Fimbristylis spadicea(L.) Vahl

marsh fimbry

WFO wfo-0000423470 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Fimbristylis spadicea, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. a Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-05-11 / obs. 128279123
Fimbristylis spadicea, photographed by Sam Kieschnick
fig. b Sam Kieschnick, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 31202141
Fimbristylis spadicea, photographed by Eric Knight
fig. c Eric Knight, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 4673399
Fimbristylis spadicea, photographed by Eric Knight
fig. d Eric Knight, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 2200253
Fimbristylis spadicea, photographed by Claire Herzog
fig. e Claire Herzog, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199093682
Fimbristylis spadicea, photographed by Claire Herzog
fig. f Claire Herzog, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184331694
Fimbristylis spadicea, photographed by akt2
fig. g akt2, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 174183295
Fimbristylis spadicea, photographed by Alison Northup
fig. h Alison Northup, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169413295

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.

Native range 51 botanical countries

Regions where Fimbristylis spadicea is native: Alabama, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Argentina Northeast, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil North, Brazil West-Central, Cayman Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Venezuela, Windward Is. AlabamaFloridaGeorgiaLouisianaMarylandMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMississippiNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaSouth CarolinaTexasVirginiaArgentina NortheastBelizeBrazil NorthBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaBahamasBermudaCayman Is.Leeward Is.Netherlands AntillesTurks-Caicos Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Fimbristylis spadicea, 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
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bahamas BAH
Belize BLZ
Bermuda BER
Brazil North BZN
Brazil West-Central BZC
Cayman Is. CAY
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Netherlands Antilles NLA
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Turks-Caicos Is. TCI
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Mississippi MSI
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
South Carolina SCA
Texas TEX
Virginia VRG

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 221 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 0.6 °C 11.9 °C 17.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 27.5 °C 29.7 °C 31.3 °C
Annual rainfall 1,077 mm 1,343 mm 1,663 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 132 mm 207 mm 334 mm

It is found where winters are cool but frost is light or absent. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 221 research-grade observations of Fimbristylis spadicea 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 25 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.

  • Eleogiton spadicea (L.) A.Dietr.
  • Fimbristylis castanea (Michx.) Vahl
  • Fimbristylis cylindrica Vahl
  • Fimbristylis pallidula Kral
  • Fimbristylis riehleana Steud.
  • Fimbristylis spadicea f. domingensis (Pers.) Kük.
  • Fimbristylis spadicea var. castanea (Michx.) A.Gray
  • Fimbristylis spadicea var. depauperata T.Koyama
  • Fimbristylis spadicea var. longestigmata Zavaro
  • Fimbristylis speciosa Rohde ex Spreng.
  • Fimbristylis sterilis Nees
  • Fimbristylis umbellata Schrad. ex Nees
  • Iria castanea (Michx.) Farw.
  • Iria spadicea (L.) Kuntze
  • Iria spadicea var. nigra Kuntze
  • Iria spadicea var. normalis Kuntze
  • Iria spadicea var. pallida Kuntze
  • Iria umbellata (Schrad. ex Nees) Kuntze
  • Schoenus spadiceus (L.) Vahl
  • Scirpus castaneus Michx.
  • Scirpus cylindraceus Willd. ex Kunth
  • Scirpus cylindricus (Vahl) Poir.
  • Scirpus domingensis Pers.
  • Scirpus spadiceus L.

and 1 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. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol FICA4. public domain. 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.