Themeda villosa(Poir.) A.Camus

silky kangaroo grass

WFO wfo-0000903609 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.

Themeda villosa, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. a Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-03-06 / obs. 182514931
Themeda villosa, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. b Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182533424
Themeda villosa, photographed by Zoltán Stekkelpak
fig. c Zoltán Stekkelpak, CC0 1.0 / obs. 108440954
Themeda villosa, photographed by John Gaskin
fig. d John Gaskin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 184883984
Themeda villosa, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. e Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182533735
Themeda villosa, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. f Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182514968
Themeda villosa, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. g Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182533429
Themeda villosa, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. h Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182514987

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 27 botanical countries

Regions where Themeda villosa is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Tibet, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya China South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTibetAssamBangladeshBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamWest Himalaya Andaman Is.Nicobar Is.
Native distribution of Themeda villosa, 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
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Tibet CHT

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 18 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.

  • Androscepia gigantea var. mutica Andersson
  • Androscepia gigantea var. sundaica Buse
  • Androscepia mutica Andersson ex Hook.f.
  • Androscepia mutica Andersson
  • Anthistiria gigantea subsp. villosa (Poir.) Hook.
  • Anthistiria gigantea subsp. villosa (Poir.) Hook.f.
  • Anthistiria junghuhniana Nees ex Andersson
  • Anthistiria mutica Steud.
  • Anthistiria mutica Hassk.
  • Anthistiria setosa Thunb. ex Andersson
  • Anthistiria villosa Poir.
  • Aristaria mutica Hassk.
  • Heterelytron scabrum Jungh.
  • Pseudanthistiria emeinica S.L.Chen & T.D.Zhuang
  • Themeda gigantea subsp. villosa (Lam.) Hack.
  • Themeda gigantea var. sundaica (Büse) A.Camus
  • Themeda gigantea var. villosa (Lam.) Hack.
  • Themeda villosa var. sundaica (Buse) E.G.Camus & A.Camus

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.