Striga hermonthica(Delile) Benth.

purple witchweed

WFO wfo-0001138081 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.

Striga hermonthica, photographed by Denis Bastianelli
fig. a Denis Bastianelli, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-06-06 / obs. 134357989
Striga hermonthica, photographed by Denis Bastianelli
fig. b Denis Bastianelli, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 134358228
Striga hermonthica, photographed by Denis Bastianelli
fig. c Denis Bastianelli, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 134358480

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 32 botanical countries

Regions where Striga hermonthica is native: Angola, Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Saudi Arabia, Yemen AngolaBeninBurkinaCameroonCentral African RepublicChadCongoDjiboutiEgyptEritreaEthiopiaGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastKenyaMadagascarMaliMauritaniaMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaRwandaSenegalSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaSaudi ArabiaYemen
Native distribution of Striga hermonthica, 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
Benin BEN
Burkina BKN
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
Djibouti DJI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
Madagascar MDG
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Saudi Arabia SAU ASIA-TEMPERATE
Yemen YEM

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 4 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.

  • Buchnera hermonthica Delile
  • Striga campuleia Steud.
  • Striga hermonthica subsp. senegalensis (Benth.) Maire
  • Striga senegalensis Benth.

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.