Pentodon pentandrus(Schumach.) Vatke

Hale's pentodon

WFO wfo-0000267072 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

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.

Pentodon pentandrus, photographed by Adam Pitcher
fig. a Adam Pitcher, CC0 1.0 / 2020-05-17 / obs. 73599805
Pentodon pentandrus, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. b Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 116390725
Pentodon pentandrus, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. c Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 116390696
Pentodon pentandrus, photographed by Adam Pitcher
fig. d Adam Pitcher, CC0 1.0 / obs. 73599833
Pentodon pentandrus, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. e Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 135410671
Pentodon pentandrus, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. f Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 131823292
Pentodon pentandrus, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. g Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 135410692
Pentodon pentandrus, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. h Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 131823314

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 45 botanical countries

Regions where Pentodon pentandrus is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cabinda, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCabindaCameroonCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMauritaniaMozambiqueNamibiaNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweOmanSaudi ArabiaYemen Cape Verde
Native distribution of Pentodon pentandrus, 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
Cabinda CAB
Cameroon CMN
Cape Verde CVI
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
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
Mauritania MTN
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
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
Oman OMA ASIA-TEMPERATE
Saudi Arabia SAU
Yemen YEM

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 17 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.

  • Hedyotis halei Torr. & A.Gray
  • Hedyotis laxiflora (Benth.) Walp.
  • Hedyotis macrophylla Lepr. & Perrott ex DC.
  • Hedyotis pentamera Hochst.
  • Hedyotis pentandra Schumach.
  • Oldenlandia halaei A.Wood
  • Oldenlandia halei (Torr. & A.Gray) Chapm.
  • Oldenlandia hornei Baker
  • Oldenlandia laxiflora Benth.
  • Oldenlandia macrophylla DC.
  • Oldenlandia pentandra (Schumach.) DC.
  • Oldenlandia succulenta C.Wright ex Griseb.
  • Pentas pentandra (Schumach.) Benth.
  • Pentas thonningii Walp.
  • Pentodon abyssinicus Hochst.
  • Pentodon decumbens Hochst.
  • Pentodon halei (Torr. & A.Gray) A.Gray

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.