''Cenchrus'' is a widespread genus of plants in the

grass family Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in ...

, native to

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

and warm

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

regions of the world. Its species are native to many countries in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, and various oceanic islands. Common names include buffelgrasses, sandburs, and sand spur. Such names allude to the sharp, spine-covered

bur A bur (also spelled burr) is a seed or dry fruit or infructescence that has hooks or teeth. The main function of the bur is to spread the seeds of the bur plant, often through epizoochory. The hooks of the bur are used to latch onto fur or f ...

rs characterizing the inflorescences of the members of the genus. Those previously classified as ''Pennisetum'' are known commonly as fountaingrasses (fountain grasses).''Pennisetum''.
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).''Pennisetum''.
The Jepson eFlora 2013.

Taxonomy

Pennisetum

''Pennisetum'' is a former genus that heavily overlaps with ''Cenchrus'',Martel, E., et al. (2004)
Chromosome evolution of ''Pennisetum'' species (Poaceae): implications of ITS phylogeny.
''Plant Systematics and Evolution'' 249(3–4), 139–49. and the boundary between them has been unclear.Wipff, J. K
''Pennisetum'' Rich.
The Grass Manual. Flora of North America. ''Cenchrus'' was derived from ''Pennisetum'' and the two are grouped in a

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

. A main morphological character that has been used to distinguish them is the degree of fusion of the bristles in the

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

, but this is often unreliable. In 2010, researchers proposed to transfer ''Pennisetum'' into ''Cenchrus'', along with the related genus ''

Odontelytrum ''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. Comm ...

''.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. 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

, and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, with some of them widely naturalized in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, as well as on various oceanic islands.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>

Description

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

is a very dense, narrow

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

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 Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''penna'' ("feather") and ''seta'' ("bristle").

Uses

The genus includes

pearl millet Pearl millet (''Cenchrus americanus'', commonly known as the synonym ''Pennisetum glaucum'') is the most widely grown type of millet. It has been grown in Africa and the Indian subcontinent since prehistoric times. The center of diversity, and ...

(''P. glaucum''), an important food crop.

Napier grass ''Cenchrus purpureus'', synonym ''Pennisetum purpureum'', also known as Napier grass, elephant grass or Uganda grass, is a species of perennial tropical grass native to African grasslands. arrell, G., Simons, S. A., & Hillocks, R. J. (2002). Pest ...

(''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 A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

'Fairy Tails' is a recipient of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

Ecology

Many ''Pennisetum'' grasses are

noxious weed A noxious weed, harmful weed or injurious weed is a weed that has been designated by an agricultural or other governing authority as a plant that is harmful to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or lives ...

s, including feathertop grass (''P. villosum'') and

kikuyu grass The tropical grass species ''Cenchrus clandestinus'' (previously ''Pennisetum clandestinum'') is known by several common names, most often Kikuyu grass. It is native to the highland regions of East Africa that is home to the Kikuyu people. Becau ...

(''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

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...

s, such as the

chestnut-breasted mannikin The chestnut-breasted mannikin (''Lonchura castaneothorax''), also known as the chestnut-breasted munia or bully bird (in Australia), is a small brown-backed munia with a black face and greyish crown and nape. It has a broad ferruginous breast ba ...

(''Lonchura castaneothorax''), the

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

of the butterfly ''Melanitis phedima'', and the larvae of the fly genus ''Delia (genus), Delia''. The genus is a host of the plant pathogen, pathogenic fungus ''Cochliobolus sativus''.

