Open Herbarium

Mary E. Barkworth

Plants annual or perennial; cespitose, sometimes stoloniferous or rhizomatous. Culms to 120 cm, not woody. Sheaths open; ligules membranous, ciliate; blades flat. Inflorescences terminal, panicles of 1-20 non-disarticulating, spikelike branches, exceeding the upper leaves; branches digitately or racemosely arranged, if racemose, the lower nodes usually with more than 1 branch. Spikelets solitary, strongly imbricate, appressed to somewhat divergent, dorsally compressed, with 2-6 florets, lowest floret bisexual, elongate, remaining florets progressively reduced, usually the distal florets rudimentary and sterile, occasionally staminate; disarticulation beneath the glumes. Glumes unequal, subulate to lanceolate, membranous; upper glumes much shorter than the lowest florets, acute or shortly awned; calluses strigose; lowest lemmas stiff, 3-veined, ridged over the midveins, apices acute or bidentate, usually awned from between the teeth, without lateral awns; paleas almost as long as the lemmas, 2-keeled and bidentate; distal lemmas awned; lodicules 2; anthers 1-3. Caryopses sulcate; embryos 1/4-1/3(1/2) as long as the caryopses. x = 10. Name presumably from the Greek enteron, intestine and pogon, beard, although the allusion is unclear.

Enteropogon is a tropical genus of 17 species. Anderson (1974) included it in Chloris, but it is now usually recognized as a separate genus. It differs from Chloris in its dorsally compressed, indurate lemmas that are conspicuously ridged over the midvein. The caryopses also differ, being dorsally flattened with a shallow ventral groove in Enteropogon; in Chloris, the caryopses are basically triangular in cross section although there may be a shallow ventral groove. The embryos also tend to be shorter relative to the caryopses in Enteropogon than in Chloris, but there is some overlap.

There is one species native to the Flora region; two others have been found at various locations but have not persisted.

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SELECTED REFERENCES Anderson, D.E.1974. Taxonomy of the genus Chloris (Gramineae). Brigham Young Univ. Sci. Bull., Biol. Ser. 19:1-133; Jacobs, S.W.L. and J. Highet. 1988. Re-evaluation of the characters used to distinguish Enteropogon from Chloris (Poaceae). Telopea 3:217-221; Lazarides, M. 1972. A revision of Australian Chlorideae (Gramineae). Austral. J. Bot. (supp. 5):1-51; Pohl, R.W. and G. Davidse. 1994. Enteropogon Nees.P. 289 in G. Davidse, M. Sousa S., and A.O. Chater (eds.). Flora Mesoamericana, vol. 6: Alismataceae a Cyperaceae. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Biología, México, D.F., México. 543 pp.

T.A. Cope (1995) Enteropogon. Flora of Somalia 4: 207

Plants annual or perennial. Inflorescence branches solitary or digitate. Spikelets dorsally compressed, with 1 fertile floret, sometimes also a smaller male floret; rhachillas terminatin in an awned rudiment or cluster of rudiments; fertile lemmas broadly rounded to almost flat, with prominently raised miveins, subcoriaceous, often 2-toothed, awned. Grains narrowly elliptic, dorsally compressed. concavo-convex in cross-section; pericapr free.

Enteropogon is a tropical genus of about 14 species. There are 5 species in Somaliland and Somalia. 

Global distribution of Enteropogon.

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

Anderson, D.E. 1974. Taxonomy of the genus Chloris (Gramineae). Brigham Young Univ. Sci. Bull., Biol. Ser. 19:1-133

Jacobs, S.W.L. and J. Highet. 1988. Re-evaluation of the characters used to distinguish Enteropogon from Chloris (Poaceae). Telopea 3:217-221.

Lazarides, M. 1972. A revision of Australian Chlorideae (Gramineae). Austral. J. Bot. (supp. 5):1-51.

Pohl, R.W. and G. Davidse. 1994. Enteropogon Nees.P. 289 in G. Davidse, M. Sousa S., and A.O. Chater (eds.). Flora Mesoamericana, vol. 6: Alismataceae a Cyperaceae. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Biología, México, D.F., México. 543 pp.