Leucas martinicensis(Jacq.) R.Br.

whitewort

WFO wfo-0000227058 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 6 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 6 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.

Leucas martinicensis, photographed by Hildegard Klein
fig. a Hildegard Klein, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-06-07 / obs. 78295421
Leucas martinicensis, photographed by i_c_riddell
fig. b i_c_riddell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187064560
Leucas martinicensis, photographed by Alan Manson
fig. c Alan Manson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 64952658
Leucas martinicensis, photographed by Tony van Kampen
fig. d Tony van Kampen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184620402
Leucas martinicensis, photographed by Mattia Menchetti
fig. e Mattia Menchetti, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 24946651
Leucas martinicensis, photographed by Tony van Kampen
fig. f Tony van Kampen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 39883933
Leucas martinicensis, photographed by Tony van Kampen
fig. g Tony van Kampen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184620462
Leucas martinicensis, photographed by Alan Manson
fig. h Alan Manson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 64952644

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 56 botanical countries

Regions where Leucas martinicensis is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, DR Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China South-Central, Yemen, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicChadDjiboutiDR CongoEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMaliMauritaniaMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina South-CentralYemenAssamBangladeshEast HimalayaIndiaMyanmarNepalSri LankaWest Himalaya Cape VerdeComoros
Native distribution of Leucas martinicensis, 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
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Cape Verde CVI
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Comoros COM
Djibouti DJI
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
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
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Socotra SOC
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
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Sri Lanka SRL
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
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.

Flowering 32 in flower of 44 examined

Peak flowering in Mar. Each bar is the share of Leucas martinicensis 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. 32 of 44 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 9 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. 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.

Also published as 11 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.

  • Clinopodium martinicense Jacq.
  • Leonotis caribea (Jacq.) Raf.
  • Leonotis martinicensis (Jacq.) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt
  • Leucas elliotii Baker
  • Leucas martinicensis var. schimperi Fiori
  • Leucas ringoetii De Wild.
  • Leucas schimperi Hochst. ex A.Braun
  • Phlomis caribaea Jacq.
  • Phlomis martinicensis (Jacq.) Sw.
  • Phlomis mollis Schumach. & Thonn.
  • Stachys fluminensis Vell.

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.