''Ehrharta'' is a 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 ...

.Thunberg, Carl Peter. 1779. Kongliga Vetenskaps Academiens Handlingar 40: 217, pl. 8 Most of the species are native to Africa, with others native to the southern

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Several including '' Ehrharta longiflora'', '' Ehrharta calycina'' and ''

Ehrharta erecta ''Ehrharta erecta'' is a species of grass commonly known as panic veldtgrass. The species is native to Southern Africa and Yemen. It is a documented invasive species in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, southern Europe and China. The ...

'' have been introduced to parts of North and South America, Europe, India, and Australia, and are considered invasive weeds. Common names for this genus include veldtgrass. This genus was named for the German botanist

Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart (4 November 1742, Holderbank, Aargau – 26 June 1795) was a German botanist, a pupil of Carl Linnaeus at Uppsala University, and later director of the Botanical Garden of Hannover, where he produced several major botanical ...

, 1742–1795.Grass Manual Treatment

Species

28 species are accepted. * '' Ehrharta barbinodis'' Nees - Cape Province * '' Ehrharta brevifolia'' Schrad. - Cape Province, Namibia * '' Ehrharta bulbosa'' Sm. - Cape Province * '' Ehrharta calycina'' Sm. - Cape Province, Namibia, Free State, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal; naturalized in Mediterranean, Australia, New Zealand, USA (California, Nevada, Texas) * '' Ehrharta capensis'' Thunb. - Cape Province; naturalized in India * '' Ehrharta delicatula'' Stapf - Cape Province, Namibia * '' Ehrharta digyna'' Thunb. - Cape Province * '' Ehrharta diplax'' F.Muell. - Sulawesi, New Guinea, New Zealand incl Antipodes, Fiji, Society Is * '' Ehrharta dura'' Nees - Cape Province * '' Ehrharta eburnea'' Gibbs Russ. - Cape Province * ''

'' Lam. - from Eritrea + Saudi Arabia to Cape Province; naturalized in scattered locations in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, California * '' Ehrharta festucacea'' Willd. ex Schult. & Schult.f. - Madagascar * '' Ehrharta godefroyi'' C.Cordem. - Réunion * '' Ehrharta longiflora'' Sm. - South Africa, Namibia; naturalized in Cape Verde, St. Helena, Canary Islands, Réunion, India, Australia, New Zealand, California * '' Ehrharta longifolia'' Schrad. - Cape Province * '' Ehrharta longigluma'' C.E.Hubb. - South Africa, Lesotho * '' Ehrharta melicoides'' Thunb. - Cape Province * '' Ehrharta microlaena'' Nees - Cape Province * '' Ehrharta ottonis'' Kuntze ex Nees - Cape Province * '' Ehrharta penicillata'' C.Cordem. - Réunion * '' Ehrharta pusilla'' Nees - Cape Province, Namibia * '' Ehrharta ramosa'' Thunb. - Cape Province * '' Ehrharta rehmannii'' Stapf - Cape Province * '' Ehrharta rupestris'' Nees - Cape Province * '' Ehrharta setacea'' Nees - Cape Province * '' Ehrharta thunbergii'' Gibbs Russ. - Cape Province, Namibia * '' Ehrharta triandra'' Nees - Cape Province, Namibia * '' Ehrharta villosa'' Schult.f. - Cape Province; naturalised in Australia, New Zealand North Island, Argentina

Formerly included

Several species are now placed in other genera, including '' Brylkinia,

Leersia ''Leersia'' is a genus of plants in the grass family which includes species known generally as cutgrasses. The genus is widespread across many countries on all the inhabited continents. It was named for the German botanist Johann Daniel Leers ...

Melinis ''Melinis'' is a genus of African and Arabian plants in the Poaceae, grass family. The generic name is derived from the Greek ''meline'' meaning "millet". Species 23 species are currently accepted: ; formerly included numerous species now reg ...

, Microlaena,

Sporobolus ''Sporobolus'' is a nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family. The name ''Sporobolus'' means "seed-thrower", and is derived from Ancient Greek word (), meaning "seed", and the root of () "to throw", referring to the dispersion of ...

, Tetrarrhena,

Tristachya ''Tristachya'' (common name trident grasses) is a genus of African and Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese ...

'', and '' Zotovia''.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> * ''Ehrharta acuminata'' (R.Br.) Spreng. – '' Tetrarrhena acuminata'' * ''Ehrharta caudata - Brylkinia caudata'' * ''Ehrharta clandestina - Leersia oryzoides'' * ''Ehrharta colensoi - Zotovia colensoi'' * ''Ehrharta distichophylla'' Labill. - '' Tetrarrhena distichophylla'' * ''Ehrharta hispida - Tristachya leucothrix'' * ''Ehrharta juncea'' (R.Br.) Spreng. - '' Tetrarrhena juncea'' * ''Ehrharta laevis'' (R.Br.) Spreng. - '' Tetrarrhena laevis'' * ''Ehrharta multinoda - Microlaena polynoda'' * ''Ehrharta oreophila'' (D.I.Morris) L.P.M.Willemse - '' Tetrarrhena oreophila'' * ''Ehrharta stipoides'' Labill. - '' Microlaena stipoides'' * ''Ehrharta tasmanica'' (Hook.f.) L.P.M.Willemse - '' Microlaena tasmanica'' * ''Ehrharta tenella - Sporobolus tenellus'' * ''Ehrharta thomsonii - Zotovia thomsonii'' * ''Ehrharta uniglumis'' Fenzl ex T.Durand & Schinz 1894 not F.Muell. 1855 - ''

Melinis repens ''Melinis repens'' is a species of grass known by the common names rose Natal grass, Natal red top, or simply Natal grass. It is native to southern Africa and an introduced species, often considered a noxious weed, on other continents such as No ...

subsp. grandiflora''

References

{{Authority control Oryzoideae Poaceae genera Grasses of Africa Grasses of Asia Grasses of Europe Grasses of Oceania Grasses of North America Grasses of South America Taxa named by Carl Peter Thunberg