Grasses and sedges of Somalia: all 475 species on record

In short

On 12 November 2026 the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the international open database of species records, held records of 475 grass and sedge species with Somalia as the country, in 2 families (GBIF occurrence search, Somalia).

The largest families by number of species on record are (GBIF Backbone Taxonomy):

• Poaceae: 367
• Cyperaceae: 108

Most often recorded

The species with the most GBIF records from Somalia are Great Millet (1,784), Buffel-grass (223), Chrysopogon plumulosus (153), Sixweeks Threeawn (150), Klein grass (127), Sporobolus ruspolianus (103) (GBIF occurrence search, Somalia).

110 of the 475 species have a single record from Somalia (same source).

Named after Somali places

15 species on this list carry Somalia or a Somali place in their scientific name, for example Bulbostylis somaliensis, Cyperus benadirensis, Cyperus obbiadensis, Cyperus pseudosomaliensis, Cyperus somalidunensis, Cyperus somaliensis, Fuirena somaliensis, Aristida migiurtina, Aristida somalensis, Cenchrus somalensis, Chloris jubaensis, Dinebra somalensis, Loudetia migiurtina, Perotis somalensis, Sporobolus somalensis (GBIF Backbone Taxonomy).

Species under threat

The IUCN Red List places these species in a threatened category (GBIF species API, IUCN Red List category):

• Endangered: Bulbostylis densicaespitosa, Cyperus afrodunensis, Cyperus chordorrhizus, Sporobolus scitulus (IUCN via GBIF)
• Vulnerable: Cyperus commixtus, Cyperus densibulbosus, Cyperus micropelophilus, Eragrostis ambleia, Panicum pinifolium (IUCN via GBIF)

All plant lists: Plants of Somalia.

How to read this list

A species is on this list when GBIF holds at least one record of it from Somalia. A record can be a museum specimen more than a century old, a sighting shared by an observer, or a specimen cited in a scientific paper. Some records are old and a few may be misidentified, so this is a list of records, not of what lives in Somalia today. Names follow the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, which can lag behind the newest research.

Red List summary

• Critically Endangered (CR): 0
• Endangered (EN): 4
• Vulnerable (VU): 5
• Near Threatened (NT): 0
• Least Concern (LC): 102
• Data Deficient (DD): 3
• Not Evaluated (NE): 361

Categories are from the IUCN Red List as published through GBIF (GBIF species API, IUCN Red List category).

Largest families

• Poaceae: 367 species
• Cyperaceae: 108 species

Full list (475 species)

Each name links to its Calankii page where one exists, otherwise to its GBIF species page. "Records in Somalia" is the number of GBIF occurrence records with Somalia as the country, counted on 12 November 2026 (GBIF occurrence search, Somalia). The same rows, with Wikidata ids and more columns, are in the open data file species-recorded-in-somalia.csv.

This list is in 3 parts: 1 · 2 · 3

This list is in 3 parts: 1 · 2 · 3

Sources

• GBIF occurrence search, country Somalia
• GBIF Backbone Taxonomy
• IUCN Red List of Threatened Species