Stenotaphrum dimidiatum(L.) Brongn.

Pemba grass

WFO wfo-0000901619 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 5 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 5 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.

Stenotaphrum dimidiatum, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. a Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-15 / obs. 198277407
Stenotaphrum dimidiatum, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. b bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / obs. 105616656
Stenotaphrum dimidiatum, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. c bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / obs. 103531993
Stenotaphrum dimidiatum, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. d Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184636942
Stenotaphrum dimidiatum, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. e Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182724075
Stenotaphrum dimidiatum, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. f Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198277430
Stenotaphrum dimidiatum, photographed by Augustin Soulard
fig. g Augustin Soulard, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198277463
Stenotaphrum dimidiatum, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. h bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / obs. 103531997

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 23 botanical countries

Regions where Stenotaphrum dimidiatum is native: Aldabra, Cape Provinces, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Mozambique Channel Is., Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles, Tanzania, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Malaya, Maldives, Nicobar Is., Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam Cape ProvincesKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMozambiqueTanzaniaAssamBangladeshIndiaMalayaSri LankaThailandVietnam AldabraChagos ArchipelagoComorosMauritiusMozambique Channel Is.RéunionRodriguesSeychellesMaldivesNicobar Is.
Native distribution of Stenotaphrum dimidiatum, 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
Aldabra ALD AFRICA
Cape Provinces CPP
Chagos Archipelago CGS
Comoros COM
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Mozambique Channel Is. MCI
Réunion REU
Rodrigues ROD
Seychelles SEY
Tanzania TAN
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
India IND
Malaya MLY
Maldives MDV
Nicobar Is. NCB
Sri Lanka SRL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE

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 9 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.

  • Panicum dimidiatum L.
  • Rottboellia complanata Sw.
  • Rottboellia dimidiata Thunb.
  • Stenotaphrum complanatum Schrank
  • Stenotaphrum glabrum Trin.
  • Stenotaphrum glabrum var. multiflorum Döll
  • Stenotaphrum koenigii Schrank
  • Stenotaphrum madagascariense Kunth
  • Stenotaphrum swartzianum Nees

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.