Sunhangia elegans(DC.) H.Ohashi & K.Ohashi

WFO wfo-0001444146 Accepted WFO 2026-06 7 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–g · 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.

Sunhangia elegans, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. a Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-08-06 / obs. 88686857
Sunhangia elegans, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. b Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 88403398
Sunhangia elegans, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. c Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 88403325
Sunhangia elegans, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. d Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 88403590
Sunhangia elegans, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. e Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 88402851
Sunhangia elegans, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. f Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 88403157
Sunhangia elegans, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. g Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 88403017

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 10 botanical countries

Regions where Sunhangia elegans is native: Afghanistan, China North-Central, China South-Central, Tibet, East Himalaya, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya AfghanistanChina North-CentralChina South-CentralTibetEast HimalayaIndiaMyanmarNepalPakistanWest Himalaya
Native distribution of Sunhangia elegans, 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
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL
India IND
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
Tibet CHT

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 32 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.

  • Desmodium cinerascens Franch.
  • Desmodium cinerascens var. longipes Pamp.
  • Desmodium cinerascens var. microphyllum Franch.
  • Desmodium elegans DC.
  • Desmodium elegans f. albiflorum (P.C.Li) H.Ohashi
  • Desmodium elegans var. albiflorum P.C.Li
  • Desmodium elegans var. handelii (Schindl.) H.Ohashi
  • Desmodium elegans var. nutans (Graham) H.Ohashi
  • Desmodium esquirolii H.Lév.
  • Desmodium forrestii Schindl.
  • Desmodium franchetii Rehder
  • Desmodium garhwalensis L.R.Dangwal & R.D.Gaur
  • Desmodium glaucophyllum Pamp.
  • Desmodium handelii Schindl.
  • Desmodium nutans (Graham) Hook.
  • Desmodium rhabdocladum Franch.
  • Desmodium serriferum Wall. ex Baker
  • Desmodium spicatum Rehder
  • Desmodium tiliifolium (D.Don) G.Don
  • Desmodium tiliifolium f. glabrum Schindl.
  • Desmodium tiliifolium f. rhabdocladum (Franch.) Schindl.
  • Desmodium tiliifolium var. potaninii Schindl.
  • Hedysarum nutans Graham
  • Hedysarum tiliifolium D.Don

and 8 more.

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.