Ticanto crista(L.) R.Clark & Gagnon

gray nicker

WFO wfo-1000040031 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Ticanto crista, photographed by Cheongweei Gan
fig. a Cheongweei Gan, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-03-18 / obs. 183504602
Ticanto crista, photographed by 葉子
fig. b 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 191582744
Ticanto crista, photographed by 葉子
fig. c 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 190581536
Ticanto crista, photographed by 葉子
fig. d 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 190582920
Ticanto crista, photographed by 葉子
fig. e 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 190278618
Ticanto crista, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. f Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 171920502
Ticanto crista, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. g Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 110097611
Ticanto crista, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. h Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 110083152

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 35 botanical countries

Regions where Ticanto crista is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Japan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, Christmas I., India, Jawa, Laccadive Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Solomon Is., South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, Queensland, Caroline Is., New Caledonia, Santa Cruz Is., Tonga, Vanuatu China South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanJapanTaiwanBangladeshBismarck ArchipelagoBorneoCambodiaIndiaJawaLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNew GuineaPhilippinesSolomon Is.Sri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamQueenslandNew Caledonia Nansei-shotoAndaman Is.Christmas I.Laccadive Is.Nicobar Is.South China SeaCaroline Is.TongaVanuatu
Native distribution of Ticanto crista, 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
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Bismarck Archipelago BIS
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
Christmas I. XMS
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laccadive Is. LDV
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Solomon Is. SOL
South China Sea SCS
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Japan JAP
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
New Caledonia NWC
Santa Cruz Is. SCZ
Tonga TON
Vanuatu VAN
Queensland QLD AUSTRALASIA

Not drawn on the map: Santa Cruz Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 454 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 11.7 °C 14.0 °C 23.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 27.7 °C 29.2 °C 30.7 °C
Annual rainfall 1,891 mm 2,412 mm 3,864 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 60 mm 118 mm 685 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 454 research-grade observations of Ticanto crista that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 18 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.

  • Butea loureiroi Spreng.
  • Caesalpinia axillaris (Lam.) DC.
  • Caesalpinia crista L.
  • Caesalpinia crista var. parvistipula Urb.
  • Caesalpinia kwangtungensis Merr.
  • Caesalpinia laevigata Perr.
  • Caesalpinia nuga (L.) W.T.Aiton
  • Caesalpinia paniculata (Lam.) Roxb.
  • Caesalpinia scandens J.Koenig ex Baker
  • Caesalpinia scandens B.Heyne ex Roth
  • Genista scandens Lour.
  • Guilandina axillaris Lam.
  • Guilandina crista (L.) Small
  • Guilandina nuga L.
  • Guilandina paniculata Lam.
  • Guilandina parvifolia Stokes
  • Guilandina rotunda Noronha
  • Ticanto nuga (L.) Medik.

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. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol TINU. public domain. 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.