Serissa japonica(Thunb.) Thunb.

snowrose

WFO wfo-0000309617 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Serissa japonica, photographed by Cheng-Te Hsu
fig. a Cheng-Te Hsu, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-05-29 / obs. 75843701
Serissa japonica, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. b Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 9520094
Serissa japonica, photographed by Kim, Hyun-tae
fig. c Kim, Hyun-tae, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 4377052
Serissa japonica, photographed by 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi)
fig. d 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), CC BY 4.0 / obs. 63304809
Serissa japonica, photographed by Cheng-Tao Lin
fig. e Cheng-Tao Lin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 67431292
Serissa japonica, photographed by Cheng-Tao Lin
fig. f Cheng-Tao Lin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 67606360
Serissa japonica, photographed by Cheng-Tao Lin
fig. g Cheng-Tao Lin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 67397598
Serissa japonica, photographed by Cheng-Tao Lin
fig. h Cheng-Tao Lin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 65736096

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 3 botanical countries

Regions where Serissa japonica is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan China South-CentralChina SoutheastTaiwan
Native distribution of Serissa japonica, 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
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
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.

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.

  • Buchozia coprosmoides L'Hér.
  • Buchozia japonica (Thunb.) Callm.
  • Democritea serissoides DC.
  • Lycium foetidum L.f.
  • Serissa buxifolia Dum.Cours.
  • Serissa crassiramea (Maxim.) Nakai
  • Serissa democritea Baill.
  • Serissa foetida (L.f.) Willd.
  • Serissa foetida (L.f.) Lam.
  • Serissa foetida f. plena Makino
  • Serissa foetida f. pleniflora Makino
  • Serissa foetida unranked marginata W.Bull ex J.Dix
  • Serissa foetida var. crassiramea Maxim.
  • Serissa kawakamii Hayata
  • Serissa myrtifolia Dum.Cours.
  • Serissa serissoides (DC.) Druce

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.