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iNat·182190GenusPlantae3,743 field observations
  1. Plants
  2. ›Vascular Plants
  3. ›flowering plants
  4. ›Dicots
  5. ›nightshades, bindweeds, gooseweeds, and allies
  6. ›nightshade family
  7. ›nightshades and allies
  8. ›groundcherries, lanterns, and allies
Withania
Plate 1 of 9. (c) Franco Colnago, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Franco Colnago · via iNaturalist

Withania

Withania is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae, with 19 to 23 species that are native to parts of North Africa, western Asia, south Asia, southern Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Canary Islands. Withania was initially included within Physalis by Linnaeus in 1753 but has since become its own genus. This grouping was due to the shared feature of an inflated calyx that surrounds and protects the fruit.

Two of the species, W. somnifera (ashwagandha) and W. coagulans (ashutosh booti), are economically significant, and are cultivated in several regions for their medicinal uses.

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15 branches of this genus, most-observed first

Ashwagandha

speciesWithania somnifera

Withania frutescens

speciesWithania frutescens

Withania aristata

speciesWithania aristata

Withania adpressa

speciesWithania adpressa

Paneer Booti

speciesWithania coagulans

Withania echinata

speciesWithania echinata

Withania heterophylla

speciesWithania heterophylla

Withania riebeckii

speciesWithania riebeckii

Withania adunensis

speciesWithania adunensis

Withania qaraitica

speciesWithania qaraitica

Withania chamaesarachoides

speciesWithania chamaesarachoides

Withania kweichouensis

speciesWithania kweichouensis

Withania japonica

speciesWithania japonica

Withania yunnanensis

speciesWithania yunnanensis

Withania sinica

speciesWithania sinica

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Where it lives

Recorded sightings

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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.

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In the old herbals & bestiaries

Withania in Discourses on the Six Books of Dioscorides

Discourses on the Six Books of Dioscorides

Dioscorides; Pietro Andrea Mattioli (comm.) · 1568 · p.1309

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In the stacks

Searching the stacks…

Every page naming Withania in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →

This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 182190.