G.370. Eleusine Gaertn.

Description of the genus

Annuals or perennials. Inflorescence composed of digitate or subdigitate racemes borne on a short axis; racemes with 2-seriate spikelets, terminating in a fertile spikelet. Spikelets several-flowered, laterally flattened, disarticulating above the glumes and between the florets (not the latter in E. coracana). Glumes 1-several-nerved, shorter than the lemmas, awnless. Lemmas 3-nerved, strongly keeled, sometimes the keels thickened and containing 1-3 closely spaced extra nerves, glabrous, obtuse to acute.

Derivation of name: from Greek: Eleusine, a name for Demeter, goddess of grain.

Worldwide: 10 species mostly in east and northeast Africa; 1 a cosmopolitan weed (indica) and 1 confined to South America.

Zimbabwe: 3 taxa.

Eleusine africana

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
africana Kenn.-O'ByrneN,W,C,E,SDescription, Image
coracana (L.) Gaertn.CDescription
indica (L.) Gaertn.N,W,C,EDescription

Other sources of information about Eleusine:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Eleusine
Flora of Caprivi: Eleusine
Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Eleusine
Flora of Malawi: Eleusine
Flora of Mozambique: Eleusine
Flora of Mozambique: cultivated Eleusine
Flora of Zambia: Eleusine
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Eleusine

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Eleusine
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Eleusine
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Eleusine
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Eleusine
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Eleusine
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Eleusine
JSTOR Plant Science: Eleusine
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Eleusine
Plants of the World Online: Eleusine
Tropicos: Eleusine
Wikipedia: Eleusine

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Zimbabwe: Genus page: Eleusine.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=168, retrieved 19 March 2024

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