Parietaria debilisG.Forst.

small-flower pellitory

WFO wfo-0000473080 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Parietaria debilis, photographed by Joe Dillon
fig. a Joe Dillon, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-18 / obs. 189973452

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 75 botanical countries

Regions where Parietaria debilis is native: Burundi, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Chad, Djibouti, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Free State, Gulf of Guinea Is., Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Madagascar, Madeira, Namibia, Rwanda, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Japan, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Manchuria, North Caucasus, Oman, Primorye, Qinghai, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Yemen, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, New Guinea, Pakistan, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Chatham Is., Kermadec Is., New South Wales, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Norfolk Is., Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, East European Russia BurundiCameroonCape ProvincesChadDjiboutiDR CongoEritreaEthiopiaFree StateGulf of Guinea Is.KenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoMadagascarNamibiaRwandaSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaAltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastChitaInner MongoliaIrkutskJapanKazakhstanKhabarovskKirgizstanKrasnoyarskManchuriaNorth CaucasusOmanPrimoryeQinghaiTadzhikistanTaiwanTibetTranscaucasusTurkmenistanTuvaUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaYemenEast HimalayaIndiaNepalNew GuineaPakistanVietnamWest HimalayaNew South WalesNew Zealand NorthNew Zealand SouthNorthern TerritoryQueenslandSouth AustraliaTasmaniaVictoriaWestern AustraliaEast European Russia Canary Is.Cape VerdeMadeiraKoreaChatham Is.Kermadec Is.Norfolk Is.
Native distribution of Parietaria debilis, 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
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Kirgizstan KGZ
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Manchuria CHM
North Caucasus NCS
Oman OMA
Primorye PRM
Qinghai CHQ
Tadzhikistan TZK
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Turkmenistan TKM
Tuva TVA
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Yemen YEM
Burundi BUR AFRICA
Cameroon CMN
Canary Is. CNY
Cape Provinces CPP
Cape Verde CVI
Chad CHA
Djibouti DJI
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Madagascar MDG
Madeira MDR
Namibia NAM
Rwanda RWA
Socotra SOC
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Chatham Is. CTM AUSTRALASIA
Kermadec Is. KER
New South Wales NSW
New Zealand North NZN
New Zealand South NZS
Norfolk Is. NFK
Northern Territory NTA
Queensland QLD
South Australia SOA
Tasmania TAS
Victoria VIC
Western Australia WAU
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL
India IND
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Pakistan PAK
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
East European Russia RUE EUROPE

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 431 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 2.8 °C 7.7 °C 12.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 16.8 °C 21.1 °C 30.5 °C
Annual rainfall 375 mm 1,107 mm 1,684 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 10 mm 183 mm 314 mm

It is found where winters are cool but frost is light or absent. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 431 research-grade observations of Parietaria debilis 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.

Also published as 46 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.

  • Freirea australis Nees
  • Freirea debilis (G.Forst.) Jarm.
  • Freirea erecta Phil.
  • Freirea gracilis (Lowe) Jarm.
  • Freirea humifusa Gay
  • Freirea laxiflora (Engl.) Jarm.
  • Freirea micrantha (Ledeb.) Jarm.
  • Freirea ruwenzoriensis (Cortesi) Jarm.
  • Freirea squalida (Hook.f.) Jarm.
  • Freirea steudelii Blume
  • Parietaria appendiculata Webb & Berthel.
  • Parietaria appendiculata var. lanuginosa Webb & Berthel.
  • Parietaria appendiculata var. nympharum Webb & Berthel.
  • Parietaria appendiculata var. vulcanii Webb & Berthel.
  • Parietaria australis (Nees) Blume
  • Parietaria australis var. glandulifera Blume
  • Parietaria carnosula Blume
  • Parietaria coreana Nakai
  • Parietaria debilis subvar. ceratosantha Wedd.
  • Parietaria debilis subvar. hyalina Wedd.
  • Parietaria debilis subvar. lanuginosa (Webb & Berthel.) Wedd.
  • Parietaria debilis subvar. macrantha Wedd.
  • Parietaria debilis var. australis (Nees) J.M.Black
  • Parietaria debilis var. ceratosantha (Wedd.) Wedd.

and 22 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. 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.