Pennisetum

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Pennisetum
File:Starr 061114-9870 Pennisetum polystachion.jpg
Pennisetum polystachion
Scientific classification
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Pennisetum

Type species
Pennisetum typhoideum[2]
Rich.[3][4]
Synonyms[2]
  • Penicillaria Willd.
  • Gymnotrix P.Beauv.
  • Catatherophora Steud.
  • Sericura Hassk.
  • Lloydia Delile [1844, illegitimate homonym not Salisb. ex Rchb. 1830 (syn. of Gagea in Liliaceae)]
  • Beckeropsis Fig. & De Not.
  • Eriochaeta Fig. & De Not.
  • Amphochaeta Andersson
  • Kikuyuochloa H.Scholz

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Pennisetum /ˌpɛnˈstəm/[5] is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family, native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. They are known commonly as fountaingrasses.[6][7][8][9]

Systematics

Pennisetum is closely related to the genus Cenchrus,[10] and the boundary between them is unclear.[11] Cenchrus was derived from Pennisetum and the two are grouped in a monophyletic clade.[12] Some species now in Pennisetum were once members of Cenchrus, and some have been moved back. A main morphological character used to distinguish them is the degree of fusion of the bristles in the inflorescence, but this is often unreliable. Authors recently proposed to transfer Pennisetum into Cenchrus, along with the related genus Odontelytrum.[13]

Description

As currently envisioned, Pennisetum is a genus of 80 to 140 species.[7][10][11][13] The various species are native to Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America, with some of them widely naturalized in Europe and North 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.[11] The inflorescence is a very dense, narrow panicle containing 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, the Latin penna ("feather") and seta ("bristle").[11]

Uses

The genus includes pearl millet (P. glaucum), an important food crop. Napier grass (P. purpureum) is used for grazing livestock in Africa. African fountaingrass (P. setaceum) is used as an ornamental plant.

Ecology

Many Pennisetum grasses are noxious weeds, including kikuyu grass (P. clandestinum) and feathertop grass (P. villosum).

The herbage and seeds of these grasses are food for herbivores, such as the chestnut-breasted mannikin (Lonchura castaneothorax), the caterpillar of the butterfly Melanitis phedima, and the larvae of the fly genus Delia.

The genus is a host of the pathogenic fungus Cochliobolus sativus.

Diversity

Species[2]
formerly included

numerous species now considered better suited to other genera, primarily Cenchrus but also a few in Echinochloa and Setaria

References

  1. Richard, Louis Claude Marie 1805. in Persoon, Christiaan Hendrik, Synopsis plantarum,seu Enchiridium botanicum, complectens enumerationem systematicam specierum hucusque cognitarum, page 72 in Latin
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  3. lectotype designated by Chase, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 22: 210 (1921)
  4. Tropicos, Pennisetum Rich.
  5. Sunset Western Garden Book. 1995. 606–07.
  6. Pennisetum. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
  7. 7.0 7.1 Pennisetum. The Jepson eFlora 2013.
  8. Pennisetum. USDA PLANTS.
  9. Identified gaps for Pennisetum genepool. Crop Wild Relatives. CIAT.
  10. 10.0 10.1 Martel, E., et al. (2004). Chromosome evolution of Pennisetum species (Poaceae): implications of ITS phylogeny. Plant Systematics and Evolution 249(3-4), 139-49.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Wipff, J. K. Pennisetum Rich. The Grass Manual. Flora of North America.
  12. Ozias-Akins, P., et al. (2003). Molecular characterization of the genomic region linked with apomixis in Pennisetum/Cenchrus. Functional & Integrative Genomics, 3(3), 94-104.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Chemisquy, M. A., et al. (2010). Phylogenetic studies favour the unification of Pennisetum, Cenchrus and Odontelytrum (Poaceae): a combined nuclear, plastid and morphological analysis, and nomenclatural combinations in Cenchrus. Annals of Botany 106(1), 107-30.

External links

  • Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons