Guilandina bonducL.

yellow nicker

WFO wfo-0001429040 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Guilandina bonduc, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. a Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-08 / obs. 196158638

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
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
471693
Filed as
Guilandina bonduc L.
Det. by
A. R. Franck 2024-08-01
Collected
L. Riedel 1832
Origin
BR
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 116 botanical countries

Regions where Guilandina bonduc is native: Aldabra, Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Mozambique Channel Is., Nigeria, Réunion, Rodrigues, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Kazan-retto, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Yemen, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, Christmas I., Cocos (Keeling) Is., East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laccadive Is., Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maldives, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Solomon Is., South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, New South Wales, Norfolk Is., Northern Territory, Queensland, Mexico Gulf, Caroline Is., Fiji, Marcus I., Marianas, Marquesas, Marshall Is., New Caledonia, Samoa, Society Is., Tonga, Vanuatu, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Cayman Is., Central American Pacific Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Venezuela, Windward Is. BeninBurkinaCameroonCape ProvincesCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMadagascarMozambiqueNigeriaSenegalSierra LeoneSomaliaTanzaniaTogoZambiaChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanOmanSaudi ArabiaTaiwanYemenAssamBangladeshBismarck ArchipelagoBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPhilippinesSolomon Is.Sri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamWest HimalayaNew South WalesNorthern TerritoryQueenslandMexico GulfFijiNew CaledoniaBelizeBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SoutheastCentral American Pacific Is.ColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPeruPuerto RicoSouthwest CaribbeanTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela AldabraCape VerdeChagos ArchipelagoComorosMauritiusMozambique Channel Is.RéunionRodriguesSeychellesNansei-shotoAndaman Is.Christmas I.Laccadive Is.MaldivesNicobar Is.South China SeaNorfolk Is.Caroline Is.MarianasMarquesasMarshall Is.SamoaSociety Is.TongaVanuatuBahamasBermudaCayman Is.Leeward Is.Turks-Caicos Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Guilandina bonduc, 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
Aldabra ALD AFRICA
Benin BEN
Burkina BKN
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Cape Verde CVI
Chagos Archipelago CGS
Comoros COM
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Mozambique Channel Is. MCI
Nigeria NGA
Réunion REU
Rodrigues ROD
Senegal SEN
Seychelles SEY
Sierra Leone SIE
Somalia SOM
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Zambia ZAM
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Bismarck Archipelago BIS
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
Christmas I. XMS
Cocos (Keeling) Is. CKI
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laccadive Is. LDV
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maldives MDV
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Solomon Is. SOL
South China Sea SCS
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
Bahamas BAH SOUTHERN AMERICA
Belize BLZ
Bermuda BER
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil Southeast BZL
Cayman Is. CAY
Central American Pacific Is. CPI
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Southwest Caribbean SWC
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Turks-Caicos Is. TCI
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Fiji FIJ
Marcus I. MCS
Marianas MRN
Marquesas MRQ
Marshall Is. MRS
New Caledonia NWC
Samoa SAM
Society Is. SCI
Tonga TON
Vanuatu VAN
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Kazan-retto KZN
Nansei-shoto NNS
Ogasawara-shoto OGA
Oman OMA
Saudi Arabia SAU
Taiwan TAI
Yemen YEM
New South Wales NSW AUSTRALASIA
Norfolk Is. NFK
Northern Territory NTA
Queensland QLD
Mexico Gulf MXG NORTHERN AMERICA

Not drawn on the map: Kazan-retto, Ogasawara-shoto, Cocos (Keeling) Is., Marcus I.. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are 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.

Flowering 83 in flower of 382 examined

Proportion of examined Guilandina bonduc in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 6 64 9% 4% to 19%
Feb 4 33 12% 5% to 27%
Mar 2 34 6% 2% to 19%
Apr 6 42 14% 7% to 28%
May 1 23 4% 1% to 21%
Jun 2 13 15% 4% to 42%
Jul 4 18 22% 9% to 45%
Aug 3 15 20% 7% to 45%
Sep 15 28 54% 36% to 70%
Oct 19 31 61% 44% to 76%
Nov 12 34 35% 21% to 52%
Dec 9 47 19% 10% to 33%

Peak flowering in Oct. Each bar is the share of Guilandina bonduc observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 83 of 382 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 2,064 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 12.9 °C 17.4 °C 24.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 27.7 °C 29.6 °C 34.7 °C
Annual rainfall 899 mm 1,340 mm 2,210 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 12 mm 153 mm 232 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 2,064 research-grade observations of Guilandina bonduc 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. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 23 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.

  • Bonduc canadense Medik.
  • Bonduc minus Medik.
  • Caesalpinia bonduc (L.) Roxb.
  • Caesalpinia bonducella (L.) Fleming
  • Caesalpinia bonducella var. aequiaculata Kuntze
  • Caesalpinia bonducella var. aequiaculeata Kuntze
  • Caesalpinia bonducella var. elegans Kuntze
  • Caesalpinia bonducella var. inaequiaculeata Kuntze
  • Caesalpinia glabra (Mill.) Merr.
  • Caesalpinia homblei R.Wilczek
  • Caesalpinia jayabo var. cyanosperma M.Gómez
  • Caesalpinia jayabo var. gemina (Lour.) M.Gómez
  • Caesalpinia sogerensis Baker f.
  • Glycyrrhiza aculeata Forssk.
  • Guilandina aculeata Salisb.
  • Guilandina bonduc var. major DC.
  • Guilandina bonduc var. minor DC.
  • Guilandina bonducella L.
  • Guilandina gemina Lour.
  • Guilandina glabra Mill.
  • Guilandina homblei (R.Wilczek) G.P.Lewis
  • Guilandina socorroensis Britton & Rose
  • Guilandina vulgaris Oken

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. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol CABO6. public domain. 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.