Xyris carolinianaWalter

Carolina yelloweyed grass

WFO wfo-0000609700 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Xyris caroliniana, photographed by Eric Knight
fig. a Eric Knight, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-27 / obs. 191207130
Xyris caroliniana, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. b Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190519700
Xyris caroliniana, photographed by saltyhiker
fig. c saltyhiker, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182395360
Xyris caroliniana, photographed by Kim
fig. d Kim, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 172166451
Xyris caroliniana, photographed by Brandon Evans
fig. e Brandon Evans, CC0 1.0 / obs. 164285592
Xyris caroliniana, photographed by Michelle Sevcovas
fig. f Michelle Sevcovas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 151293422
Xyris caroliniana, photographed by brycelee
fig. g brycelee, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 114550300
Xyris caroliniana, photographed by brycelee
fig. h brycelee, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 112163383

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 11 botanical countries

Regions where Xyris caroliniana is native: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Cuba AlabamaFloridaGeorgiaLouisianaMississippiNew JerseyNorth CarolinaSouth CarolinaTexasVirginiaCuba
Native distribution of Xyris caroliniana, 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
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Louisiana LOU
Mississippi MSI
New Jersey NWJ
North Carolina NCA
South Carolina SCA
Texas TEX
Virginia VRG
Cuba CUB SOUTHERN AMERICA

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 20 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.

  • Kotsjiletti flexuosa (Muhl. ex Elliott) Nieuwl.
  • Ramotha floridana Raf.
  • Xyris arenicola Small
  • Xyris canadensis Schnizl.
  • Xyris caroliniana f. caroliniana
  • Xyris caroliniana f. flaccida Fernald
  • Xyris caroliniana f. phyllolepis Fernald
  • Xyris caroliniana var. caroliniana
  • Xyris caroliniana var. scabra Engelm. & A.Gray
  • Xyris conocephala C.Wright
  • Xyris conocephala var. pallescens (C.Mohr) Malme
  • Xyris fimbriata Beyr. ex Kunth
  • Xyris flexuosa Muhl. ex Elliott
  • Xyris flexuosa var. pallescens (Small) Barnhart
  • Xyris glabra Engelm. ex Ries
  • Xyris graminifolia Chapm. ex Ries
  • Xyris indica Pursh
  • Xyris pallescens Small
  • Xyris scabra Engelm.
  • Xyris torta var. pallescens C.Mohr

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.