Tephrosia pumila(Lam.) Pers.

WFO wfo-0000203766 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 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.

Tephrosia pumila, photographed by Haneesh K M
fig. a Haneesh K M, CC0 1.0 / 2021-09-17 / obs. 157914615
Tephrosia pumila, photographed by Charles Stirton
fig. b Charles Stirton, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 15271014
Tephrosia pumila, photographed by Swarochi Tathagath
fig. c Swarochi Tathagath, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 158353243
Tephrosia pumila, photographed by Swarochi Tathagath
fig. d Swarochi Tathagath, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 158353364
Tephrosia pumila, photographed by Swarochi Tathagath
fig. e Swarochi Tathagath, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 158353226
Tephrosia pumila, photographed by Swarochi Tathagath
fig. f Swarochi Tathagath, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 158353311
Tephrosia pumila, photographed by Swarochi Tathagath
fig. g Swarochi Tathagath, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 158353338
Tephrosia pumila, photographed by Charles Stirton
fig. h Charles Stirton, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 15271011

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.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 3735233
Filed as
Tephrosia pumila (Lam.) Pers.
Det. by
Cowie, I.
Collected
F. Starr & K. Starr 2018-01-26
Origin
US
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 45 botanical countries

Regions where Tephrosia pumila is native: Aldabra, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China Southeast, Yemen, Borneo, India, Jawa, Laccadive Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Maldives, Myanmar, New Guinea, Pakistan, Philippines, South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, West Himalaya, Queensland AngolaBotswanaBurundiChadCongoDR CongoEritreaEthiopiaGhanaKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMalawiMozambiqueRwandaSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina SoutheastYemenBorneoIndiaJawaLesser Sunda Is.MyanmarNew GuineaPakistanPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandWest HimalayaQueensland AldabraComorosMauritiusRéunionLaccadive Is.MaldivesSouth China Sea
Native distribution of Tephrosia pumila, 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
Aldabra ALD AFRICA
Angola ANG
Botswana BOT
Burundi BUR
Chad CHA
Comoros COM
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Ghana GHA
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Réunion REU
Rwanda RWA
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Borneo BOR ASIA-TROPICAL
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laccadive Is. LDV
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Maldives MDV
Myanmar MYA
New Guinea NWG
Pakistan PAK
Philippines PHI
South China Sea SCS
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
West Himalaya WHM
China Southeast CHS ASIA-TEMPERATE
Yemen YEM
Queensland QLD AUSTRALASIA

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 16 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.

  • Cracca dichotoma (Desv.) Kuntze
  • Galega procumbens Buch.-Ham.
  • Galega pumila Lam.
  • Tephrosia aldabrensis J.R.Drumm. & Hemsl.
  • Tephrosia commersonii Scott Elliot
  • Tephrosia dichotoma Desv.
  • Tephrosia procumbens (Buch.-Ham.) Benth.
  • Tephrosia procumbens (Buch.-Ham.) Gamble
  • Tephrosia pumila subsp. aldabrensis (J.R.Drumm. & Hemsl.) Bosman & A.J.P.de Haas
  • Tephrosia pumila var. aldabrensis (J.R.Drumm. & Hemsl.) Brummitt
  • Tephrosia pumila var. ciliata (Craib) Brummitt
  • Tephrosia purpurea var. angustata Miq.
  • Tephrosia purpurea var. ciliata Craib
  • Tephrosia purpurea var. pumila (Lam.) Baker
  • Tephrosia quartiniana var. inflexa (Chiov.) Cufod.
  • Tephrosia vicioides var. inflexa Chiov.

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.