Digera muricata(L.) Mart.

false amaranth

WFO wfo-0000647244 Accepted WFO 2026-06 4 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–d · 1 observation

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 1 time, 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.

Digera muricata, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. a Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / 2015-08-29 / obs. 60832225
Digera muricata, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. b Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 60832183
Digera muricata, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. c Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 60832195
Digera muricata, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. d Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 60832172

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 30 botanical countries

Regions where Digera muricata is native: Burundi, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Afghanistan, China Southeast, Gulf States, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Jawa, Laccadive Is., Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera BurundiDjiboutiEgyptEritreaEthiopiaKenyaMadagascarSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaAfghanistanChina SoutheastGulf StatesOmanSaudi ArabiaYemenAssamBangladeshIndiaJawaMalukuMyanmarNepalPakistanSri LankaSulawesiSumatera Laccadive Is.
Native distribution of Digera muricata, 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
Burundi BUR AFRICA
Djibouti DJI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Kenya KEN
Madagascar MDG
Socotra SOC
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laccadive Is. LDV
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Gulf States GST
Oman OMA
Saudi Arabia SAU
Yemen YEM

Not drawn on the map: Socotra. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

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 27 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.

  • Achyranthes alternifolia L.
  • Achyranthes alternifolia Russ. ex Wall.
  • Achyranthes ciliata Lam.
  • Achyranthes digera Poir.
  • Achyranthes muricata L.
  • Achyranthes polygonoides Retz.
  • Amaranthus arvensis (Forssk.) E.H.L.Krause
  • Amaranthus frutescens Dum.Cours.
  • Celosia muricata Spreng.
  • Chamissoa arabica Spreng.
  • Chamissoa ciliata Spreng.
  • Chamissoa commutata Spreng.
  • Chamissoa muricata (L.) Spreng.
  • Cladostachys alternifolia Sweet
  • Cladostachys arborescens D.Dietr.
  • Cladostachys muricata (L.) Moq.
  • Desmochaeta alternifolia DC.
  • Desmochaeta ciliata Roem. & Schult.
  • Desmochaeta muricata (L.) DC.
  • Digera alternifolia (L.) Asch.
  • Digera angustifolia Suess.
  • Digera arvensis Forssk.
  • Digera ciliata (Lam.) Mart.
  • Digera forskaolii Blume

and 3 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.