Gastridium phleoides(Nees & Meyen) C.E.Hubb.

nit grass

WFO wfo-0000872873 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Gastridium phleoides, photographed by Millie Basden
fig. a Millie Basden, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-03-02 / obs. 114574784
Gastridium phleoides, photographed by Nina Kerr
fig. b Nina Kerr, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 108865586
Gastridium phleoides, photographed by jimasmus
fig. c jimasmus, CC0 1.0 / obs. 36047985
Gastridium phleoides, photographed by dickrawson
fig. d dickrawson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 11336518
Gastridium phleoides, photographed by Zack Abbey
fig. e Zack Abbey, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 8000495
Gastridium phleoides, photographed by crothfels
fig. f crothfels, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 142430036
Gastridium phleoides, photographed by crothfels
fig. g crothfels, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 132757387
Gastridium phleoides, photographed by crothfels
fig. h crothfels, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 74414791

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 44 botanical countries

Regions where Gastridium phleoides is native: Algeria, Angola, Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Libya, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Socotra, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Gulf States, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Yemen, Baleares, France, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Sicilia, Spain, Türkiye-in-Europe AlgeriaAngolaDjiboutiDR CongoEgyptEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoLibyaMalawiMoroccoNamibiaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweCyprusEast Aegean Is.Gulf StatesIranIraqLebanon-SyriaOmanPalestineSaudi ArabiaTranscaucasusTürkiyeYemenFranceGreeceItalyKritiSiciliaSpainTürkiye-in-Europe Baleares
Native distribution of Gastridium phleoides, 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
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Angola ANG
Djibouti DJI
DR Congo ZAI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Libya LBY
Malawi MLW
Morocco MOR
Namibia NAM
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Socotra SOC
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Cyprus CYP ASIA-TEMPERATE
East Aegean Is. EAI
Gulf States GST
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Oman OMA
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Yemen YEM
Baleares BAL EUROPE
France FRA
Greece GRC
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 263 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 2.4 °C 6.4 °C 10.1 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 19.8 °C 27.0 °C 33.5 °C
Annual rainfall 292 mm 436 mm 1,227 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 4 mm 6 mm 53 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 263 research-grade observations of Gastridium phleoides 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 8 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.

  • Agrostis phleoides (Nees & Meyen) É.Desv.
  • Calamagrostis phleoides (Nees & Meyen) Steud.
  • Gastridium lendigerum var. longiaristatum Schweinf.
  • Gastridium oblongatum Coincy
  • Gastridium oblongum Coincy
  • Gastridium ventricosum subsp. phleoides (Nees & Meyen) Tzvelev
  • Gastridium ventricosum var. phleoides (Nees & Meyen) Tzvelev
  • Lachnagrostis phleoides Nees & Meyen

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.