Gomphrena vermicularisL.

silverhead

WFO wfo-0000706310 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Gomphrena vermicularis, photographed by Tommy Andriollo
fig. a Tommy Andriollo, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-29 / obs. 191954426
Gomphrena vermicularis, photographed by Jay Pruett
fig. b Jay Pruett, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186938184
Gomphrena vermicularis, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. c Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182016393
Gomphrena vermicularis, photographed by Ann Redmond
fig. d Ann Redmond, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 171184308
Gomphrena vermicularis, photographed by Isaac Chacón
fig. e Isaac Chacón, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 126694036
Gomphrena vermicularis, photographed by John Abrams
fig. f John Abrams, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 118444931
Gomphrena vermicularis, photographed by natalie
fig. g natalie, CC0 1.0 / obs. 109214184
Gomphrena vermicularis, photographed by stinger
fig. h stinger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 62426008

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 57 botanical countries

Regions where Gomphrena vermicularis is native: Angola, Azores, Benin, Cabinda, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Congo, DR Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Florida, Louisiana, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Texas, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Cayman Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panamá, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. AngolaBeninCabindaCameroonCongoDR CongoGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastMauritaniaNigeriaSenegalSierra LeoneTogoFloridaLouisianaMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestTexasBelizeBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorFrench GuianaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPuerto RicoSouthwest CaribbeanSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela AzoresCape VerdeArubaBahamasCayman Is.Leeward Is.Netherlands AntillesVenezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Gomphrena vermicularis, 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
Aruba ARU SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bahamas BAH
Belize BLZ
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Cayman Is. CAY
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
French Guiana FRG
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Netherlands Antilles NLA
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Puerto Rico PUE
Southwest Caribbean SWC
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN
Angola ANG AFRICA
Azores AZO
Benin BEN
Cabinda CAB
Cameroon CMN
Cape Verde CVI
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Mauritania MTN
Nigeria NGA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Togo TOG
Florida FLA NORTHERN AMERICA
Louisiana LOU
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Texas TEX

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.

Flowering 69 in flower of 69 examined

Peak flowering in Jan. Each bar is the share of Gomphrena vermicularis observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 69 of 69 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 6 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

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.

  • Achyranthes vermicularis (L.) Elliott
  • Achyranthes vermicularis (L.) Eaton
  • Blutaparon breviflorum Raf.
  • Blutaparon brevifolium Raf.
  • Blutaparon repens Raf.
  • Blutaparon vermiculare (L.) Mears
  • Blutaparon vermiculare var. longispicatum (Moq.) Mears
  • Blutaparon vermiculare var. vermiculare
  • Caraxeron vermicularis (L.) Raf.
  • Cruzeta crassifolia Maza
  • Cruzeta vermicularis (L.) M.Gómez
  • Gomphrena aggregata Willd.
  • Illecebrum vermiculatum (L.) L.
  • Iresine aggregata (Willd.) Moq.
  • Iresine crassifolia Moq.
  • Iresine vermicularis (L.) Moq.
  • Iresine vermicularis var. longispicata Moq.
  • Lithophila vermicularis (L.) Uline
  • Philoxerus aggregatus Kunth
  • Philoxerus crassifolius Kunth
  • Philoxerus vermicularis (L.) Sm.

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 BLVE. 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.