Brachiaria

Creeping signalgrass Brachiaria plantaginea, copyright Forest & Kim Starr.

Belongs within: Panicoideae.

Brachiaria, signalgrasses, is a genus of grasses growing to about a metre in height found in warmer parts of the world.

Characters (from Flora of China): Annual or perennial. Leaf blades linear to lanceolate, often with cartilaginous margins. Inflorescence composed of racemes along a central axis; raceme rachis triquetrous or flattened, sometimes winged; spikelets sessile or pedicelled, single or paired, rarely in fascicles or on secondary racemelets. Spikelets plump, usually elliptic, florets 2; lower glume adaxial, varying in length from very small and veinless to many-veined and subequaling spikelet, base sheathing, sometimes extended downward as a short stipe; upper glume and lower lemma similar, as long as spikelet, membranous or cartilaginous; upper lemma coriaceous, smooth, striate or rugose, margins inrolled, apex obtuse to acute, occasionally minutely mucronate; upper palea apex tucked within lemma. x = 7, 9.

<==Brachiaria
    |--B. distachya BB01
    |--B. eruciformis S03
    |--B. lata PP07
    |    |--B. l. var. lata PP07
    |    `--B. l. var. pubescens PP07
    |--B. mutica B10
    |--B. paspaloides SR07
    |--B. plantaginea SMSP06
    |--B. ramosa PP07
    |    |--B. r. var. ramosa PP07
    |    `--B. r. var. pubescens PP07
    |--B. remota S03
    |--B. reptans S03
    |--B. semiundulata S03
    |--B. setigera S03
    |--B. shoenfelderi CV06
    |--B. semiverticillata S03
    |--B. subquadripara BMM99
    `--B. xantholeuca BMM99

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BB01] Bauer, R., D. Begerow, A. Nagler & F. Oberwinkler. 2001. The Georgefischeriales: a phylogenetic hypothesis. Mycological Research 105 (4): 416–424.

[B10] Boucher, S. 2010. Agromyzidae (leaf-mining flies). In: Brown, B. V., A. Borkent, J. M. Cumming, D. M. Wood, N. E. Woodley & M. A. Zumbado (eds) Manual of Central American Diptera vol. 2 pp. 1057–1071. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[BMM99] Braun, U., J. Mouchacca & E. H. C. McKenzie. 1999. Cercosporoid hyphomycetes from New Caledonia and some other South Pacific islands. New Zealand Journal of Botany 37: 297–327.

[CV06] Craven, P., & P. Vorster. 2006. Patterns of plant diversity and endemism in Namibia. Bothalia 36 (2): 175–189.

[PP07] Pandey, R. P., & P. M. Padhye. 2007. Studies on phytodiversity of Arid Machia Safari Park-Kailana in Jodhpur (Rajasthan). Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 49: 15–78.

[SR07] Sankar, R. V., K. Ravikumar, N. M. Ganesh Babu & D. K. Ved. 2007. Botany of Anapady MPCA, Palghat district, Kerala with special emphasis on species of conservation concern. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 49: 165–172.

[SM-SP06] Scherer, A. L., J. de F. Martins Scherer & M. V. Petry. 2006. Reprodução e análise da composição de ninhos de Zenaida auriculata (Des Murs, 1847) (Aves: Columbiformes, Columbidae) em uma unidade petroquímica no Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Comunicações do Museo de Ciências e Tecnologia da PUCRS, Serie Zoologia 19 (1): 29–38.

[S03] Singh, J. N. 2003. Grasses and their hydro-edaphic characteristics in the grassland habitat of Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, Tamil Nadu. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 45: 143–164.