Sonchus wightianusDC.

WFO wfo-0000116143 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 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.

Sonchus wightianus, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. a Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-09-03 / obs. 93391314
Sonchus wightianus, photographed by S.MORE
fig. b S.MORE, CC0 1.0 / obs. 57356741
Sonchus wightianus, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. c Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 93391318
Sonchus wightianus, photographed by S.MORE
fig. d S.MORE, CC0 1.0 / obs. 57356736
Sonchus wightianus, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. e Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 93391326
Sonchus wightianus, photographed by S.MORE
fig. f S.MORE, CC0 1.0 / obs. 57356690
Sonchus wightianus, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. g Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 93391333
Sonchus wightianus, photographed by S.MORE
fig. h S.MORE, CC0 1.0 / obs. 57356737

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 23 botanical countries

Regions where Sonchus wightianus is native: Afghanistan, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Inner Mongolia, Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya AfghanistanChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanInner MongoliaTaiwanTibetXinjiangAssamBangladeshEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosMalayaMyanmarNepalPakistanSri LankaThailandVietnamWest Himalaya
Native distribution of Sonchus wightianus, 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
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
Sri Lanka SRL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Inner Mongolia CHI
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
Xinjiang CHX

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.

  • Sonchus arvensis var. glaber Haines
  • Sonchus lachnocephalus Rech.f.
  • Sonchus lingianus C.Shih
  • Sonchus orixensis Roxb.
  • Sonchus picris H.Lév. & Vaniot
  • Sonchus wallichianus DC.
  • Sonchus wightianus subsp. wallichianus (DC.) Boulos
  • Sonchus wightianus var. glaber (Haines) H.O.Saxena & Brahmam

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.