Schoenoplectus scirpoides(Schrad.) Browning

WFO wfo-0000528225 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Schoenoplectus scirpoides, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. a Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-03-06 / obs. 182706200
Schoenoplectus scirpoides, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. b Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 117628215
Schoenoplectus scirpoides, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. c Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 85989818
Schoenoplectus scirpoides, photographed by douglaseustonbrown
fig. d douglaseustonbrown, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 45862902
Schoenoplectus scirpoides, photographed by Kim Gordon
fig. e Kim Gordon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186576235
Schoenoplectus scirpoides, photographed by Dave Richardson
fig. f Dave Richardson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 114066838
Schoenoplectus scirpoides, photographed by kevin koen
fig. g kevin koen, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 87680481
Schoenoplectus scirpoides, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. h Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 83216702

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 15 botanical countries

Regions where Schoenoplectus scirpoides is native: Benin, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Ethiopia, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia BeninBotswanaCape ProvincesEthiopiaKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMalawiMozambiqueNamibiaNorthern ProvincesSenegalSomaliaTanzaniaUgandaZambia
Native distribution of Schoenoplectus scirpoides, 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
Benin BEN AFRICA
Botswana BOT
Cape Provinces CPP
Ethiopia ETH
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Northern Provinces TVL
Senegal SEN
Somalia SOM
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM

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 5 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.

  • Malacochaete pterolepis Nees
  • Pterolepis scirpoides Schrad.
  • Schoenoplectus litoralis var. pterolepis (Nees) C.C.Towns.
  • Scirpus litoralis var. pterolepis (Nees) C.B.Clarke
  • Scirpus pterolepis (Nees) Kunth

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.