Setaria megaphylla(Steud.) T.Durand & Schinz

bigleaf bristlegrass

WFO wfo-0000899377 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Setaria megaphylla, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. a Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-05-22 / obs. 204462865
Setaria megaphylla, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. b Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 204465041
Setaria megaphylla, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. c Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 201006655
Setaria megaphylla, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. d Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 201064147
Setaria megaphylla, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. e Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 189183499
Setaria megaphylla, photographed by Dave Richardson
fig. f Dave Richardson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 188282416
Setaria megaphylla, photographed by Dave Richardson
fig. g Dave Richardson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 188282716
Setaria megaphylla, photographed by Dave Richardson
fig. h Dave Richardson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 181971129

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 40 botanical countries

Regions where Setaria megaphylla is native: Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Republic, Congo, DR Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Réunion, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Yemen AngolaBeninBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicCongoDR CongoEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMozambiqueNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweSaudi ArabiaYemen MauritiusRéunion
Native distribution of Setaria megaphylla, 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
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Central African Republic CAF
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Réunion REU
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Saudi Arabia SAU ASIA-TEMPERATE
Yemen YEM

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 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.

  • Agrostis flabellata Salzm. ex Steud.
  • Panicum flabellatum Steud.
  • Panicum megaphyllum Steud.
  • Panicum oligochaete (K.Schum.) Kneuck.
  • Panicum phyllomacrum Steud.
  • Panicum plicatile Hochst.
  • Panicum plicatile var. glabrescens Chiov.
  • Panicum plicatile var. pilosum Chiov.
  • Panicum prolisetum Steud.
  • Panicum sulcatum var. stenophyllum Pilg.
  • Setaria acuta Stapf & C.E.Hubb.
  • Setaria chevalieri Stapf
  • Setaria chevalieri var. racemosa de Wit
  • Setaria insignis de Wit
  • Setaria macrophylla Andersson
  • Setaria megaphylla subsp. kisunduensis Vanderyst
  • Setaria megaphylla var. chevalieri (Stapf) Berhaut
  • Setaria megaphylla var. palustris Vanderyst
  • Setaria natalensis de Wit
  • Setaria oligochaete K.Schum.
  • Setaria phyllomacra (Steud.) T.Durand & Schinz
  • Setaria plicatilis (Hochst.) Hack.
  • Setaria proliseta (Steud.) T.Durand & Schinz
  • Setaria sulcata subsp. latifolia Vanderyst

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. 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.