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Heliotropium arboreum; photograph Maria Glenda Perico "Daragang Nagueña", CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAMaria Glenda Perico "Daragang Nagueña", CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Heliotropium arboreum (Blanco) Mabb.

Boraginaceae · Somalia, Kenya +60

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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GBIF's records not checked. GBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked. So this page has no points on its map, no map marker, no habitat climate, no cultivation sheet and no species of nearest climate; the range is Kew's. Not a statement that none exist. How.

Heliotropium arboreum, photograph Qwert1234, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHeliotropium arboreum, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHeliotropium arboreum, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHeliotropium arboreum, photograph self, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHeliotropium arboreum, photograph self, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHeliotropium arboreum, photograph self, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›

Summary

Heliotropium arboreum is a species of flowering plant in the family Heliotropiaceae. It is native to tropical Asia including southern China, Madagascar, northern Australia, and most of the atolls and high islands of Micronesia and Polynesia. Common names include velvetleaf soldierbush, tree heliotrope, veloutier, and octopus bush. It is a shrub or small tree typical of littoral zones reaching a height of 3.6 m (12 ft), with a spread of about 5 m (16 ft).

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Heliotropium arboreum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Heliotropium

Heliotropium is a genus of flowering plants with around 325 species commonly known as heliotropes. They are highly toxic to dogs and cats, as well as to humans.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Heliotropium", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Not checked: GBIF's records were not asked (why, under the name), and the habitat climate is read only from them, so no sheet is derived.

Climate across the habitat

Not checked. GBIF's records were not asked (why, under the name), and the habitat climate is read only from them, so none is derived here. This is not a statement that no climate exists.

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP.
Records not checked: GBIF's records were not asked, as said under the name.
NativeSomalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Aldabra, Chagos Archipelago, Mauritius, Mozambique Channel Is., Madagascar, Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles, Hainan, Japan, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Taiwan, Laccadive Is., Maldives, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Nicobar Is., South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Cocos (Keeling) I., Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Christmas I., New Guinea, Solomon Is., Queensland, Western Australia, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Phoenix Is., Samoa, Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Cook Is., Line Is., Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marcus I., Marianas, Marshall Is., Wake I. · introduced: Hawaii · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedGBIF's records not checked, as said under the name: so there are no points on the map, no map marker and no climate across the range; the range is Kew's. Not a statement that no record exists.

Photographs

Heliotropium arboreum, photograph 1did not loadHeliotropium arboreum, photograph 2did not loadHeliotropium arboreum, photograph 3did not loadHeliotropium arboreum, photograph 4did not loadHeliotropium arboreum, photograph 5did not loadHeliotropium arboreum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Qwert1234, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2); self, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (3).

Similar habitat climate Not checked: GBIF's records were not asked (why, under the name), and the nearest habitat climates are read from the climate they give.

Other Heliotropium 21 in the reference

Heliotropium amplexicaule Heliotropium amplexicaule Summer heliotrope Photo: CC BY, smathichongHeliotropium angiospermum Heliotropium angiospermum Scorpion's-tail Photo: CC BY, Luis Ángel Niño BarreatHeliotropium anomalum Heliotropium anomalum Polynesian heliotrope Photo: CC BY, Neal KelsoHeliotropium arborescens Heliotropium arborescens Cherry-pie Photo: CC BY, Lorenzo GiordaniHeliotropium bacciferum Heliotropium bacciferum Heliotropiaceae Photo: CC BY, Karim HaddadHeliotropium curassavicum Heliotropium curassavicum Seaside heliotrope Photo: CC BY, Irina MitineHeliotropium ellipticum Heliotropium ellipticum Heliotropiaceae Photo: CC BY, Dr. Alexey YakovlevHeliotropium elongatum Heliotropium elongatum Heliotropiaceae Photo: CC BY, Franco RichieriHeliotropium europaeum Heliotropium europaeum European Turn-sole Photo: CC BY-SA, Josep Gesti Heliotropium hartwegianum Boraginaceae Heliotropium hirsutissimum Heliotropium hirsutissimum Heliotropiaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedHeliotropium indicum Heliotropium indicum Indian heliotrope Photo: CC BY, Linda Jo Conn all 22 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Messerschmidia argentea; Tournefortia argentea; Tournefortia arborea; Argusia argentea; Heliotropium foertherianum. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Boraginaceae
Described by
(Blanco) Mabb.
Native to
Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania +59
Records
not checked · GBIF's records were not asked: the page has no GBIF key

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Heliotropium arboreum (Blanco) Mabb. (plant_name_id 3014911), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
Habitat climate climate not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked, and the habitat climate is read only from them
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 77164241-1, POWO 77164241-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence.

Cultifolio

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