Western Beakgrain
Diarrhena obovata
Found in alluvial forests, other moist forests. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to West Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 71%
- Height
- 2–3 feet
- Spread
- 2–3 feet
- Light
- Part shade to full shade
- Soil moisture
- Average to wet
Space about 2.5 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 16 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
- Bloom
- July to September
Not yet recorded · Life cycle · Leaves
Recorded in 1 West Virginia county.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.
Who uses this plant?
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Poaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 4–8
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “July to September” · Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide · Nursery cultural guide; height in flower; moisture categories retained as printed
- Hardiness · “Zones 4–8” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
- Height · “2–3 feet” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder (ranked first; Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differs)
- Light · “Part shade to full shade” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder (ranked first; Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differs)
- Soil · “Medium to wet” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder (ranked first; Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differs)
- Spread · “2–3 feet” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
Also known as
Obovate Beakgrain
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | S2 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| WV status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- West Virginia occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications

