Sphenopholis intermedia(Rydb.) Rydb.

slender wedgescale

WFO wfo-0000900792 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 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.

Sphenopholis intermedia, photographed by Zihao Wang
fig. a Zihao Wang, CC BY 4.0 / 2019-06-23 / obs. 43179003
Sphenopholis intermedia, photographed by Zihao Wang
fig. b Zihao Wang, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 42373734
Sphenopholis intermedia, photographed by Allan Harris
fig. c Allan Harris, CC0 1.0 / obs. 107307685
Sphenopholis intermedia, photographed by Zihao Wang
fig. d Zihao Wang, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 42373733
Sphenopholis intermedia, photographed by Zihao Wang
fig. e Zihao Wang, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 43179011
Sphenopholis intermedia, photographed by Allan Harris
fig. f Allan Harris, CC0 1.0 / obs. 107307687
Sphenopholis intermedia, photographed by naturalist charlie
fig. g naturalist charlie, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 31670623
Sphenopholis intermedia, photographed by naturalist charlie
fig. h naturalist charlie, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 31670632

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.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
381277
Filed as
Sphenopholis intermedia (Rydb.) Rydb.
Det. by
T. F. Daniel 1975-01-01
Collected
D. Douglas
Origin
CA
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 61 botanical countries

Regions where Sphenopholis intermedia is native: Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, Arkansas, British Columbia, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AlabamaAlaskaAlbertaArizonaArkansasBritish ColumbiaColoradoConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaOhioOklahomaOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingYukon DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Sphenopholis intermedia, 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
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Alaska ASK
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
Arkansas ARK
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
Nevada NEV
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Carolina SCA
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 166 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -16.9 °C -8.5 °C 5.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 22.2 °C 26.0 °C 33.7 °C
Annual rainfall 797 mm 1,034 mm 1,341 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 91 mm 208 mm 276 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 166 research-grade observations of Sphenopholis intermedia that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 23 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.

  • Aira controversa Steud.
  • Eatonia intermedia Rydb.
  • Eatonia longiflora (Vasey ex L.H.Dewey) Beal
  • Eatonia pennsylvanica var. longiflora Vasey
  • Eatonia pennsylvanica var. major (Torr.) A.Gray
  • Eatonia pensylvanica var. longiflora Vasey ex L.H.Dewey
  • Koeleria pennsylvanica var. major (Torr.) Torr.
  • Koeleria truncata var. major Torr.
  • Reboulea pallens var. longiflora (Vasey ex L.H.Dewey) Farw.
  • Reboulea pallens var. major Farw.
  • Reboulea pallens var. major (Torr.) Farw.
  • Reboulea pennsylvanica var. major (Torr.) A.Gray
  • Sphenopholis intermedia var. macranthera B.Boivin
  • Sphenopholis intermedia var. pilosa Dore
  • Sphenopholis longiflora (Vasey ex L.H.Dewey) Hitchc.
  • Sphenopholis obtusata var. major (Torr.) Erdman
  • Sphenopholis pallens subsp. longiflora Scribn.
  • Sphenopholis pallens subsp. major (Torr.) Scribn.
  • Sphenopholis pallens var. longiflora (Vasey ex L.H.Dewey) Scribn.
  • Sphenopholis pallens var. longiflora (Vasey ex L.H.Dewey) Scribn.
  • Sphenopholis pallens var. major (Torr.) B.L.Rob.
  • Sphenopholis pallens var. major Scribn.
  • Vilfa alba Buckley

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.