Setaria palmifolia(J.Koenig) Stapf

bigleaf bristlegrasspalm grasspalmgrass

WFO wfo-0000899427 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Setaria palmifolia, photographed by Lexi Amico
fig. a Lexi Amico, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-26 / obs. 204890953
Setaria palmifolia, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. b Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199037914
Setaria palmifolia, photographed by Thomas Mesaglio
fig. c Thomas Mesaglio, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 192783380
Setaria palmifolia, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. d Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 180050718
Setaria palmifolia, photographed by 劉哲瑋
fig. e 劉哲瑋, CC0 1.0 / obs. 179094693
Setaria palmifolia, photographed by 四角銅鑼
fig. f 四角銅鑼, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 177939471
Setaria palmifolia, photographed by 四角銅鑼
fig. g 四角銅鑼, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 177939491
Setaria palmifolia, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. h Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 177732555

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 32 botanical countries

Regions where Setaria palmifolia is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Japan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Tibet, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Solomon Is., Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, New South Wales, Queensland China South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanJapanTaiwanTibetAssamBangladeshBorneoEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPhilippinesSolomon Is.Sri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamWest HimalayaNew South WalesQueensland Nansei-shotoAndaman Is.Nicobar Is.
Native distribution of Setaria palmifolia, 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
Borneo BOR
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Solomon Is. SOL
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Japan JAP
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
New South Wales NSW AUSTRALASIA
Queensland QLD

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 33 in flower of 62 examined

Peak flowering in Mar. Each bar is the share of Setaria palmifolia 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. 33 of 62 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 7 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. 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 37 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 plicata Lour.
  • Chaetochloa effusa (E.Fourn.) Hitchc.
  • Chaetochloa palmifolia (J.Koenig) Hitchc. & Chase
  • Chaetochloa sulcata (Aubl.) Hitchc.
  • Chamaeraphis effusa (E.Fourn.) Kuntze
  • Chamaeraphis nepalensis (Spreng.) Kuntze
  • Chamaeraphis neurodes (Schult.) Kuntze
  • Chamaeraphis palmifolia (J.Koenig) Kuntze
  • Chamaeraphis paniculifera (Steud.) Kuntze
  • Chamaeraphis sulcata (Aubl.) Kuntze
  • Panicum amplissimum Steud.
  • Panicum kleinianum Nees ex Andersson
  • Panicum lene Steud.
  • Panicum mexicanum Scribn. & Merr.
  • Panicum nepalense Spreng.
  • Panicum nervosum Roxb.
  • Panicum neurodes Schult.
  • Panicum neurodes var. amplissimum (Steud.) Walp.
  • Panicum neurodes var. conjungens A.Braun
  • Panicum neurodes var. kleinianum A.Braun
  • Panicum neurodes var. lene (Steud.) Walp.
  • Panicum neurodes var. roxburghianum A.Braun
  • Panicum neurodes var. thwaitesii A.Braun
  • Panicum palmatum R.Schleich.

and 13 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.