Hymenachne amplexicaulis(Rudge) Nees

West Indian marsh grass

WFO wfo-0000875143 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 5 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 5 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.

Hymenachne amplexicaulis, photographed by Hugo Hulsberg
fig. a Hugo Hulsberg, CC0 1.0 / 2014-04-27 / obs. 166637151

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
1147073
Filed as
Hymenachne amplexicaulis (Rudge) Nees
Det. by
G. Davidse 1981-01-01
Collected
J. M. Poole 1979-06-26
Origin
BR
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 60 botanical countries

Regions where Hymenachne amplexicaulis is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Windward Is. China South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanAssamBangladeshBorneoEast HimalayaIndiaJawaMalayaMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPhilippinesSri LankaThailandVietnamNorthern TerritoryQueenslandWestern AustraliaMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoUruguayVenezuela Andaman Is.Nicobar Is.Leeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Hymenachne amplexicaulis, 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
Argentina Northwest AGW
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
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
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Borneo BOR
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
Mexico Gulf MXG NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Taiwan TAI
Northern Territory NTA AUSTRALASIA
Queensland QLD
Western Australia WAU

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 287 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 10.3 °C 14.1 °C 23.0 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 28.1 °C 31.1 °C 35.9 °C
Annual rainfall 740 mm 1,379 mm 2,728 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 9 mm 127 mm 274 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 287 research-grade observations of Hymenachne amplexicaulis 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.

Named cultivars 1 recorded

Selections of Hymenachne amplexicaulis that somebody named and propagated. A cultivar is not a botanical taxon: it is governed by the cultivated-plant code rather than the botanical one, so it appears in no taxonomic backbone, and it has no native range and no wild population of its own. These get no page here, because a cultivar has no photographs, no range and no flowering data of its own, and a page with none of those is not a page.

From Wikidata (CC0), joined to this species on its World Flora Online identifier, so the link to the parent is exact rather than a name match. This list is what is recorded in an openly licensed register; it is not every cultivar that exists, and for many genera it is not close. Why, and how far short it falls.

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.

  • Agrostis monostachya Poir.
  • Hymenachne acutigluma (Steud.) Gilliland
  • Hymenachne calamitosa J.R.Clarkson
  • Hymenachne gouinii E.Fourn.
  • Hymenachne monostachya (Poir.) P.Beauv.
  • Hymenachne pseudointerrupta Müll.Hal.
  • Hymenachne serrulata (Roxb.) Nees ex Wight & Arn.
  • Panicum acuminatum Salzm. ex Döll
  • Panicum acutiglume Steud.
  • Panicum acutiglumum Steud.
  • Panicum amplexicaule Rudge
  • Panicum amplexicaule var. deflexum Döll
  • Panicum amplexicaule var. erectum Döll
  • Panicum auritum Hassk.
  • Panicum caudatum Willd. ex Steud.
  • Panicum grisebachianum Mez
  • Panicum hasskarlii Steud. ex Zoll.
  • Panicum hymenachne Desv.
  • Panicum myurum G.Mey.
  • Panicum perdensum Steud.
  • Sporobolus villosus Hochst. ex Döll

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.