Sporobolus africanus(Poir.) Robyns & Tournay

WFO wfo-0000900931 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Sporobolus africanus, photographed by Christina
fig. a Christina, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-01-04 / obs. 174803301
Sporobolus africanus, photographed by Leon Perrie
fig. b Leon Perrie, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 173688518
Sporobolus africanus, photographed by Paul Bell-Butler
fig. c Paul Bell-Butler, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 166238947
Sporobolus africanus, photographed by Alice Shanks
fig. d Alice Shanks, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 126893501
Sporobolus africanus, photographed by Thomas Mesaglio
fig. e Thomas Mesaglio, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 118698136
Sporobolus africanus, photographed by Thomas Mesaglio
fig. f Thomas Mesaglio, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 95677863
Sporobolus africanus, photographed by Thomas Mesaglio
fig. g Thomas Mesaglio, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 87985127
Sporobolus africanus, photographed by Arnim Littek
fig. h Arnim Littek, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 74641035

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 26 botanical countries

Regions where Sporobolus africanus is native: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, DR Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Gulf of Guinea Is., Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sri Lanka AngolaBotswanaBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesDR CongoEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateGulf of Guinea Is.KenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoMalawiMozambiqueNamibiaNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweSaudi ArabiaYemenSri Lanka
Native distribution of Sporobolus africanus, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Botswana BOT
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
DR Congo ZAI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Saudi Arabia SAU ASIA-TEMPERATE
Yemen YEM
Sri Lanka SRL ASIA-TROPICAL

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 12 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 africana Poir.
  • Agrostis capensis Willd.
  • Agrostis spicata Thunb.
  • Panicum caudatum Thunb.
  • Sporobolus batesii A.Chev.
  • Sporobolus capensis (P.Beauv.) Kunth
  • Sporobolus indicus var. africanus (Poir.) Jovet & Guédès
  • Sporobolus indicus var. capensis (P.Beauv.) Engl.
  • Sporobolus indicus var. cinereoviridis Baaijens
  • Vilfa africana (Poir.) P.Beauv.
  • Vilfa capensis P.Beauv.
  • Vilfa dianthera Steud.

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. 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.