Isolepis cernua(Vahl) Roem. & Schult.

Slender Club-rushlow bulrush

WFO wfo-0000448337 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Isolepis cernua, photographed by Arnim Littek
fig. a Arnim Littek, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-05 / obs. 204065652
Isolepis cernua, photographed by Joe Dillon
fig. b Joe Dillon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203785992
Isolepis cernua, photographed by Arnim Littek
fig. c Arnim Littek, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201483722
Isolepis cernua, photographed by Arnim Littek
fig. d Arnim Littek, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 200441256
Isolepis cernua, photographed by Joe Dillon
fig. e Joe Dillon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 191477704
Isolepis cernua, photographed by Arnim Littek
fig. f Arnim Littek, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 188234825
Isolepis cernua, photographed by Arnim Littek
fig. g Arnim Littek, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187017007
Isolepis cernua, photographed by Arnim Littek
fig. h Arnim Littek, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 185981064

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 68 botanical countries

Regions where Isolepis cernua is native: Algeria, Azores, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, Northern Provinces, Tanzania, Tunisia, Falkland Is., Tristan da Cunha, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Türkiye, Antipodean Is., Chatham Is., Kermadec Is., New South Wales, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Norfolk Is., Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, Albania, Baleares, Corse, France, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Türkiye-in-Europe, British Columbia, California, Mexico Northwest, Oregon, Texas, Washington, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Bolivia, Brazil South, Chile Central, Chile North, Chile South, Colombia, Ecuador, Juan Fernández Is., Peru, Uruguay AlgeriaCape ProvincesEthiopiaFree StateKwaZulu-NatalLesothoLibyaMoroccoNorthern ProvincesTanzaniaTunisiaFalkland Is.CyprusEast Aegean Is.Lebanon-SyriaPalestineTürkiyeNew South WalesNew Zealand NorthNew Zealand SouthQueenslandSouth AustraliaTasmaniaVictoriaWestern AustraliaAlbaniaCorseFranceGreeceIrelandItalyKritiNW. Balkan Pen.PortugalSiciliaSpainTürkiye-in-EuropeBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaMexico NorthwestOregonTexasWashingtonArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestArgentina SouthBoliviaBrazil SouthChile CentralChile NorthChile SouthColombiaEcuadorPeruUruguay AzoresCanary Is.Cape VerdeMadeiraTristan da CunhaAntipodean Is.Chatham Is.Kermadec Is.Norfolk Is.BalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Isolepis cernua, 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
Azores AZO
Canary Is. CNY
Cape Provinces CPP
Cape Verde CVI
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Libya LBY
Madeira MDR
Morocco MOR
Northern Provinces TVL
Tanzania TAN
Tunisia TUN
Albania ALB EUROPE
Baleares BAL
Corse COR
France FRA
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Portugal POR
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Argentina South AGS
Bolivia BOL
Brazil South BZS
Chile Central CLC
Chile North CLN
Chile South CLS
Colombia CLM
Ecuador ECU
Juan Fernández Is. JNF
Peru PER
Uruguay URU
Antipodean Is. ATP AUSTRALASIA
Chatham Is. CTM
Kermadec Is. KER
New South Wales NSW
New Zealand North NZN
New Zealand South NZS
Norfolk Is. NFK
Queensland QLD
South Australia SOA
Tasmania TAS
Victoria VIC
Western Australia WAU
British Columbia BRC NORTHERN AMERICA
California CAL
Mexico Northwest MXN
Oregon ORE
Texas TEX
Washington WAS
Cyprus CYP ASIA-TEMPERATE
East Aegean Is. EAI
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Palestine PAL
Türkiye TUR
Falkland Is. FAL ANTARCTICA
Tristan da Cunha TDC

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain, Juan Fernández Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are 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.

Flowering 44 in flower of 288 examined

Peak flowering in Jul. Each bar is the share of Isolepis cernua 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. 44 of 288 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 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 126 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.

  • Cyperus ambiguus Steud.
  • Cyperus pumilio Steud.
  • Cyperus pumilio Nees
  • Eleogiton cernua (Vahl) A.Dietr.
  • Eleogiton verruculosa (Steud.) A.Dietr.
  • Fimbristylis pygmaea Vahl
  • Isolepis brachyphylla J.Presl & C.Presl
  • Isolepis brevifolia J.Presl & C.Presl
  • Isolepis brevis (d'Urv.) Brongn.
  • Isolepis cernua f. aphylla (Boeckeler) Vegetti
  • Isolepis chaetodes Link
  • Isolepis chlorostachya Nees
  • Isolepis controversa Steud.
  • Isolepis eckloniana Schrad.
  • Isolepis erubescens Steud.
  • Isolepis furcata Nees & Meyen
  • Isolepis fuscata Meyen
  • Isolepis fuscata Meyen ex Boeckeler
  • Isolepis heterolepis Steud.
  • Isolepis heterophylla Steud.
  • Isolepis kochii Steud.
  • Isolepis leptalea (W.D.J.Koch) Schult.
  • Isolepis leptocaulis Torr.
  • Isolepis magellanica Gaudich.

and 102 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.