Sesamum sesamoides(Endl.) Byng & Christenh.

false sesame

WFO wfo-0001423295 Accepted WFO 2026-06 3 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–c · 1 observation

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 1 time, 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.

Sesamum sesamoides, photographed by Mattia Menchetti
fig. a Mattia Menchetti, CC BY 4.0 / 2018-09-10 / obs. 24675307
Sesamum sesamoides, photographed by Mattia Menchetti
fig. b Mattia Menchetti, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 24675323
Sesamum sesamoides, photographed by Mattia Menchetti
fig. c Mattia Menchetti, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 24675333

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 30 botanical countries

Regions where Sesamum sesamoides is native: Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Caprivi Strip, Central African Republic, Chad, DR Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe BeninBotswanaBurkinaCameroonCaprivi StripCentral African RepublicChadDR CongoGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastKenyaLiberiaMalawiMaliMauritaniaMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaSenegalSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabwe
Native distribution of Sesamum sesamoides, 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
Benin BEN AFRICA
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Cameroon CMN
Caprivi Strip CPV
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
DR Congo ZAI
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
Liberia LBR
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM

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 8 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.

  • Ceratotheca melanosperma Hochst. ex Bernh.
  • Ceratotheca sesamoides Endl.
  • Ceratotheca sesamoides f. latifolia Engl.
  • Ceratotheca sesamoides var. baoulensis A.Chev.
  • Ceratotheca sesamoides var. grandiflora Berhaut
  • Ceratotheca sesamoides var. melanoptera A.DC.
  • Ceratotheca sesasmoides var. baoulensis A.Chev.
  • Sesamum heudelotii Stapf

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. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol CESE9. public domain. 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.