Pennisetum
| Pennisetum | |
|---|---|
| |
| Pennisetum polystachion | |
Scientific classification
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Subfamily: | Panicoideae |
| Supertribe: | Panicodae |
| Tribe: | Paniceae |
| Subtribe: | Cenchrinae |
| Genus: | Pennisetum Rich.[1] |
| Type species | |
| Pennisetum typhoideum[2] | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
Pennisetum/ˌpɛnɪˈsiːtəm/[5]is a widespreadgenusof plants in thegrass family,native totropicaland warmtemperateregions of the world. They are known commonly asfountaingrasses(fountain grasses).[6][7][8][9]Pennisetumis considered a synonym ofCenchrusinKew'sPlants of the World Online.[10]
Taxonomy
[edit]Pennisetumis closely related to the genusCenchrus,[11]and the boundary between them is unclear.[12]Cenchruswas derived fromPennisetumand the two are grouped in amonophyleticclade.[13]Some species now inPennisetumwere once members ofCenchrus,and some have been moved back. A main morphological character used to distinguish them is the degree of fusion of the bristles in theinflorescence,but this is often unreliable. In 2010, researchers proposed to transferPennisetumintoCenchrus,along with the related genusOdontelytrum.[14]The genus is currently not accepted as separate fromCenchrusin Kew's Plants of the World Online database.[10]
Species
[edit]
The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families lists the following species as synonyms ofCenchrus:[2]
- Pennisetum alopecuroides– Chinese fountaingrass, foxtail fountaingrass, swamp-foxtail – Australia, East + Southeast Asia
- Pennisetum annuum– Peru
- Pennisetum articulare–Marquesas
- Pennisetum basedowii– Australia
- Pennisetum beckeroides– Ethiopia
- Pennisetum caffrum– Madagascar,Réunion
- Pennisetum chilense– Chile, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia
- Pennisetum clandestinum– kikuyu grass – central + eastern Africa
- Pennisetum complanatum– Nicaraguan fountaingrass – Veracruz, Central America
- Pennisetum crinitum– Mexico
- Pennisetum×cupreum– New Guinea
- Pennisetum distachyum– Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala
- Pennisetum divisum– deserts from Mauritania to western India
- Pennisetum domingense– Cuba, Hispaniola
- Pennisetum durum– Mexico
- Pennisetum exiguum– Madagascar
- Pennisetum flaccidum– flaccid grass, Himalayan fountaingrass – Himalayas, Central Asia, China, Mongolia
- Pennisetum flexile–Kashmir
- Pennisetum foermerianum– Namibia
- Pennisetum frutescens– Paraguay, Argentina
- Pennisetum glaucifolium– Eritrea, Ethiopia
- Pennisetum glaucum– pearl millet, bulrush millet, cattail millet, horse millet, Indian millet, yellow bristlegrass
- Pennisetum gracilescens– Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan
- Pennisetum henryanum–Marquesas
- Pennisetum hohenackeri– Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Madagascar, India, Nepal, Pakistan
- Pennisetum hordeoides– western + central Africa, India, Nepal, Myanmar
- Pennisetum humile– Ethiopia
- Pennisetum intectum– Peru, Ecuador
- Pennisetum lanatum– Afghanistan, northern India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Nepal, Tibet
- Pennisetum latifolium– Uruguay fountaingrass – South America from Colombia to Uruguay
- Pennisetum laxius–Sahelin Africa
- Pennisetum ledermannii– Cameroon
- Pennisetum longissimum– China
- Pennisetum longistylum– Eritrea, Ethiopia
- Pennisetum macrostachyum– Pacific fountaingrass –Java,Borneo,Papuasia
- Pennisetum macrourum– African feather grass, bedding grass, waterside-reed – Africa, Yemen, Saudi Arabia
- Pennisetum massaicum– Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe
- Pennisetum mezianum– Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Namibia, Limpopo
- Pennisetum mildbraedii– Rwanda, Zaire, Uganda
- Pennisetum monostigma– Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon, islands in Gulf of Guinea
- Pennisetum montanum– Peru, Bolivia, Argentina
- Pennisetum nervosum– bentspike fountaingrass – South America; naturalized in Belize, Nicaragua, Mexico, California, Texas
- Pennisetum nodiflorum– central Africa
- Pennisetum nubicum– Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia
- Pennisetum occidentale– Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
- Pennisetum orientale– white fountaingrass, Oriental pennisetum – North Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, Indian Subcontinent
- Pennisetum pauperum– Ecuador incl Galápagos
- Pennisetum pedicellatum– annual kyasuwa grass, deenanth grass, hairy fountaingrass –Cape Verde,Africa, Madagascar, southern Asia from Arabia to Vietnam
- Pennisetum peruvianum– Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
- Pennisetum petiolare– petioled fountaingrass – Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan
- Pennisetum pirottae– Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan
- Pennisetum polystachion(L.) Schult.– feather pennisetum, mission grass, thin Napier grass – Africa, southern Asia from Arabia to Vietnam, Indian Ocean islands
