Urochloa brizantha(A.Rich.) R.D.Webster

palisade grasspalisade signalgrass

WFO wfo-0000906798 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 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.

Urochloa brizantha, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. a bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / 2019-03-01 / obs. 105619919
Urochloa brizantha, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. b bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / obs. 105616858
Urochloa brizantha, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. c bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / obs. 105616866
Urochloa brizantha, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. d bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / obs. 105620098
Urochloa brizantha, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. e bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / obs. 107745679
Urochloa brizantha, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. f bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / obs. 105620092
Urochloa brizantha, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. g bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / obs. 105616864
Urochloa brizantha, photographed by bat (Maria Vorontsova)
fig. h bat (Maria Vorontsova), CC0 1.0 / obs. 105620094

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 39 botanical countries

Regions where Urochloa brizantha is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Yemen AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMalawiMaliMozambiqueNamibiaNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSierra LeoneSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweYemen Seychelles
Native distribution of Urochloa brizantha, 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
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Seychelles SEY
Sierra Leone SIE
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Yemen YEM ASIA-TEMPERATE

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 10 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.

  • Brachiaria brizantha (A.Rich.) Stapf
  • Brachiaria brizantha var. angustifolia Stent & J.M.Rattray
  • Brachiaria brizantha var. ciliata Basappa & Muniy.
  • Brachiaria gangangalaensis Vanderyst
  • Brachiaria manzonzeensis Vanderyst
  • Panicum brizanthum var. lasiochloa Chiov.
  • Panicum brizanthum var. latifolium Oliv.
  • Panicum brizanthum var. pandanifolium Peter
  • Panicum brizanthum var. polystachyum De Wild. & T.Durand
  • Urochloa brizantha var. ciliata (Basappa & Muniy.) S.K.Jain

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.