Wigandia urens(Ruiz & Pav.) Kunth

Caracus wigandia

WFO wfo-0000427783 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Wigandia urens, photographed by Grete Pasch
fig. a Grete Pasch, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-03-12 / obs. 182631043
Wigandia urens, photographed by JR Ferrer-Paris
fig. b JR Ferrer-Paris, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 175962203
Wigandia urens, photographed by Christian Berg
fig. c Christian Berg, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 175255385
Wigandia urens, photographed by Emily Franzen
fig. d Emily Franzen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 173324573
Wigandia urens, photographed by Alan Rockefeller
fig. e Alan Rockefeller, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 154308171
Wigandia urens, photographed by Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez
fig. f Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 141555861
Wigandia urens, photographed by Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez
fig. g Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 141555932
Wigandia urens, photographed by Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez
fig. h Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 141555898

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 16 botanical countries

Regions where Wigandia urens is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestColombiaCosta RicaEl SalvadorGuatemalaHondurasNicaraguaPanamáPeruTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela
Native distribution of Wigandia urens, 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
Colombia CLM SOUTHERN AMERICA
Costa Rica COS
El Salvador ELS
Guatemala GUA
Honduras HON
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
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 26 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.

  • Cohiba urens Raf.
  • Ernstamra caracasana (Kunth) Kuntze
  • Ernstamra macrophylla Kuntze
  • Ernstamra scorpiodes (Choisy) Kuntze
  • Ernstamra urens (Ruiz & Pav.) Kuntze
  • Hydrolea auriculata Moc. ex Choisy
  • Hydrolea caracassana Steud.
  • Hydrolea mollis Willd. ex Spreng.
  • Hydrolea scorpioides Moc. ex Choisy
  • Hydrolea urens Ruiz & Pav.
  • Wigandia caracasana Kunth
  • Wigandia caracasana f. viscosa Donn.Sm.
  • Wigandia caracasana var. calycina Brand
  • Wigandia caracasana var. macrophylla (Schltdl. & Cham.) Brand
  • Wigandia caracasana var. viscosa (Donn.Sm.) J.F.Macbr.
  • Wigandia darii Ram.Goyena
  • Wigandia kunthii Choisy
  • Wigandia kunthii var. intermedia Brand
  • Wigandia kunthii var. macrophylla (Schltdl. & Cham.) Choisy
  • Wigandia kunthii var. viscosa Brand
  • Wigandia macrophylla Schltdl. & Cham.
  • Wigandia peruviana W.T.Mill.
  • Wigandia scorpioides Choisy
  • Wigandia urens var. caracasana (Kunth) D.N.Gibson

and 2 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. 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.