Hyparrhenia rufa(Nees) Stapf

jaraguagrass

WFO wfo-0000875326 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Hyparrhenia rufa, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. a bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / 2014-04-19 / obs. 107181189
Hyparrhenia rufa, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. b Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204034329
Hyparrhenia rufa, photographed by Tony van Kampen
fig. c Tony van Kampen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190303352
Hyparrhenia rufa, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. d Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 170371099
Hyparrhenia rufa, photographed by Brandon Corder
fig. e Brandon Corder, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 108767986
Hyparrhenia rufa, photographed by Scott Ward
fig. f Scott Ward, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 104115559
Hyparrhenia rufa, photographed by elawrey
fig. g elawrey, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 98295747
Hyparrhenia rufa, photographed by elawrey
fig. h elawrey, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 88515590

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 46 botanical countries

Regions where Hyparrhenia rufa is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Réunion, Rodrigues, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China South-Central, Myanmar, Thailand AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCameroonCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaMadagascarMalawiMaliMauritaniaMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina South-CentralMyanmarThailand ComorosMauritiusRéunionRodriguesSeychelles
Native distribution of Hyparrhenia rufa, 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
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Comoros COM
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Réunion REU
Rodrigues ROD
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Seychelles SEY
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Myanmar MYA ASIA-TROPICAL
Thailand THA
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE

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 318 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 8.2 °C 13.7 °C 20.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 24.0 °C 29.2 °C 32.2 °C
Annual rainfall 736 mm 1,355 mm 3,809 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 13 mm 135 mm 601 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 318 research-grade observations of Hyparrhenia rufa 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 30 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 altissimus Hochst. ex A.Braun
  • Andropogon bonangensis Franch.
  • Andropogon fulvicomus Hochst. ex A.Rich.
  • Andropogon fulvicomus Hochst.
  • Andropogon fulvicomus var. approximatus Hochst.
  • Andropogon hirtus Degen ex Lojac.
  • Andropogon pendulus Peter
  • Andropogon rufus (Nees) Kunth
  • Andropogon rufus subvar. approximatus (Hochst.) Chiov.
  • Andropogon rufus var. fulvicomus (Hochst.) Hack.
  • Andropogon rufus var. glabrescens Chiov.
  • Andropogon rufus var. ruficomus Peter
  • Andropogon xanthoblepharis Trin.
  • Andropogon yinduensis Vanderyst
  • Cymbopogon rufus (Nees) Rendle
  • Cymbopogon rufus var. fulvicomus (Hochst.) Rendle
  • Cymbopogon rufus var. major Rendle
  • Hyparrhenia altissima Stapf
  • Hyparrhenia fulvicoma (Hochst.) Andersson
  • Hyparrhenia hirta var. brachypoda Chiov.
  • Hyparrhenia parvispiculata Bamps
  • Hyparrhenia pendula Peter
  • Hyparrhenia rufa subsp. altissima (Stapf) B.K.Simon
  • Hyparrhenia rufa var. fulvicoma (Hochst.) Chiov.

and 6 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. 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.