Spermacoce tenuiorL.

river false buttonweedslender false buttonweed

WFO wfo-0000312796 Accepted WFO 2026-06 4 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–d · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Spermacoce tenuior, photographed by José Belem Hernández Díaz
fig. a José Belem Hernández Díaz, CC BY 4.0 / 2017-06-02 / obs. 8180274
Spermacoce tenuior, photographed by Liliana Ramírez-Freire
fig. b Liliana Ramírez-Freire, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 17234016
Spermacoce tenuior, photographed by Liliana Ramírez-Freire
fig. c Liliana Ramírez-Freire, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 17233992
Spermacoce tenuior, photographed by Liliana Ramírez-Freire
fig. d Liliana Ramírez-Freire, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 17234018

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 Spermacoce tenuior is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorGuatemalaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPeruPuerto RicoSouthwest CaribbeanTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela ArubaBahamasBermudaCayman Is.Leeward Is.Netherlands AntillesVenezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Spermacoce tenuior, 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
Aruba ARU SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bahamas BAH
Belize BLZ
Bermuda BER
Cayman Is. CAY
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
Guatemala GUA
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Netherlands Antilles NLA
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Southwest Caribbean SWC
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

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 13 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.

  • Bigelovia linifolia (Vahl) Spreng.
  • Borreria capitellata (Willd.) Cham. & Schltdl.
  • Borreria herbert-smithii Rusby
  • Borreria laevis (Lam.) Griseb.
  • Borreria linifolia (Vahl) F.Dietr.
  • Spermacoce capitellata Willd.
  • Spermacoce guianensis Bremek.
  • Spermacoce laevis Lam.
  • Spermacoce linifolia Vahl
  • Spermacoce tenuior var. angustifolia Eggers
  • Spermacoce tenuior var. major Beurl.
  • Spermacoceodes tenuior (L.) Kuntze
  • Tardavel laevis (Lam.) Standl.

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.