Grama_grass

<i>Bouteloua</i>

Bouteloua

Genus of grasses

Bouteloua is a genus of plants in the grass family.[4][5] Members of the genus are commonly known as grama grass.[6]

Quick Facts Grama grass, Scientific classification ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus was named for Claudio and Esteban Boutelou, 19th-century Spanish botanists.[7][8] David Griffiths produced a 1912 monograph on the genus.[9]

Description

The top of a hairy grama (Bouteloua hirsuta) flower spike, showing the flattened rachis

Bouteloua includes both annual and perennial grasses, which frequently form stolons.[9] Species have an inflorescence of 1 to 80 racemes or spikes positioned alternately on the culm (stem). The rachis (stem) of the spike is flattened. The spikelets are positioned along one side of the spike. Each spikelet contains one fertile floret, and usually one sterile floret.[10]

Distribution

Bouteloua is found only the Americas, with most diversity centered in the southwestern United States.[9] It also occurs in the Ciénaga de Zapata Biosphere Reserve of Cuba.[11]

Uses

Many species are important livestock forage, especially blue grama.[9]

Species

Species of Bouteloua include:[3][6][12][13][14]

  • Bouteloua barbata (six-weeks grama)
  • Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama)
  • Bouteloua eriopoda (black grama)
  • Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama)
  • Bouteloua megapotamica
  • Bouteloua trifida (red grama)

Formerly included

Some grass species, formerly classified under Bouteloua, have been reclassified under other genera including:[3]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Bouteloua". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2018-07-13.
  2. [2]
    "Bouteloua". Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden.
  3. [3]
    "Bouteloua". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  4. [4]
    Lagasca y Segura, Mariano. 1805. Variedades de Ciencias, Literatura y Artes 2(4,21): 134
  5. [5]
    Watson L, Dallwitz MJ. (2008). "The grass genera of the world: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval; including synonyms, morphology, anatomy, physiology, phytochemistry, cytology, classification, pathogens, world and local distribution, and references". The Grass Genera of the World. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  6. [6]
    "Bouteloua". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
  7. [7]
    Peterson, P. M. & Y. Herrera-Arrieta. 2001. Bouteloua. In Catalogue of New World Grasses (Poaceae): II. Subfamily Chloridoideae. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 41: 20–33
  8. [8]
    Gould, F. W. 1980. The genus Bouteloua (Poaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 66(3): 348–416
  9. [9]
    Gould, Frank W. (1951). Grasses of Southwestern United States. Tucson: University of Arizona. pp. 139–140. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  10. [10]
    Sun, Bi-xing; Phillips, Sylvia M. "Bouteloua". Flora of China. Vol. 22 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  11. [11]
    Ciénaga de Zapata National Park, on whc.unesco.org.
  12. [12]
    "Species Records of Bouteloua". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
  13. [13]
    "Bouteloua". County-level distribution maps from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
  14. [14]
    Gould, F. W. & R. Moran. 1981. The grasses of Baja California, Mexico. Memoir San Diego Society of Natural History 12: 1–140
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