Plant Wiki

The open plant encyclopedia

Know any plant.
Grow it well.

Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.

  • 13,000+plants with full pages
  • 365,000+plant species worldwide
  • 220+countries covered

Common in

See all

The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.

What do you want to do?

Popular plants

Browse all plants

See them in 3D

All plants in 3D

Browse plants

Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.

Plant Wiki › Browse plants

South African Cabbage Trees

Cussonia

Also called Umbrella Trees

South African Cabbage Trees
Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0
Family
Araliaceae (Ivy family)

About

Cussonia is a genus of plants of the family Araliaceae, which is native to the Afrotropics. It originated in Africa and has its center of distribution in South Africa and the Mascarene Islands. Due to their striking habit, they are a conspicuous and easily recognizable group of plants. Their genus name commemorates the botanist Pierre Cusson. The Afro-Malagasy and Asian Schefflera, and Afrotropical Seemannaralia genera are related taxa that share several of its morphological characteristics, among which the leaves borne on the end of branches, inflorescences carried on terminal branches or stems, and reduced leaf complexity in developing inflorescences.

Where it grows

They occur in grasslands, woodlands and forests, from sea level to over 2,000 metres in altitude. Geographically, they are indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa, Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula and the Comoro Islands.

Other Cussonia plants

Octopus Cabbage Tree · Cussonia bancoensis · Cussonia holstii · Cabbagetree · Forest Cabbage Tree · Spiked cabbage tree · Cabbagebush

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cussonia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

Credits & terms

Identify a plant

Point at a leaf or flower and snap. One plant in frame works best.

Your photo
Starting camera…