Phenax sonneratii(Poir.) Wedd.

Asian ghostweed

WFO wfo-0000473015 Accepted WFO 2026-06 5 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–e · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 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.

Phenax sonneratii, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. a Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-02-03 / obs. 60834432
Phenax sonneratii, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. b Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 60834447
Phenax sonneratii, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. c Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 60834437
Phenax sonneratii, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. d Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 60834451
Phenax sonneratii, photographed by Eric Knight
fig. e Eric Knight, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 914623

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 18 botanical countries

Regions where Phenax sonneratii is native: Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Argentina Northeast, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela Mexico GulfMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NortheastBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaGuatemalaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela
Native distribution of Phenax sonneratii, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Guatemala GUA
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Mexico Gulf MXG NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

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 16 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.

  • Boehmeria elongata Fisch. ex J.Jacq.
  • Boehmeria elongata Fisch. ex Hornem.
  • Boehmeria vialis Casar. ex Wedd.
  • Gesnouinia boehmerioides Miq.
  • Gymnogyne elongata (Fisch. ex J.Jacq.) Didr.
  • Parietaria sonneratii Poir.
  • Phenax pentandrus Blume
  • Phenax sonneratii var. angustifolius Wedd.
  • Phenax sonneratii var. mycrophylla Mattos
  • Phenax vulgaris Wedd.
  • Pouzolzia conulifera Friis & Jellis
  • Pouzolzia sonneratii (Poir.) Gaudich.
  • Procris sonneratii (Poir.) Spreng.
  • Urtica blitum Salzm. ex Wedd.
  • Urtica semiserrata Sm. ex Wedd.
  • Urtica ulmifolia Vahl ex Wedd.

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.