Cordylostigma virgatum, 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
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burundi BUR
Cape Provinces CPP
Comoros COM
DR Congo ZAI
Eswatini SWZ
Free State OFS
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Réunion REU
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM

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 137 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 3.5 °C 5.6 °C 14.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 25.3 °C 27.4 °C 31.9 °C
Annual rainfall 477 mm 705 mm 1,023 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 7 mm 19 mm 99 mm

It is found where winters are cool but frost is light or absent. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 137 research-grade observations of Cordylostigma virgatum 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 16 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.

  • Hedyotis afra (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Steud.
  • Hedyotis caffra (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Steud.
  • Hedyotis gerrardii Sond.
  • Hedyotis parviflora (Benth.) Walp.
  • Hedyotis setifera (DC.) Steud.
  • Hedyotis virgata Willd.
  • Kohautia parviflora Benth.
  • Kohautia setifera DC.
  • Kohautia virgata (Willd.) Bremek.
  • Kohautia virgata var. oblanceolata Bremek.
  • Oldenlandia afra Eckl. & Zeyh.
  • Oldenlandia caffra Eckl. & Zeyh.
  • Oldenlandia moandeensis De Wild.
  • Oldenlandia parviflora (Benth.) Oliv.
  • Oldenlandia setifera (DC.) K.Schum.
  • Oldenlandia virgata (Willd.) DC.

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.