Sageretia thea(Osbeck) M.C.Johnst.

pauper's-tea

WFO wfo-0001131300 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Sageretia thea, photographed by Cheng-Te Hsu
fig. a Cheng-Te Hsu, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-03-31 / obs. 185668034
Sageretia thea, photographed by 五色鳥
fig. b 五色鳥, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 181638562
Sageretia thea, photographed by Agnes Trekker
fig. c Agnes Trekker, CC0 1.0 / obs. 173410170
Sageretia thea, photographed by 葉子
fig. d 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 177673412
Sageretia thea, photographed by Agnes Trekker
fig. e Agnes Trekker, CC0 1.0 / obs. 169729384
Sageretia thea, photographed by Agnes Trekker
fig. f Agnes Trekker, CC0 1.0 / obs. 166604148
Sageretia thea, photographed by Agnes Trekker
fig. g Agnes Trekker, CC0 1.0 / obs. 166224891
Sageretia thea, photographed by Cheng-Te Hsu
fig. h Cheng-Te Hsu, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 166203291

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 Sageretia thea is native: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Afghanistan, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Gulf States, Iran, Japan, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya EritreaEthiopiaSomaliaAfghanistanChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastGulf StatesIranJapanOmanSaudi ArabiaTadzhikistanTaiwanTurkmenistanUzbekistanYemenMalayaMyanmarNepalPakistanThailandVietnamWest Himalaya KoreaNansei-shoto
Native distribution of Sageretia thea, 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
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Gulf States GST
Iran IRN
Japan JAP
Korea KOR
Nansei-shoto NNS
Oman OMA
Saudi Arabia SAU
Tadzhikistan TZK
Taiwan TAI
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
Yemen YEM
Malaya MLY ASIA-TROPICAL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
Eritrea ERI AFRICA
Ethiopia ETH
Somalia SOM

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 19 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.

  • Ampeloplis chinensis Raf.
  • Berchemia chaneti H.Lév.
  • Lamellisepalum hildebrandtii Engl.
  • Rhamnus laetevirens Kom.
  • Rhamnus spiciflora A.Rich.
  • Rhamnus thea Osbeck
  • Sageretia chanetii (H.Lév.) C.K.Schneid.
  • Sageretia laetevirens (Komarov) Gontsch.
  • Sageretia sikayoensis Masam.
  • Sageretia spiciflora (A.Rich.) Hutch. & E.A.Bruce
  • Sageretia spinosa Wettst.
  • Sageretia taiwaniana Hosok. ex Masam.
  • Sageretia thea var. bilocularis S.Y.Liu
  • Sageretia thea var. taiwaniana (Hosok. ex Masam.) Y.C.Liu & C.M.Wang
  • Sageretia thea var. thea
  • Sageretia thea var. tomentosa (Schneid.) Y.L.Chen & P.K.Chou
  • Sageretia theezans Brongn.
  • Sageretia theezans var. glabrescens Kitam.
  • Sageretia theezans var. tomentosa C.K.Schneid.

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.