Chrysopogon aciculatus(Retz.) Trin.

golden false beardgrass

WFO wfo-0000859797 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Chrysopogon aciculatus, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. a Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-01-23 / obs. 177512687

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
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
4282813
Filed as
Chrysopogon aciculatus (Retz.) Trin.
Det. by
K. Faccenda 2023-01-01
Collected
not recorded
Origin
not recorded
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

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 53 botanical countries

Regions where Chrysopogon aciculatus is native: Madagascar, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Seychelles, Afghanistan, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maldives, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Is., South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Queensland, Caroline Is., Cook Is., Fiji, Marianas, Marquesas, Marshall Is., Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Samoa, Society Is., Tonga, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is. MadagascarAfghanistanChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanAssamBangladeshBismarck ArchipelagoBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPhilippinesSolomon Is.Sri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamWest HimalayaQueenslandFijiNew Caledonia MauritiusRodriguesSeychellesNansei-shotoMaldivesSouth China SeaCaroline Is.Cook Is.MarianasMarquesasMarshall Is.NauruNiueSamoaSociety Is.TongaTuamotuTubuai Is.VanuatuWallis-Futuna Is.
Native distribution of Chrysopogon aciculatus, 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
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Bismarck Archipelago BIS
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maldives MDV
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Philippines PHI
Solomon Is. SOL
South China Sea SCS
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Cook Is. COO
Fiji FIJ
Marianas MRN
Marquesas MRQ
Marshall Is. MRS
Nauru NRU
New Caledonia NWC
Niue NUE
Samoa SAM
Society Is. SCI
Tonga TON
Tuamotu TUA
Tubuai Is. TUB
Vanuatu VAN
Wallis-Futuna Is. WAL
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Nansei-shoto NNS
Ogasawara-shoto OGA
Taiwan TAI
Madagascar MDG AFRICA
Mauritius MAU
Rodrigues ROD
Seychelles SEY
Queensland QLD AUSTRALASIA

Not drawn on the map: Ogasawara-shoto. 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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 466 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 12.1 °C 19.9 °C 24.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 25.2 °C 29.9 °C 32.7 °C
Annual rainfall 973 mm 2,414 mm 4,191 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 41 mm 206 mm 696 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 466 research-grade observations of Chrysopogon aciculatus that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 21 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 acicularis Willd.
  • Andropogon acicularis Willd.
  • Andropogon acicularis Roem. & Schult.
  • Andropogon aciculatus Retz.
  • Andropogon aculeatus Steud.
  • Andropogon javanicus Steud.
  • Andropogon subulatus J.Presl
  • Centrophorum chinense Trin.
  • Chrysopogon acicularis Duthie
  • Chrysopogon aciculatus var. elatior Benth.
  • Chrysopogon aciculatus var. longifolius Buse
  • Chrysopogon subulatus (J.Presl) Trin. ex Steud.
  • Chrysopogon trivialis (Lour.) Arn. & Nees
  • Holcus aciculatus (Retz.) R.Br.
  • Rhaphis acicularis Desv.
  • Rhaphis aciculata Honda
  • Rhaphis javanica Nees ex Steud.
  • Rhaphis trivalvis Kunth
  • Rhaphis trivialis Lour.
  • Rhaphis zizanioides var. aciculatus (Retz.) Roberty
  • Sorghum aciculatum (Retz.) Kuntze

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.