Scoparia dulcisL.

licorice weed

WFO wfo-0000495138 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Scoparia dulcis, photographed by Mohammed Kamal-Deen Fuseini
fig. a Mohammed Kamal-Deen Fuseini, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-05-27 / obs. 200998670
Scoparia dulcis, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. b Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 200226636
Scoparia dulcis, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. c Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 198335117
Scoparia dulcis, photographed by Claire Herzog
fig. d Claire Herzog, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197501687
Scoparia dulcis, photographed by Maria Janeiro
fig. e Maria Janeiro, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 191838430
Scoparia dulcis, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. f Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 186796108
Scoparia dulcis, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. g Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 185718745
Scoparia dulcis, photographed by Maria Janeiro
fig. h Maria Janeiro, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 183393341

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 52 botanical countries

Regions where Scoparia dulcis is native: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Cayman Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. AlabamaFloridaGeorgiaLouisianaMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMississippiSouth CarolinaTexasArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSouthwest CaribbeanSurinameTrinidad-TobagoUruguayVenezuela ArubaBahamasCayman Is.GalápagosLeeward Is.Netherlands AntillesVenezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Scoparia dulcis, 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
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Aruba ARU
Bahamas BAH
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Cayman Is. CAY
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Galápagos GAL
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Netherlands Antilles NLA
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Southwest Caribbean SWC
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Louisiana LOU
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Mississippi MSI
South Carolina SCA
Texas TEX

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.

Flowering 353 in flower of 429 examined

Peak flowering in Feb. Each bar is the share of Scoparia dulcis observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 353 of 429 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 15 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.

  • Ambulia micrantha (Nutt.) Raf.
  • Capraria dulcis (L.) Kuntze
  • Capraria dulcis var. albiflora Kuntze
  • Capraria dulcis var. coerulea Kuntze
  • Gratiola micrantha Nutt.
  • Scoparia dulcis var. abrahamii S.N.Pardeshi & Srinivasu
  • Scoparia dulcis var. australiensis Domin
  • Scoparia dulcis var. tenuifolia Griseb.
  • Scoparia dulcis var. typica Domin
  • Scoparia fruticosa Rottb.
  • Scoparia grandiflora Nash
  • Scoparia gypsophyloides Walp.
  • Scoparia procumbens Jacq.
  • Scoparia purpurea Ridl.
  • Scoparia ternata Forssk.

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.