Species

107 species are currently accepted. They include:The Plant List search for Cenchrus
/ref> * ''Cenchrus abyssinicus'' (Hack.) Morrone – Ethiopia, Tanzania, Yemen, Limpopo, Mpumalanga * ''Cenchrus agrimonioides'' Carl Bernhard von Trinius, Trin. – ''kāmanomano'' – Hawaiian Islands * ''Cenchrus alopecuroides'' * ''Cenchrus americanus'' * ''Cenchrus annuus'' * ''Cenchrus arnhemicus'' (F.Muell.) Morrone – Australia (Western Australia and Northern Territory) * ''Cenchrus articularis'' * ''Cenchrus basedowii'' * ''Cenchrus beckeroides'' * ''Cenchrus biflorus'' Roxb. – ''kram-kram'' – Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Indian Subcontinent, and Madagascar * ''Cenchrus brevisetosus'' (B.K.Simon) B.K.Simon – Australia (Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Queensland) * ''Cenchrus brownii'' Roem. & Schult. – North America, South America, and West Indies * ''Cenchrus cafer'' * ''Cenchrus caliculatus'' Cav. – Australia, New Zealand, and assorted islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans * ''Cenchrus caudatus'' * ''Cenchrus chilensis'' * ''Cenchrus ciliaris'' L. – buffelgrass – Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Indian Subcontinent, and Sicily; naturalized as a nutritious arid pasture lands in parts of North and South America, Australia,Henry DR Pasture plants of Southern Inland Queensland. DPI. 1995 Southeast Asia, and various islands; considered noxious weed in some places * ''Cenchrus clandestinus'' (Hochst. ex Chiov.) Morrone * ''Cenchrus complanatus'' * ''Cenchrus × cupreus'' * ''Cenchrus distachyus'' * ''Cenchrus distichophyllus'' Griseb. – Cuba * ''Cenchrus divisus'' * ''Cenchrus domingensis'' * ''Cenchrus durus'' * ''Cenchrus echinatus'' L. – common sandbur – North America, South America, and West Indies; naturalized in parts of Africa, southern Asia, and various islands * ''Cenchrus elegans'' (Hassk.) Veldkamp – Malesia * ''Cenchrus elymoides'' F.Muell. – Australia (Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Queensland) * ''Cenchrus exiguus'' * ''Cenchrus flaccidus'' * ''Cenchrus flexilis'' * ''Cenchrus foermerianus'' * ''Cenchrus geniculatus'' * ''Cenchrus glaucifolius'' * ''Cenchrus gracilescens'' * ''Cenchrus gracillimus'' Nash – West Indies and southeastern USA * ''Cenchrus henryanus'' * ''Cenchrus hohenackeri'' * ''Cenchrus hordeoides'' * ''Cenchrus intectus'' * ''Cenchrus lanatus'' * ''Cenchrus latifolius'' * ''Cenchrus laxius'' * ''Cenchrus ledermannii'' * ''Cenchrus longisetus'' * ''Cenchrus longispinus'' (Hack.) Fern. – mat sandbur – Canada, USA, and Mexico * ''Cenchrus longissimus'' * ''Cenchrus × longistylus'' * ''Cenchrus massaicus'' * ''Cenchrus mezianus'' * ''Cenchrus michoacanus'' * ''Cenchrus mitis'' Andersson – Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Mozambique * ''Cenchrus monostigma'' * ''Cenchrus multiflorus'' J.Presl – Mexico, Central America * ''Cenchrus mutilatus'' * ''Cenchrus myosuroides'' Kunth – North America, South America, and West Indies * ''Cenchrus nanus'' * ''Cenchrus nervosus'' * ''Cenchrus nodiflorus'' * ''Cenchrus nubicus'' * ''Cenchrus occidentalis'' * ''Cenchrus orientalis'' * ''Cenchrus palmeri'' Vasey – Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Arizona * ''Cenchrus pennisetiformis'' Steud. – Africa, Arabian Peninsula, and Indian Subcontinent * ''Cenchrus peruvianus'' * ''Cenchrus petiolaris'' * ''Cenchrus pilcomayensis'' * ''Cenchrus pilosus'' Kunth – central Mexico to northern Chile * ''Cenchrus pirottae'' * ''Cenchrus platyacanthus'' Andersson – Galápagos * ''Cenchrus prieurii'' (Kunth) Maire – Sahara, Arabian Peninsula, Indian Subcontinent, and Myanmar * ''Cenchrus preslii'' * ''Cenchrus procerus'' * ''Cenchrus prolificus'' * ''Cenchrus pseudotriticoides'' * ''Cenchrus pumilus'' * ''Cenchrus purpureus'' (Schumach.) Morrone – Africa and Oman * ''Cenchrus qianningensis'' * ''Cenchrus ramosus'' * ''Cenchrus rigidus'' * ''Cenchrus riparius'' * ''Cenchrus robustus'' R.D.Webster – Queensland and New South Wales * ''Cenchrus rupestris'' * ''Cenchrus sagittatus'' * ''Cenchrus schweinfurthii'' * ''Cenchrus setaceus'' – tender fountain grass, crimson fountaingrass – northern Africa and southwestern Asia; naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, and scattered places in Europe and the Americas * ''Cenchrus setiger'' Vahl – Sahara, East Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Indian Subcontinent, Myanmar, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands * ''Cenchrus shaanxiensis'' * ''Cenchrus sichuanensis'' * ''Cenchrus sieberianus'' * ''Cenchrus somalensis'' Clayton – Somalia * ''Cenchrus sphacelatus'' * ''Cenchrus spinifex'' Cav. – coastal sandbur – North America, South America, and West Indies * ''Cenchrus squamulatus'' * ''Cenchrus stramineus'' * ''Cenchrus tempisquensis'' * ''Cenchrus thulinii'' * ''Cenchrus trachyphyllus'' * ''Cenchrus tribuloides'' L. – sanddune sandbur – North America, South America, and West Indies * ''Cenchrus trisetus'' * ''Cenchrus tristachyus'' * ''Cenchrus uliginosus'' * ''Cenchrus unisetus'' * ''Cenchrus violaceus'' * ''Cenchrus weberbaueri'' * ''Cenchrus yemensis'' ; Formerly included Several species are now considered better suited to other genera: ''Anthephora, Centotheca, Dactyloctenium, Echinaria, Echinolaena, Hackelochloa, Hilaria (plant), Hilaria, Pennisetum, Phragmites, Scleria, Setaria, Trachys (plant), Trachys, Tragus (plant), Tragus, Tribolium (plant), 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

External links

* {{Authority control Cenchrus, Poaceae genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus