Arthraxon lancifolius(Trin.) Hochst.

WFO wfo-0000849867 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Arthraxon lancifolius, photographed by S.MORE
fig. a S.MORE, CC0 1.0 / 2021-10-12 / obs. 163165727

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.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 3721000
Filed as
Arthraxon lancifolius (Trin.) Hochst.
Det. by
Soreng, Robert J., Research Associate (BOT), Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of Natural History (UNITED STATES)
Collected
P. M. Peterson, R. J. Soreng, K. Romaschenko & Y. Abeid 2012-05-25
Origin
TZ
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 42 botanical countries

Regions where Arthraxon lancifolius is native: Cameroon, Cape Verde, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Socotra, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China South-Central, Oman, Taiwan, Yemen, Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya CameroonEritreaEthiopiaGhanaGuineaKenyaMadagascarMalawiMaliMozambiqueNigeriaSenegalSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaZambiaZimbabweChina South-CentralOmanTaiwanYemenAssamBangladeshCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MyanmarNepalNew GuineaPakistanPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiThailandVietnamWest Himalaya Cape VerdeComoros
Native distribution of Arthraxon lancifolius, 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
Cameroon CMN AFRICA
Cape Verde CVI
Comoros COM
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Kenya KEN
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Socotra SOC
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Pakistan PAK
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
Oman OMA
Taiwan TAI
Yemen YEM

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.

Also published as 32 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.

  • Andropogon lancifolius Trin.
  • Andropogon multicaulis Steud.
  • Arthraxon comorensis A.Camus
  • Arthraxon figarii (De Not.) Asch. & Schweinf.
  • Arthraxon lancifolius var. birmanicus Kuntze
  • Arthraxon lancifolius var. eremophilus Bor
  • Arthraxon lancifolius var. hindustanicus S.K.Jain & Deshp.
  • Arthraxon linifolius Henrard
  • Arthraxon microphyllus f. intermedius Backer
  • Arthraxon microphyllus f. lancifolius (Trin.) Backer
  • Arthraxon microphyllus var. hindustanicus (S.K.Jain & Deshp.) S.M.Almeida & M.R.Almeida
  • Arthraxon microphyllus var. lancifolius (Trin.) Hack.
  • Arthraxon minor Hochst.
  • Arthraxon mollis Hochst.
  • Arthraxon mollis (Nees) Duthie
  • Arthraxon schimperi (Steud.) Hochst.
  • Arthraxon schmidtii Hochst.
  • Batratherum lancifolium (Trin.) Will.Watson
  • Batratherum molle Nees
  • Batratherum molle var. majus Nees
  • Batratherum molle var. tenue Nees
  • Batratherum schimperi (A.Rich.) Nees ex Hochst.
  • Lucaea ciliata (J.A.Schmidt) Steud.
  • Lucaea schimperi Steud.

and 8 more.

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.