Oleandra distentaKunze

WFO wfo-0001110687 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 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.

Oleandra distenta, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. a Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-07-10 / obs. 204694321
Oleandra distenta, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. b Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205808093
Oleandra distenta, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. c Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204694276
Oleandra distenta, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. d Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205808056
Oleandra distenta, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. e Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205808125
Oleandra distenta, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. f Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205808157
Oleandra distenta, photographed by Mark Liptrot
fig. g Mark Liptrot, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 194697920
Oleandra distenta, photographed by Romer N. Rabarijaona
fig. h Romer N. Rabarijaona, CC0 1.0 / obs. 1769800

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 35 botanical countries

Regions where Oleandra distenta is native: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Republic, Comoros, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Réunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe AngolaBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicDR CongoEquatorial GuineaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateGabonGhanaGuineaGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMozambiqueNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabwe ComorosMauritiusRéunionSeychelles
Native distribution of Oleandra distenta, 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
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Central African Republic CAF
Comoros COM
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Réunion REU
Rwanda RWA
Seychelles SEY
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM

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 10 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.

  • Aspidium articulatum (Juss. ex Poir.) Willd.
  • Oleandra africana Bonap.
  • Oleandra annetii var. hirsuta Tardieu
  • Oleandra densifrons Kunze
  • Oleandra distenta var. hirsuta Tardieu
  • Oleandra distenta var. madagascarica (Bonap.) Tardieu
  • Oleandra distenta var. villosa Tardieu
  • Oleandra madagascarica Bonap.
  • Oleandra welwitschii Baker
  • Polypodium articulatum Juss. ex Poir.

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.