Sagina japonica(Sw. ex Steud.) Ohwi

Asian pearlwortJapanese pearlwort

WFO wfo-0001291294 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Sagina japonica, photographed by 岸本年郎
fig. a 岸本年郎, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-11 / obs. 197172002
Sagina japonica, photographed by 岸本年郎
fig. b 岸本年郎, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197212742
Sagina japonica, photographed by 岸本年郎
fig. c 岸本年郎, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190250373
Sagina japonica, photographed by 葉子
fig. d 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 190236926
Sagina japonica, photographed by 葉子
fig. e 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 190039765
Sagina japonica, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. f Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169204579
Sagina japonica, photographed by Junichi　Mandai
fig. g Junichi　Mandai, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 126819526
Sagina japonica, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. h Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 148967706

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 21 botanical countries

Regions where Sagina japonica is native: China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Inner Mongolia, Japan, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Korea, Kuril Is., Manchuria, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Primorye, Qinghai, Sakhalin, Taiwan, Tibet, Assam, East Himalaya, Myanmar, Nepal China North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastInner MongoliaJapanKamchatkaKhabarovskManchuriaPrimoryeQinghaiSakhalinTaiwanTibetAssamEast HimalayaMyanmarNepal KoreaNansei-shoto
Native distribution of Sagina japonica, 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
China North-Central CHN ASIA-TEMPERATE
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Inner Mongolia CHI
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Kuril Is. KUR
Manchuria CHM
Nansei-shoto NNS
Ogasawara-shoto OGA
Primorye PRM
Qinghai CHQ
Sakhalin SAK
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
East Himalaya EHM
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Ogasawara-shoto. 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.

Also published as 4 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.

  • Sagina echinosperma Hayata
  • Sagina sinensis Hance
  • Sagina taquetii H.Lév.
  • Spergula japonica Sw. ex Steud.

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.