Cenchrus

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

Genus of grasses

title: "Cenchrus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cenchrus", "poaceae-genera", "botanical-taxa-named-by-carl-linnaeus"] description: "Genus of grasses" topic_path: "general/cenchrus" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenchrus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of grasses ::

|image = Cenchrus longispinus.jpg |image_caption = Cenchrus longispinus line drawing |image2 = Cenchrus echinatus burr4 (6923220592).jpg |image2_caption = Cenchrus echinatus burr |display_parents = 4 |taxon = Cenchrus |authority = L. (1753) |type_species_authority = L. |type_species = Cenchrus echinatus |synonyms =

  • Amphochaeta Andersson (1855)
  • Beckeropsis Fig. & De Not. (1853)
  • Catatherophora Steud. (1829)
  • Cenchropsis Nash (1903)
  • Echinaria Fabr. (1759), rejected name not Desf. 1799
  • Eriochaeta Fig. & De Not. (1853)
  • Gymnotrix P.Beauv. (1812)
  • Kikuyuochloa H.Scholz (2006)
  • Lloydia Delile (1844), nom. illeg.
  • Odontelytrum Hack. (1898)
  • Penicillaria Willd. (1809)
  • Pennisetum Rich. (1805)
  • Pseudochaetochloa Hitchc. (1924)
  • Raram Adans. (1763)
  • Runcina Allamand (1770)
  • Sericura Hassk. (1842) |synonyms_ref =

Cenchrus is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family, native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. Its species are native to many countries in Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas, and various oceanic islands.

Common names include buffelgrasses, sandburs, and sand spur. Such names allude to the sharp, spine-covered burrs characterizing the inflorescences of the members of the genus. Those previously classified as Pennisetum are known commonly as fountaingrasses (fountain grasses).

Taxonomy

Pennisetum

Pennisetum is a former genus that heavily overlaps with Cenchrus, and the boundary between them has been unclear. Cenchrus was derived from Pennisetum and the two are grouped in a monophyletic clade. A main morphological character that has been used to distinguish them is the degree of fusion of the bristles in the inflorescence, but this is often unreliable. In 2010, researchers proposed to transfer Pennisetum into Cenchrus, along with the related genus Odontelytrum. The genus is currently not accepted as separate from Cenchrus in Kew's Plants of the World Online database.

Distribution

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.

Description

They are annual or perennial grasses. Some are petite while others can produce stems up to 8 meters tall. 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").

Uses

The genus includes pearl 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, notably P. advena, P. alopecuroides, P. orientale, P. setaceum, and P. villosum. The cultivar 'Fairy Tails' is a recipient of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.{{cite web |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/270958/i-Pennisetum-i-Fairy-Tails/Details |title=Pennisetum 'Fairy Tails' |publisher=RHS |access-date=12 June 2019}}

Ecology

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Pennisetum_setaceum-Guinther.jpg" caption="Invasive ''[[Cenchrus setaceus]]'' growing on a [[lava flow]] in [[Hawaii"] ::

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

Species

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Foxtail_fountain_grass.jpg" caption="''[[Cenchrus alopecuroides]]''"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Pennisetum_hohenackeri_W_IMG_4147.jpg" caption="''[[Cenchrus hohenackeri]]''"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Pennisetum_orientale.jpg" caption="''[[Cenchrus orientalis]]''"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Pennisetum_pedicellatum_in_Hyderabad,_AP_W_IMG_1342.jpg" caption="''[[Cenchrus pedicellatus]]''"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/狼尾草_20190423203654.jpg" caption="''Cenchrus alopecuroides''"] ::

107 species are currently accepted.

; Formerly included Several species are now considered better suited to other genera: Anthephora, Centotheca, Dactyloctenium, Echinaria, Echinolaena, Hackelochloa, Hilaria, Pennisetum, Phragmites, Scleria, Setaria, Trachys, Tragus, Tribolium.

File:Sand spur with centimeter scale.jpg|Sand spur in front of a centimeter scale File:Sandspurs 2.jpg|Sandspurs with 1mm markings

References

References

  1. {{Cite PLANTS
  2. (9 March 1999). "Genus: ''Cenchrus'' L.". United States Department of Agriculture.
  3. lectotype designated by Green, Prop. Brit. Bot.: 193 (1929)
  4. [http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40003452 Tropicos, ''Cenchrus'' L.]
  5. [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30002698-2 ''Cenchrus'' L.] ''[[Plants of the World Online]]''. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  6. [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/359070#page/491/mode/1up Linnaeus, Carl von. 1753. Species Plantarum 2: 1049–1050] in Latin
  7. [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=106002 Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 552 蒺藜草属 ji li cao shu ''Cenchrus'' Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1049. 1753. ]
  8. [http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/floraspecie.php?genere=Cenchrus Altervista Flora Italiana, genere ''Cenchrus''] includes photos and range maps for several species
  9. (20 October 2008). "What is a Sandspur anyway?". shelkey.org.
  10. ''Sunset Western Garden Book.'' 1995. 606–07.
  11. [https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=42000 ''Pennisetum''.] Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
  12. [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_IJM.pl?tid=11134 ''Pennisetum''.] The Jepson eFlora 2013.
  13. [http://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile?symbol=PENNI ''Pennisetum''.] USDA PLANTS.
  14. link. (25 July 2011 Crop Wild Relatives. CIAT.)
  15. Martel, E., et al. (2004). [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00606-004-0191-6?LI=true#page-1 Chromosome evolution of ''Pennisetum'' species (Poaceae): implications of ITS phylogeny.] ''Plant Systematics and Evolution'' 249(3–4), 139–49.
  16. Wipff, J. K. [http://herbarium.usu.edu/webmanual/info2.asp?name=Pennisetum_glaucum+&type=treatment ''Pennisetum'' Rich.] The Grass Manual. Flora of North America.
  17. [[Peggy Ozias-Akins. Ozias-Akins, P.]], et al. (2003). [https://web.archive.org/web/20130827235402/http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/33996/PDF Molecular characterization of the genomic region linked with apomixis in ''Pennisetum''/''Cenchrus''.] ''Functional & Integrative Genomics, 3(3)'', 94–104.
  18. Chemisquy, M. A., et al. (2010). [https://archive.today/20130827235402/http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/106/1/107.full 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.
  19. [http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/synonomy.do?name_id=432566 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]
  20. (July 2017). "AGM Plants – Ornamental". Royal Horticultural Society.
  21. "Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families".
  22. {{ITIS
  23. "GRIN Species Records of ''Cenchrus''". United States Department of Agriculture.
  24. [http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=Cenchrus The Plant List search for Cenchrus]
  25. Henry DR Pasture plants of Southern Inland Queensland. DPI. 1995

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

cenchruspoaceae-generabotanical-taxa-named-by-carl-linnaeus