Hewittia malabarica(L.) Suresh

WFO wfo-0001298969 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Hewittia malabarica, photographed by Jean-Paul Boerekamps
fig. a Jean-Paul Boerekamps, CC0 1.0 / 2021-12-09 / obs. 174091819
Hewittia malabarica, photographed by Margaret Burger
fig. b Margaret Burger, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 166765564
Hewittia malabarica, photographed by Mahomed Desai
fig. c Mahomed Desai, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 148686386
Hewittia malabarica, photographed by Aaliyah Motala
fig. d Aaliyah Motala, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 107326327
Hewittia malabarica, photographed by Aaliyah Motala
fig. e Aaliyah Motala, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 106101881
Hewittia malabarica, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. f Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 103567327
Hewittia malabarica, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. g Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 102764941
Hewittia malabarica, photographed by grabbarg
fig. h grabbarg, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 55310773

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 57 botanical countries

Regions where Hewittia malabarica is native: Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Republic, Chad, DR Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, New Guinea, Philippines, South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam AngolaBeninBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicChadDR CongoEswatiniEthiopiaGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMaliMozambiqueNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanAssamBangladeshBorneoCambodiaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNew GuineaPhilippinesSri LankaSumateraThailandVietnam Andaman Is.South China Sea
Native distribution of Hewittia malabarica, 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
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
DR Congo ZAI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mozambique MOZ
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
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
New Guinea NWG
Philippines PHI
South China Sea SCS
Sri Lanka SRL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Taiwan TAI

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 319 in flower of 332 examined

Peak flowering in Feb. Each bar is the share of Hewittia malabarica 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. 319 of 332 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 750 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 9.5 °C 14.6 °C 22.9 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 25.6 °C 26.8 °C 33.7 °C
Annual rainfall 900 mm 1,059 mm 2,627 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 34 mm 106 mm 194 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 750 research-grade observations of Hewittia malabarica 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 33 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.

  • Aniseia afzelii G.Don
  • Aniseia bracteata Hassk.
  • Argyreia malabarica (L.) Choisy
  • Bonamia volkensii Dammer
  • Calystegia keriana Sweet
  • Convolvulus bracteatus Vahl
  • Convolvulus involucratus Willd.
  • Convolvulus malabaricus L.
  • Convolvulus rottleri Spreng.
  • Convolvulus scandens Milne
  • Convolvulus sublobatus L.f.
  • Convolvulus timorensis D.Dietr.
  • Eremosperma puccionianum Chiov.
  • Hewittia asarifolia Klotzsch
  • Hewittia barbeyana Chodat & Roulet
  • Hewittia bicolor (Choisy) Wight & Arn.
  • Hewittia hirta Klotzsch
  • Hewittia puccioniana (Chiov.) Verdc.
  • Hewittia sublobata (L.f.) Kuntze
  • Ipomoea benguelensis Baker
  • Ipomoea bicolor (Choisy) Sweet
  • Ipomoea malabarica (L.) Roem. & Schult.
  • Ipomoea pandurifolia E.Mey.
  • Ipomoea phyllosepala Baker

and 9 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. 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.