Grass Subfamilies III Subfamily Panicoideae • 12 tribes • 3560 species • mostly tropical to warm temperate • economically important for: – Zea mays – Saccharum officinale – Sorghum bicolor – various weeds Subfamily Panicoideae • Tribe Paniceae • Tribe Andropogoneae Subfamily Panicoideae • Tribe Paniceae – Digitaria – Dichanthelium – Echinochloa – Panicum – Cenchrus – Setaria Digitaria Dichanthelium Echinochloa Panicum Cenchrus Setaria Setaria Pennisetum Cenchrus Subfamily Panicoideae • Tribe Paniceae • Tribe Andropogoneae Subfamily Panicoideae • Tribe Paniceae • Tribe Andropogoneae – Andropogon – Schizachyrium – Miscanthus – Sorghum – Zea Andropogon Sorghum Schizachyrium Zea Miscanthus Subfamily Panicoideae • Tribe Andropogoneae – Saccharum officinarum (sugar cane) used for sugar in India since at least 3000 BCE – Columbus brought sugarcane to the New World on his second voyage and successfully established crops – Sugar Triangle in 1700s • Raw sugar or molasses from West Indies to Connecticut • Rum made in Connecticut sent to Africa to buy slaves • Slaves brought to West Indies for labor in cane fields • Sugar Act – British taxes on sugar in colonies Subfamily Panicoideae • Sorghum bicolor – up to three separate domestications in Africa 2000-4000 BCE – grain sorghum – sweet sorghum – kafir – careful with usage of term – durra – milo – ethanol – edible oils Subfamily Panicoideae • Zea mays – maize, corn – base crop of New World civilizations including Maya, Aztecs, Incas – domesticated in Mexico around 7000 BCE – by the time Columbus arrived, 300 races of corn in New World. – Teosinte (some perennial species) is probably ancestor of modern corn Corn in the United States • 65% animal feed • 13 % ethanol • 3.5 % corn syrup and sugars • 1.5 % cornflakes, corn chips, corn muffins etc. • 90 million acres of corn planted per year • 8 X more ethanol produced last year than in 2000 • Average American consumes 1500 lb of corn per year Subfamily Arundinoideae • 2 tribes • 16 genera • 40 species • all are C3 plants Subfamily Arundinoideae • Arundo donax Subfamily Arundinoideae • Phragmites australis – may be most widespread flowering plant Subfamily Danthonioideae • 20 genera • 293 species • mostly in southern hemisphere • all are C3 plants Subfamily Danthonioideae • Danthonia spicata Subfamily Chloridoideae • 5 tribes • 131 genera • 1601 species • found mostly in arid temperate grasslands • nearly all C4 species Subfamily Chloridoideae • Tribe Eragrostideae • Tribe Zoysieae • Tribe Cynodonteae Subfamily Chloridoideae • Tribe Eragrostideae – Eragrostis cilianensis Subfamily Chloridoideae • Tribe Eragrostideae • Tribe Zoysieae • Tribe Cynodonteae Subfamily Chloridoideae • Tribe Zoysieae – Zoysia (lawns) – Sporobolus – Calamovilfa – Spartina Sporobolus cryptandrus Spartina pectinata Calamovilfa longifolia Subfamily Chloridoideae • Tribe Eragrostideae • Tribe Zoysieae • Tribe Cynodonteae – Chloris – Distichlis – Bouteloua – Muhlenbergia Chloris verticellata Distichlis spicata Muhlenbergia racemosa Bouteloua gracilis.