Zygophyllum simplexL.

WFO wfo-0000429768 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Zygophyllum simplex, photographed by Sandipan Das
fig. a Sandipan Das, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-12-27 / obs. 175217213
Zygophyllum simplex, photographed by ajott
fig. b ajott, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 111582679
Zygophyllum simplex, photographed by Brian du Preez
fig. c Brian du Preez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 90693784
Zygophyllum simplex, photographed by Dave U
fig. d Dave U, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 51654632
Zygophyllum simplex, photographed by Dave U
fig. e Dave U, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 83463780
Zygophyllum simplex, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. f Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 23167375
Zygophyllum simplex, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. g Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 23076059
Zygophyllum simplex, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. h Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 22497978

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 37 botanical countries

Regions where Zygophyllum simplex is native: Angola, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Free State, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Western Sahara, Gulf States, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon-Syria, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Yemen, India, Pakistan AngolaBotswanaCape ProvincesChadDjiboutiEgyptEritreaEthiopiaFree StateKenyaLibyaMaliMauritaniaMoroccoNamibiaNigerSenegalSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaWestern SaharaGulf StatesIranIraqKuwaitLebanon-SyriaOmanPalestineSaudi ArabiaSinaiTurkmenistanUzbekistanYemenIndiaPakistan Cape Verde
Native distribution of Zygophyllum 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
Angola ANG AFRICA
Botswana BOT
Cape Provinces CPP
Cape Verde CVI
Chad CHA
Djibouti DJI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Kenya KEN
Libya LBY
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Morocco MOR
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Senegal SEN
Socotra SOC
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Western Sahara WSA
Gulf States GST ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Kuwait KUW
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Oman OMA
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Sinai SIN
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
Yemen YEM
India IND ASIA-TROPICAL
Pakistan PAK

Not drawn on the map: Socotra. 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.

Flowering 78 in flower of 91 examined

Peak flowering in Jan. Each bar is the share of Zygophyllum simplex observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 78 of 91 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 2 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 10 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.

  • Fabago portulacifolius (Forssk.) Medik.
  • Tetraena simplex (L.) Beier & Thulin
  • Zygophyllum dregeanum C.Presl
  • Zygophyllum microcarpum E.Mey.
  • Zygophyllum obtusum Vicary
  • Zygophyllum portulacoides Forssk.
  • Zygophyllum simplex var. capense Sond.
  • Zygophyllum simplex var. herniarioides Chiov.
  • Zygophyllum simplex var. namaense Schinz
  • Zygophyllum stellulatum C.Sm.

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.