Rauvolfia verticillata(Lour.) Baill.

WFO wfo-0000295201 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Rauvolfia verticillata, photographed by 葉子
fig. a 葉子, CC0 1.0 / 2021-12-09 / obs. 177682980
Rauvolfia verticillata, photographed by 葉子
fig. b 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 173835358
Rauvolfia verticillata, photographed by 葉子
fig. c 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 173834371
Rauvolfia verticillata, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. d Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 116361329
Rauvolfia verticillata, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. e Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 153044869
Rauvolfia verticillata, photographed by 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi)
fig. f 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), CC BY 4.0 / obs. 31523827
Rauvolfia verticillata, photographed by 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi)
fig. g 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), CC BY 4.0 / obs. 31431709
Rauvolfia verticillata, photographed by Toby Y
fig. h Toby Y, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 163046371

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 21 botanical countries

Regions where Rauvolfia verticillata is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam China South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanAssamBangladeshBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMyanmarPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnam
Native distribution of Rauvolfia verticillata, 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
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Taiwan TAI

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 234 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 11.8 °C 14.5 °C 19.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 26.6 °C 29.5 °C 30.5 °C
Annual rainfall 1,880 mm 2,005 mm 3,050 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 58 mm 63 mm 169 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 234 research-grade observations of Rauvolfia verticillata 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 43 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.

  • Cerbera chinensis Spreng.
  • Dissolaena verticillata Lour.
  • Ervatamia ophiorhizoides Lace
  • Ervatamia ventii Lý
  • Hunteria sundana Miq.
  • Hunteria sundana var. minor Miq.
  • Ophioxylon belgaumense Wight
  • Ophioxylon chinense Hance
  • Ophioxylon chinensis Hance
  • Ophioxylon densiflorum (Wall.) Thwaites
  • Ophioxylon macrocarpum Wight
  • Ophioxylon majus Hassk.
  • Ophioxylon neilgheerense Wight
  • Ophioxylon zeylanicum Wight
  • Rauvolfia altodiscifera R.H.Miao
  • Rauvolfia brevistyla Tsiang
  • Rauvolfia chinensis (Hance) Hemsl.
  • Rauvolfia densiflora (Wall.) Benth. ex Hook.f.
  • Rauvolfia densiflora var. macrophylla Hook.f.
  • Rauvolfia latifrons Tsiang
  • Rauvolfia loheri Merr.
  • Rauvolfia major G.Nicholson
  • Rauvolfia membranacea Merr.
  • Rauvolfia obversa Koord.

and 19 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. 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.