Osyris lanceolataHochst. & Steud.

WFO wfo-0000388245 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Osyris lanceolata, photographed by Duarte Frade
fig. a Duarte Frade, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-21 / obs. 199410570
Osyris lanceolata, photographed by Duarte Frade
fig. b Duarte Frade, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 195622290
Osyris lanceolata, photographed by Duarte Frade
fig. c Duarte Frade, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 189717145
Osyris lanceolata, photographed by Duarte Frade
fig. d Duarte Frade, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187061722
Osyris lanceolata, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. e Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 183030776
Osyris lanceolata, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. f Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 183033407
Osyris lanceolata, photographed by Mehdi Chetibi
fig. g Mehdi Chetibi, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 180207819
Osyris lanceolata, photographed by Mehdi Chetibi
fig. h Mehdi Chetibi, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 180207274

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 49 botanical countries

Regions where Osyris lanceolata is native: Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Djibouti, DR Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China South-Central, China Southeast, Saudi Arabia, Tibet, Yemen, Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Baleares, Portugal, Spain AlgeriaAngolaBotswanaBurundiCape ProvincesDjiboutiDR CongoEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoMalawiMoroccoMozambiqueNamibiaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaWestern SaharaZambiaZimbabweChina South-CentralChina SoutheastSaudi ArabiaTibetYemenAssamBangladeshCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaLaosMyanmarNepalSri LankaThailandVietnamWest HimalayaPortugalSpain Canary Is.Baleares
Native distribution of Osyris lanceolata, 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
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Angola ANG
Botswana BOT
Burundi BUR
Canary Is. CNY
Cape Provinces CPP
Djibouti DJI
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Malawi MLW
Morocco MOR
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Socotra SOC
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Western Sahara WSA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Laos LAO
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Sri Lanka SRL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Saudi Arabia SAU
Tibet CHT
Yemen YEM
Baleares BAL EUROPE
Portugal POR
Spain SPA

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 114 in flower of 271 examined

Peak flowering in May. Each bar is the share of Osyris lanceolata 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. 114 of 271 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.

Also published as 19 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.

  • Osyris abyssinica Hochst. & A.Rich.
  • Osyris arborea Wall.
  • Osyris arborea var. rotundifolia P.C.Tam
  • Osyris arborea var. stipitata Lecomte
  • Osyris densifolia Peter
  • Osyris divaricata Pilg.
  • Osyris laeta Peter
  • Osyris nepalensis Griff.
  • Osyris oblanceolata Peter
  • Osyris parvifolia Baker
  • Osyris pendula Balf.f.
  • Osyris quadripartita Salzm. ex Decne.
  • Osyris quadripartita var. canariensis Kämmer
  • Osyris rigidissima Engl.
  • Osyris tenuifolia Engl.
  • Osyris urundiensis De Wild.
  • Osyris wightiana Wall. ex Wight
  • Osyris wightiana var. rotundifolia (P.C.Tam) P.C.Tam
  • Osyris wightiana var. stipitata (Lecomte) P.C.Tam

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.