''Urochloa fusca'', the browntop signalgrass, is a wild grass species with a native range extending from Paraguay in South America to the southern United States (Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma),
and it is now found as a weed in Australia.
The species is diploid, with a base chromosome number of 9, and utilizes the PCK enzymatic subtype of
C4 photosynthesis
carbon fixation or the Hatch–Slack pathway is one of three known photosynthetic processes of carbon fixation in plants. It owes the names to the 1960s discovery by Marshall Davidson Hatch and Charles Roger Slack.
fixation is an addition ...
. Based on a molecular phylogeny of the genus ''Urochloa'', the closest relatives of ''U. fusca'' are ''
Urochloa arizonica'' and ''
Urochloa mollis'' The genome of ''U. fusca'' is currently being sequenced by the
Joint Genome Institute
The Joint Genome Institute (JGI) is a scientific user facility for integrative genomic science at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The mission of the JGI is to advance genomics research in support of the United States Department of Energy ...
.
Ecology
Prefers moist and the disturbed areas at low elevations.
References
Panicoideae
{{Panicoideae-stub