Pithecellobium unguis-cati(L.) Benth.

catclaw blackbead

WFO wfo-0000178429 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Pithecellobium unguis-cati, photographed by stinger
fig. a stinger, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-06 / obs. 186737484
Pithecellobium unguis-cati, photographed by Tom Field
fig. b Tom Field, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169050230
Pithecellobium unguis-cati, photographed by Stan Shebs
fig. c Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 152808703
Pithecellobium unguis-cati, photographed by Alexis López Hernández
fig. d Alexis López Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 132540426
Pithecellobium unguis-cati, photographed by Tom Field
fig. e Tom Field, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 112149941
Pithecellobium unguis-cati, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. f Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 61219263
Pithecellobium unguis-cati, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. g Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 61040145
Pithecellobium unguis-cati, photographed by Eric Knight
fig. h Eric Knight, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 60260925

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 27 botanical countries

Regions where Pithecellobium unguis-cati is native: Florida, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Aruba, Bahamas, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panamá, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. FloridaMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicGuatemalaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPuerto RicoTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela ArubaBahamasLeeward Is.Netherlands AntillesTurks-Caicos Is.Venezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Pithecellobium unguis-cati, 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
Aruba ARU SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bahamas BAH
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Guatemala GUA
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Netherlands Antilles NLA
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Puerto Rico PUE
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Turks-Caicos Is. TCI
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN
Florida FLA NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
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 22 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.

  • Feuilleea unguis-cati (L.) Kuntze
  • Feuilleea unguis-cati var. latifolia Kuntze
  • Inga felina Stokes
  • Inga guadalupensis (Pers.) Desv.
  • Inga microphylla Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.
  • Inga unguis-cati (L.) Willd.
  • Mimosa guadalupensis Pers.
  • Mimosa microphylla Poir.
  • Mimosa unguis-cati L.
  • Pithecellobium flavovirens Britton
  • Pithecellobium guadalupense (Pers.) Chapm.
  • Pithecellobium guaricense Pittier
  • Pithecellobium microchlamys Pittier
  • Pithecellobium microphyllum (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Benth.
  • Pithecellobium paniculatum Pittier
  • Pithecellobium pulchellum Pittier
  • Pithecellobium saxosum Standl. & Steyerm.
  • Pithecellobium seleri Harms
  • Pithecellobium unguis-cati (L.) Mart.
  • Spiroloba unguis Raf.
  • Zygia guadalupensis (Pers.) A.Heller
  • Zygia unguis-cati (L.) Sudw.

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.