Swartzia simplex(Sw.) Spreng.

WFO wfo-0000183577 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 7 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 7 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.

Swartzia simplex, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. a Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / 2019-03-17 / obs. 55308991
Swartzia simplex, photographed by Alexis López Hernández
fig. b Alexis López Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 7038829
Swartzia simplex, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. c Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 31071308
Swartzia simplex, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. d Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 118130341
Swartzia simplex, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. e Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 55308997
Swartzia simplex, photographed by keesgroenendijk
fig. f keesgroenendijk, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 31542014
Swartzia simplex, photographed by keesgroenendijk
fig. g keesgroenendijk, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 196661233
Swartzia simplex, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. h Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 56226763

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 18 botanical countries

Regions where Swartzia simplex is native: Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is. Mexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NortheastBrazil SoutheastColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorEl SalvadorGuatemalaHondurasNicaraguaPanamáPeruTrinidad-Tobago Leeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Swartzia simplex, 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Belize BLZ SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bolivia BOL
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil Southeast BZL
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
Guatemala GUA
Honduras HON
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Southeast MXT NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Southwest MXS

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 37 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.

  • Mimosa crocea Vell.
  • Possira grandiflora (Vahl) Poir.
  • Possira simplex Sw.
  • Rittera grandiflora Vahl
  • Rittera simplex (Sw.) Vahl
  • Swartzia crocea (Vell.) Benth.
  • Swartzia darienensis Pittier
  • Swartzia grandiflora (Vahl) Willd.
  • Swartzia macrosperma Bertol.
  • Swartzia ochnacea DC.
  • Swartzia simplex var. continentalis Urb.
  • Swartzia simplex var. darienensis (Pittier) Schery
  • Swartzia simplex var. genuina Urb.
  • Swartzia simplex var. grandiflora (Raddi) R.S.Cowan
  • Swartzia simplex var. jamaicensis Urb.
  • Swartzia simplex var. ochnacea (DC.) R.S.Cowan
  • Swartzia simplex var. simplex
  • Swartzia simplicifolia Willd.
  • Swartzia trifolia Pittier
  • Swartzia triphylla var. grandiflora Raddi
  • Tounatea crocea (Vell.) Taub.
  • Tounatea cuneata Britton
  • Tounatea darienensis (Pittier) Britton & Rose
  • Tounatea gatunensis Britton

and 13 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.