Khidir W. Hilu

Plants annual or perennial; cespitose. Culms 10-150 cm, herbaceous, glabrous, branching both at and above the base. Sheaths open; ligulesmembranous, ciliate. Inflorescences terminal, panicles of (1)2-20 non-disarticulating, spikelike branches, exceeding the upper leaves; branches 1-17 cm, all or most in a digitate cluster, sometimes 1(2) branch(es) attached immediately below the terminal whorl, axes flattened, terminating in a functional spikelet. Spikelets 3.5-11 mm, laterally compressed, with 2-15 bisexual florets; disarticulation above the glumes and between the florets (Eleusine coracana not disarticulating). Glumes unequal, shorter than the lower lemmas; lower glumes 1-3-veined; upper glumes 3-5(7)-veined; lemmas 3-veined, glabrous, keeled, apices entire, neither mucronate nor awned; paleas sometimes with winged keels; anthers 3, 0.5-1 mm; ovaries glabrous. Fruits modified caryopses, pericarp thin, separating from the seed at an early stage in its development; seeds usually obtusely trigonous, the surfaces ornamented. x = 8, 9, 10. Name from Eleusis, a Greek town where Demeter, the goddess of harvests, was worshipped.

Eight of the nine species of Eleusine are native to Africa, where they grow in mesic to xeric habitats; the exception, E. tristachya, is native to South America. Three species have become established in the Flora region. When moistened, the seeds of all species are easily freed from the thin pericarp.

Eleusine coracana subsp. africana, E. indica, and E. tristachya are widely distributed weeds. Eleusine coracana subsp. coracana was domesticated in East Africa and subsequently introduced to India and China. It is frequently grown for grain in India and Africa.

---

SELECTED REFERENCES Hilu, K.W.1980. Noteworthy collections: Eleusine tristachya. Madroño 27:177-178; Hilu, K.W. and J.L. Johnson. 1997. Systematics of Eleusine Gaertn. (Poaceae, Chloridoideae): Chloroplast DNA and total evidence. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 84:841-847; Phillips, S.M. 1972. A survey of the genus Eleusine Gaertner (Gramineae) in Africa. Kew Bull. 27:251-70.

T.A. Cope (1995) Eleusine. Flora of Somalia 4: 186-188.

Plants annual or perennial. Leaves: sheaths strongly keeled; ligules membranous, usually ciliate-fringed; blades folded. Inflorescences panicles of digitately or subdigitatelu arranged, spikelike branches, inflorescence axes shorter than the branches; branches with imbricate spikelets, terminating in a fertile spikelet. Spikelets usually with several florets, disarticulating betweent the florets; lemmas membranous, glabrous, sometimes strongly keeled, sometimes the keels thickened and containing 1-3 closely spaced additional veins, tips obtuse or acute. Grains ellipsoid to subglobose, trigonous in outline, flat or concave on the hilar side, pericarp free. 

Eleusine includes 10 species, eight of which are native to Africa, one to South America, and one is a cosmopolitan weed. One species, Eleusine coracana, is a cultivated cereal. Two species are native to Somaliland, one of which also grows in Somalia. Eleusine corocana has been grown in Somalia in the past. SInce publication of the Flora of Somalia, Peterson et al. (2015) have shown that the taxon treated there are Eleusine indica subsp. africana is more appropriately treated as a species. That change has been made in key and the taxonomy of OpenHerbarium. Coelachyrum poiflorum has not been transferred to Eleusine. It is sister to Eleusine, forming part of a grade. Its transfer would require changes in the morphological description of Eleusine and is not currently recommended by POWO (2022). 

Key to the species of Eleusine native to Somaliland and Somalia.   

Global distribution of Eleusine.

Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.

Hilu, K.W. and J.L. Johnson. 1997. Systematics of Eleusine Gaertn. (Poaceae, Chloridoideae): Chloroplast DNA and total evidence. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 84:841-847.

Peterson P.M.,  K.Romaschenko & Y.H.Arrieta (2015) A molecular phylogeny and classification of the Eleusininae with a new genus, Micrachne (Poaceae: Chloridoideae: Cynodonteae). TAXON 64: 445–467. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12705/643.5.

Phillips, S.M. 1972. A survey of the genus Eleusine Gaertner (Gramineae) in Africa. Kew Bull. 27:251-70.