Spermacoce verticillataL.

shrubby false buttonweed

WFO wfo-0000312826 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Spermacoce verticillata, photographed by Fede y Vani
fig. a Fede y Vani, CC0 1.0 / 2022-05-02 / obs. 196117370
Spermacoce verticillata, photographed by Stephanie C
fig. b Stephanie C, CC0 1.0 / obs. 193260742
Spermacoce verticillata, photographed by Ben Machado
fig. c Ben Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 193081689
Spermacoce verticillata, photographed by Ben Machado
fig. d Ben Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 193096028
Spermacoce verticillata, photographed by Theo Summer
fig. e Theo Summer, CC0 1.0 / obs. 192289166
Spermacoce verticillata, photographed by Neli Kanonerova
fig. f Neli Kanonerova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 193059418
Spermacoce verticillata, photographed by Jay Pruett
fig. g Jay Pruett, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186993535
Spermacoce verticillata, photographed by Jay Pruett
fig. h Jay Pruett, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186645215

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 Spermacoce verticillata is native: Florida, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. FloridaMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSouthwest CaribbeanSurinameTrinidad-TobagoUruguayVenezuela BahamasLeeward Is.Venezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Spermacoce verticillata, 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
Bahamas BAH
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
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
Florida FLA NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
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.

Flowering 318 in flower of 326 examined

Peak flowering in Mar. Each bar is the share of Spermacoce verticillata 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. 318 of 326 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 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.

  • Bigelovia verticillata (L.) Spreng.
  • Borreria globularioides Cham. & Schltdl.
  • Borreria graminifolia M.Martens & Galeotti
  • Borreria kohautiana Cham. & Schltdl.
  • Borreria laevigata M.Martens & Galeotti
  • Borreria minima DC.
  • Borreria molleri Gand.
  • Borreria oaxacana M.Martens & Galeotti
  • Borreria oligodonta Steyerm.
  • Borreria podocephala DC.
  • Borreria podocephala var. pumila Chapm.
  • Borreria stricta G.Mey.
  • Borreria suaveolens f. rigidior Miq.
  • Borreria verticillata (L.) G.Mey.
  • Borreria verticillata var. brevifolia DC.
  • Borreria verticillata var. caesia Chodat
  • Borreria verticillata var. thymiformis B.L.Rob.
  • Spermacoce fruticosa Pohl ex DC.
  • Spermacoce globosa Schumach. & Thonn.
  • Spermacoce graminifolia (M.Martens & Galeotti) Hemsl.
  • Spermacoce hyssopifolia Pers.
  • Spermacoce laeta Salisb.
  • Spermacoce laevigata (M.Martens & Galeotti) Hemsl.
  • Spermacoce minima Pohl ex DC.

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.