Spermacoce senensis(Klotzsch) Hiern

Sena star

WFO wfo-0000312738 Accepted WFO 2026-06 6 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–f · 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.

Spermacoce senensis, photographed by rosshawkins
fig. a rosshawkins, CC0 1.0 / 2022-02-19 / obs. 179926683
Spermacoce senensis, photographed by Manuel R Popp
fig. b Manuel R Popp, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 177527376
Spermacoce senensis, photographed by rosshawkins
fig. c rosshawkins, CC0 1.0 / obs. 179926716
Spermacoce senensis, photographed by Manuel R Popp
fig. d Manuel R Popp, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 177527411
Spermacoce senensis, photographed by Manuel R Popp
fig. e Manuel R Popp, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 177527431
Spermacoce senensis, photographed by Manuel R Popp
fig. f Manuel R Popp, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 177527459

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 15 botanical countries

Regions where Spermacoce senensis is native: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Caprivi Strip, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Northern Provinces, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe AngolaBotswanaBurundiCaprivi StripEswatiniEthiopiaKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMalawiMozambiqueNamibiaNorthern ProvincesTanzaniaZambiaZimbabwe
Native distribution of Spermacoce senensis, 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
Botswana BOT
Burundi BUR
Caprivi Strip CPV
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Northern Provinces TVL
Tanzania TAN
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 9 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.

  • Borreria rhodesica Suess.
  • Borreria senensis (Klotzsch) K.Schum.
  • Borreria squarrosa Schinz
  • Borreria stolzii K.Krause
  • Diodia benguellensis Hiern
  • Diodia senensis Klotzsch
  • Mitracarpus dregeanus Sond.
  • Mitracarpus dregeanus E.Mey.
  • Spermacoce dregeana (Sond.) Kuntze

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.