Luzula pallescensSw.

Eurasian woodrush

WFO wfo-0000778015 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Luzula pallescens, photographed by Aleksei Baushev
fig. a Aleksei Baushev, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-11 / obs. 205237985

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
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Accession
K001527226
Filed as
Luzula pallescens Sw.
Det. by
Christenhusz, M.J.M.
Collected
Christenhusz, M.J.M.; Shaw, A.; Márquez-Corro, J.I.; Leitch, I. 2023-06-29
Origin
GB
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 52 botanical countries

Regions where Luzula pallescens is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Sakhalin, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, West Himalaya, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Krym, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Sweden, Ukraine AltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChitaInner MongoliaIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskKirgizstanKrasnoyarskMagadanManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeSakhalinTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTurkmenistanTuvaUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaWest HimalayaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandGermanyHungaryKrymNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSwedenUkraine Korea
Native distribution of Luzula pallescens, 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
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Kirgizstan KGZ
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Turkmenistan TKM
Tuva TVA
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Austria AUT EUROPE
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Hungary HUN
Krym KRY
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Sweden SWE
Ukraine UKR
West Himalaya WHM ASIA-TROPICAL

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain. 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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 866 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -20.3 °C -10.9 °C -6.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.3 °C 23.1 °C 25.2 °C
Annual rainfall 480 mm 657 mm 754 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 52 mm 106 mm 122 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 866 research-grade observations of Luzula pallescens 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 25 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.

  • Juncoides pallescens (Sw.) Druce
  • Juncus campestris var. lapponicus Retz.
  • Juncus campestris var. pallescens (Sw.) Hartm.
  • Juncus pallescens Wahlenb.
  • Luzula campestris subsp. pallescens (Sw.) Čelak.
  • Luzula campestris subsp. pulchella (Sw.) Čelak.
  • Luzula campestris subvar. pallescens (Sw.) E.Mey.
  • Luzula campestris var. pallescens (Sw.) Wahlenb.
  • Luzula erecta subsp. pallescens (Sw.) Nyman
  • Luzula erecta var. micrantha Schltdl.
  • Luzula erecta var. pallescens (Sw.) Nolte ex Sond.
  • Luzula multiflora subsp. pallescens Reichgelt
  • Luzula multiflora subsp. pallescens (Sw.) Reichg.
  • Luzula multiflora var. minor Bluff & Fingerh.
  • Luzula multiflora var. pallescens (Sw.) W.D.J.Koch
  • Luzula multiflora var. pallescens (Sw.) Boenn.
  • Luzula pallescens var. arenaria V.I.Krecz.
  • Luzula pallescens var. castanescens K.F.Wu
  • Luzula pallescens var. communis V.I.Krecz.
  • Luzula pallescens var. pallescens
  • Luzula pallescens var. ruderalis V.I.Krecz.
  • Luzula pallescens var. umbrosa Čelak.
  • Luzula pallescens var. umbrosa V.I.Krecz.
  • Luzula pallidula Kirschner

and 1 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. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol LUPA14. 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.