Koeleria capensis(Thunb.) Nees

WFO wfo-0000876822 Accepted WFO 2026-06 6 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–f · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 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.

Koeleria capensis, photographed by Jim Sweet
fig. a Jim Sweet, CC BY 4.0 / 2016-11-04 / obs. 57947362
Koeleria capensis, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. b bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / obs. 105540474
Koeleria capensis, photographed by Jim Sweet
fig. c Jim Sweet, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 57763528
Koeleria capensis, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. d Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 15782568
Koeleria capensis, photographed by Jim Sweet
fig. e Jim Sweet, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 57947359
Koeleria capensis, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. f Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 15782574

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 17 botanical countries

Regions where Koeleria capensis is native: Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Northern Provinces, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Yemen CameroonCape ProvincesEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoMalawiMozambiqueNorthern ProvincesSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweYemen
Native distribution of Koeleria capensis, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Cameroon CMN AFRICA
Cape Provinces CPP
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Northern Provinces TVL
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Yemen YEM 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.

Also published as 31 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.

  • Aira capensis (Thunb.) Steud.
  • Airochloa alopecurus (Nees) Nees
  • Airochloa alopecurus var. brevifolia Nees
  • Airochloa capensis (Thunb.) Nees
  • Airochloa convoluta Domin
  • Airochloa parviflora var. capensis (Nees) Nees
  • Airochloa uniflora Hochst.
  • Alopecurus capensis Thunb.
  • Dactylis villosa Thunb.
  • Festuca villosa (Thunb.) Spreng.
  • Koeleria alopecurus Nees
  • Koeleria capensis var. pseudonitidula Domin
  • Koeleria ciliata var. convoluta (Steud.) Domin
  • Koeleria convoluta Hochst. ex Steud.
  • Koeleria convoluta subvar. supina Domin
  • Koeleria convoluta var. densiflora Domin
  • Koeleria convoluta var. deusticola Domin
  • Koeleria convoluta var. uniflora (Hochst.) Domin
  • Koeleria cristata var. brevifolia (Nees) C.E.Hubb.
  • Koeleria cristata var. convoluta (Steud.) C.E.Hubb.
  • Koeleria cristata var. cristata
  • Koeleria cristata var. densiflora (Domin) Peter
  • Koeleria cristata var. shiraensis C.E.Hubb.
  • Koeleria cristata var. supina (Domin) C.E.Hubb.

and 7 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. 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.