- Pennisetum preslii– from Mexico to Peru
- Pennisetum procerum– Uganda, Kenya
- Pennisetum prolificum– southern Mexico
- Pennisetum pseudotriticoides– Madagascar
- Pennisetum pumilum– Ethiopia
- Pennisetum purpureum– Napier grass, Uganda grass, elephant grass, barner grass, Merker grass – Africa,Aldabra,Arabian Pen; naturalized in parts of Asia, Australia, Americas, various islands
- Pennisetum qianningense–Sichuan,Yunnan
- Pennisetum ramosum– central + eastern Africa
- Pennisetum rigidum– northern Argentina
- Pennisetum riparium– East Africa
- Pennisetum rupestre– Colombia, Peru
- Pennisetum sagittatum– Peru, Bolivia
- Pennisetum schweinfurthii– Ethiopia, Sudan
- Pennisetum shaanxiense– China
- Pennisetum sichuanense–Sichuan,Yunnan
- Pennisetum sieberianum– Africa
- Pennisetum sphacelatum– Africa,Comoros
- Pennisetum squamulatum– Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania
- Pennisetum stramineum– Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Yemen, Saudi Arabia
- Pennisetum tempisquense– Costa Rica
- Pennisetum thulinii– Ethiopia
- Pennisetum thunbergii– Africa, Yemen
- Pennisetum trachyphyllum– central Africa
- Pennisetum trisetum– central Africa
- Pennisetum tristachyum– South America
- Pennisetum uliginosum– Ethiopia
- Pennisetum unisetum– Natal grass, silky grass – Africa, Yemen, Saudi Arabia
- Pennisetum villosumR.Br. ex Fresen.– feathertop, long-style feathergrass, white foxtail – Africa, Yemen, Saudi Arabia; naturalized in New Zealand, Mediterranean, scattered places in Americas
- Pennisetum violaceum–Sahara,Sahel
- Pennisetum weberbaueri– Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru
- Pennisetum yemense– Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea
Description
[edit]As currently envisioned,Pennisetumis a genus of 80 to 140 species.[7][11][12][14]The various species are native toAfrica,Asia,Australia,andLatin America,with some of them widely naturalized inEuropeandNorth America,as well as on various oceanic islands.[2]
They are annual or perennial grasses. Some are petite while others can produce stems up to 8 meters tall.[12]Theinflorescenceis a very dense, narrowpaniclecontaining fascicles of spikelets interspersed with bristles. There are three kinds of bristle, and some species have all three, while others do not. Some bristles are coated in hairs, sometimes long, showy, plumelike hairs that inspired the genus name, theLatinpenna( "feather" ) andseta( "bristle" ).[12]
Uses
[edit]The genus includespearl millet(P. glaucum), an important food crop.Napier grass(P. purpureum) is used for grazing livestock in Africa.
Several species are cultivated as ornamental plants, notablyP. advena, P. alopecuroides, P. orientale, P. setaceum,andP. villosum. Thecultivar'Fairy Tails' is a recipient of theRoyal Horticultural Society'sAward of Garden Merit.[15][16]
Ecology
[edit]
ManyPennisetumgrasses arenoxious weeds,includingfeathertop grass(P. villosum) andkikuyu grass(P. clandestinum), which is also a popular and hardy turf grass in some parts of the world.
The herbage and seeds of these grasses are food forherbivores,such as thechestnut-breasted mannikin(Lonchura castaneothorax), thecaterpillarof the butterflyMelanitis phedima,and thelarvaeof theflygenusDelia.
The genus is a host of thepathogenicfungusCochliobolus sativus.
References
[edit]- ^Richard, Louis Claude Marie 1805. in Persoon, Christiaan Hendrik, Synopsis plantarum,seu Enchiridium botanicum, complectens enumerationem systematicam specierum hucusque cognitarum, page 72in Latin
- ^abcdKew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
- ^lectotype designated by Chase, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 22: 210 (1921)
- ^Tropicos,PennisetumRich.
- ^Sunset Western Garden Book.1995. 606–07.
- ^Pennisetum.Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
- ^abPennisetum.The Jepson eFlora 2013.
- ^Pennisetum.USDA PLANTS.
- ^Identified gaps forPennisetumgenepool.Archived2011-07-25 at theWayback MachineCrop Wild Relatives. CIAT.
- ^ab"PennisetumRich ".Plants of the World Online.Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.Retrieved15 November2020.
- ^abMartel, E., et al. (2004).Chromosome evolution ofPennisetumspecies (Poaceae): implications of ITS phylogeny.Plant Systematics and Evolution249(3-4), 139-49.
- ^abcdWipff, J. K.PennisetumRich.The Grass Manual. Flora of North America.
- ^Ozias-Akins, P., et al. (2003).Molecular characterization of the genomic region linked with apomixis inPennisetum/Cenchrus.Functional & Integrative Genomics, 3(3),94-104.
- ^abChemisquy, M. A., et al. (2010).Phylogenetic studies favour the unification ofPennisetum,CenchrusandOdontelytrum(Poaceae): a combined nuclear, plastid and morphological analysis, and nomenclatural combinations inCenchrus.Annals of Botany106(1), 107-30.
- ^"Pennisetum'Fairy Tails'".RHS.Retrieved12 June2019.
- ^"AGM Plants - Ornamental"(PDF).Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 107.Retrieved12 June2019.
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