Eleusine
Appearance
| Eleusine | |
|---|---|
| Eleusine indica | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Subfamily: | Chloridoideae |
| Tribe: | Cynodonteae |
| Subtribe: | Eleusininae |
| Genus: | Eleusine Gaertn. |
| Type species | |
| Eleusine coracana | |
| Synonyms[3] | |
| |
Eleusine is a genus of Asian, African, and South American plants in the grass family,[3][4] sometimes referred to by the common name goosegrass.[5][6]
Several species of Eleusine are useful, with Eleusine coracana in particular, also known as finger millet, being cultivated as a cereal grain in India and parts of Africa since the third millennium BCE.[7] One species, Eleusine indica, is a widespread weed.[8][9]
Species
[edit]- Eleusine africana – Africa (from South Africa to Egypt + Senegal), Madagascar, Comoros, Sinai, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman
- Eleusine coracana – tropical Africa; naturalized in parts of Asia (Arabia, India, China, Japan, Indonesia, etc.), Western Australia, Fiji, Micronesia, etc.
- Eleusine floccifolia – Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen
- Eleusine indica – Asia, Africa, Papuasia; naturalized in Mediterranean, Australia, Americas, various islands
- Eleusine intermedia – Kenya, Ethiopia
- Eleusine jaegeri – Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda
- Eleusine kigeziensis – Ethiopia, Uganda, Zaïre, Rwanda, Burundi
- Eleusine multiflora – Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Eritrea, Yemen, Saudi Arabia; naturalized in South Africa, Mexico, Lesotho
- Eleusine semisterilis – Kenya
- Eleusine tristachya – Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile incl Juan Fernández Islands
Formerly included
[edit]Some species previously included in the Eleusine genus are now considered better suited to other genera. These include Acrachne, Aeluropus, Chloris, Coelachyrum, Dactyloctenium, Dinebra, Disakisperma,Eragrostis, Harpochloa, Leptochloa, Ochthochloa, Sclerodactylon, Uniola and Wangenheimia.
References
[edit]- ↑ lectotype designated by Nash in Britton & Brown, Ill. Fl. N. U.S. (ed. 2) 1: 228 (1913)
- ↑ Tropicos, Eleusine Gaertn.
- 1 2 Gaertner, Joseph. 1788. De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum 1: pages 7–8 descriptions and figure captions in Latin
- ↑ Gaertner, Joseph. 1788. De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum 1: Plate I (1), figure XI (11 a-i) line drawings of Eleusine coracana
- ↑ Multilingual Eleusine common names
- ↑ US Department of Agriculture Plants Profile
- ↑ "USDA Genetic Resources Information Network". Archived from the original on 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
- ↑ "Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. Plants of the World Online - Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
- ↑ "Eleusine Gaertn. Plants of the World Online - Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
External links
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