Dolichos trilobusL.

WFO wfo-0000180154 Accepted WFO 2026-06 7 photographs CC0 / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–g · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 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.

Dolichos trilobus, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. a Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2021-09-25 / obs. 159879368

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.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Accession
K000263591
Filed as
Dolichos trilobus L.
Det. by
Verdcourt, B.
Collected
de Winter, B. 1955-01-20
Origin
ZA
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 42 botanical countries

Regions where Dolichos trilobus is native: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Taiwan, Yemen, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, West Himalaya AngolaBeninCameroonEswatiniEthiopiaGhanaKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMalawiMozambiqueNamibiaNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanYemenAssamBangladeshEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MyanmarNepalPhilippinesSri LankaVietnamWest Himalaya
Native distribution of Dolichos trilobus, 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
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Cameroon CMN
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Ghana GHA
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Taiwan TAI
Yemen YEM

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 13 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.

  • Dolichos andongensis Welw. ex Baker
  • Dolichos andorgensis Welw. ex Baker
  • Dolichos cristatus Miq.
  • Dolichos debilis Hochst. ex A.Rich.
  • Dolichos falcata Klein
  • Dolichos falcatus J.G.Klein ex Willd.
  • Dolichos formosoides Harms
  • Dolichos kosyunensis Hosok.
  • Dolichos schliebenii Harms
  • Dolichos trilobus var. kosyunensis (Hosok.) H.Ohashi & Tateishi
  • Dolichos trilobus var. stenophyllus Verdc.
  • Dolichos tuberosus Roxb. ex Wight & Arn.
  • Vigna tenuis Franch.

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.