Rhynchosia hirta(Andrews) Meikle & Verdc.

blue-seeded snoutbeanhairy snoutbean

WFO wfo-0000186505 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 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.

Rhynchosia hirta, photographed by Seema Merchant
fig. a Seema Merchant, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-04-23 / obs. 122484856
Rhynchosia hirta, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. b Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 162099666
Rhynchosia hirta, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. c Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 175170545
Rhynchosia hirta, photographed by Seema Merchant
fig. d Seema Merchant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 122484881
Rhynchosia hirta, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. e Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 162099672
Rhynchosia hirta, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. f Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 175170552
Rhynchosia hirta, photographed by Seema Merchant
fig. g Seema Merchant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 122484921
Rhynchosia hirta, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. h Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 162099678

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 26 botanical countries

Regions where Rhynchosia hirta is native: Angola, Benin, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, India, Sri Lanka AngolaBeninBurkinaBurundiCameroonCentral African RepublicChadDR CongoEthiopiaGabonGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaMalawiMozambiqueNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweIndiaSri Lanka
Native distribution of Rhynchosia hirta, 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
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
DR Congo ZAI
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
India IND ASIA-TROPICAL
Sri Lanka SRL

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 10 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.

  • Cyanospermum albiflorum (Sims) Wight & Arn.
  • Cyanospermum tomentosum (Roxb.) Wight & Arn.
  • Cylista albiflora Sims
  • Cylista tomentosa Roxb.
  • Cylista villosa W.T.Aiton
  • Dolichos hirtus Andrews
  • Rhynchosia albidiflora (Sims) Alston
  • Rhynchosia albiflora (Sims) Alston
  • Rhynchosia cyanosperma Benth. ex Baker
  • Rhynchosia tomentosa (Roxb.) Baill.

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.