Flowering plants of Somalia: families Acanthaceae to Aristolochiaceae (501 species)

In short

On 12 November 2026 the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the international open database of species records, held records of 501 flowering plant (families Acanthaceae to Aristolochiaceae) species with Somalia as the country, in 12 families (GBIF occurrence search, Somalia).

The largest families by number of species on record are (GBIF Backbone Taxonomy):

• Acanthaceae: 182
• Apocynaceae: 136
• Amaranthaceae: 96
• Anacardiaceae: 27
• Apiaceae: 22
• Aizoaceae: 16
• Annonaceae: 10
• Achariaceae: 4
• Araliaceae: 3
• Aristolochiaceae: 3

Most often recorded

The species with the most GBIF records from Somalia are Hypoestes forskaolii (116), White Veld Violet (110), Sericocomopsis pallida (93), Aerva javanica (87), Desert-Rose (81), Barleria argentea (78) (GBIF occurrence search, Somalia).

108 of the 501 species have a single record from Somalia (same source).

Named after Somali places

26 species on this list carry Somalia or a Somali place in their scientific name, for example Diplolophium somaliense, Tribulocarpus somalensis, Atriplex erigavoensis, Chionothrix somalensis, Halothamnus somalensis, Ceropegia migiurtina, Ceropegia somalensis, Ceropegia somalica, Ceropegia somalicoides, Cryptolepis migiurtina, Cryptolepis somaliensis, Cynanchum somaliense, Goydera somaliensis, Periploca somaliensis, Vincetoxicum somaliense, Barleria jubata, Barleria shebelleensis, Blepharis ogadenensis, Blepharis somaliensis, Crabbea migiurtina (GBIF Backbone Taxonomy).

Species under threat

The IUCN Red List places these species in a threatened category (GBIF species API, IUCN Red List category):

• Endangered: Barleria longissima, Isoglossa congesta (IUCN via GBIF)
• Vulnerable: Barleria jubata, Barleria punctata, Justicia brevipila, Rhinacanthus rotundifolius, Lannea malifolia, Lannea obovata (IUCN via GBIF)

All plant lists: Plants of Somalia.

How to read this list

A species is on this list when GBIF holds at least one record of it from Somalia. A record can be a museum specimen more than a century old, a sighting shared by an observer, or a specimen cited in a scientific paper. Some records are old and a few may be misidentified, so this is a list of records, not of what lives in Somalia today. Names follow the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, which can lag behind the newest research.

Red List summary

• Critically Endangered (CR): 0
• Endangered (EN): 2
• Vulnerable (VU): 6
• Near Threatened (NT): 5
• Least Concern (LC): 68
• Data Deficient (DD): 2
• Not Evaluated (NE): 418

Categories are from the IUCN Red List as published through GBIF (GBIF species API, IUCN Red List category).

Largest families

• Acanthaceae: 182 species
• Apocynaceae: 136 species
• Amaranthaceae: 96 species
• Anacardiaceae: 27 species
• Apiaceae: 22 species
• Aizoaceae: 16 species
• Annonaceae: 10 species
• Achariaceae: 4 species
• Araliaceae: 3 species
• Aristolochiaceae: 3 species

Full list (501 species)

Each name links to its Calankii page where one exists, otherwise to its GBIF species page. "Records in Somalia" is the number of GBIF occurrence records with Somalia as the country, counted on 12 November 2026 (GBIF occurrence search, Somalia). The same rows, with Wikidata ids and more columns, are in the open data file species-recorded-in-somalia.csv.

This list is in 4 parts: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4

This list is in 4 parts: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4

Sources

• GBIF occurrence search, country Somalia
• GBIF Backbone Taxonomy
• IUCN Red List of Threatened Species