Mnesithea laevis(Retz.) Kunth

smooth jointtail grass

WFO wfo-0000880364 Accepted WFO 2026-06 3 photographs CC0

Plate 1 figs. a–c · 1 observation

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 1 time, 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.

Mnesithea laevis, photographed by Meng-Ying Tsai
fig. a Meng-Ying Tsai, CC0 1.0 / 2019-05-04 / obs. 38003106
Mnesithea laevis, photographed by Meng-Ying Tsai
fig. b Meng-Ying Tsai, CC0 1.0 / obs. 38003104
Mnesithea laevis, photographed by Meng-Ying Tsai
fig. c Meng-Ying Tsai, CC0 1.0 / obs. 38003352

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
K002702403
Filed as
Mnesithea laevis (Retz.) Kunth
Det. by
O.S.
Collected
Thompson, T. 1864-08-01
Origin
IN
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 25 botanical countries

Regions where Mnesithea laevis is native: China Southeast, Hainan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Maluku, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Caroline Is., Marianas China SoutheastHainanTaiwanAssamBangladeshCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalukuMyanmarPakistanPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiThailandVietnamWest Himalaya Nansei-shotoAndaman Is.Nicobar Is.Caroline Is.Marianas
Native distribution of Mnesithea laevis, 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
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nicobar Is. NCB
Pakistan PAK
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China Southeast CHS ASIA-TEMPERATE
Hainan CHH
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Marianas MRN

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 26 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.

  • Diperium cylindricum Desv.
  • Hemarthria perforata Kunth
  • Heteropholis cochinchinensis (Lour.) Clayton
  • Heteropholis cochinchinensis var. chenii (C.C.Hsu) Sosef & de Koning
  • Mnesithea laevis var. hirta Jansen
  • Mnesithea perforata (Roxb.) Haines
  • Ophiuros cochinchinensis (Lour.) Merr.
  • Ophiuros laevis Benth.
  • Ophiuros monostachyus J.Presl
  • Ophiuros perforatus Trin.
  • Ophiuros shimadanus Ohwi & Odash.
  • Ophiuros undatus Nees
  • Ophiuros undulatus Benth.
  • Ophiurus laevis (Retz.) Benth.
  • Paspalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Willd. ex Flüggé
  • Paspalum cochinchinense Willd.
  • Phleum cochinchinense Lour.
  • Rottboellia corymbosa subvar. cochinchinensis (Lour.) Roberty
  • Rottboellia laevis Retz.
  • Rottboellia monostachya (J.Presl) Em.Schmid
  • Rottboellia perforata Roxb.
  • Thaumastochloa chenii C.C.Hsu
  • Thaumastochloa cochinchinensis (Lour.) C.E.Hubb.
  • Thaumastochloa cochinchinensis f. shimadana (Ohwi & Odash.) Ohwi

and 2 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 MNLA. 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.