Sporobolus
Encyclopedia
Sporobolus is a genus
of grass
es in the family
Poaceae
. They are usually called dropseed grasses or sacaton grasses. They are typical prairie
and savanna
plants, and they occur in other types of open habitat in warmer climates.
plants, they are generally considered to make inferior pasture
s. On the other hand, seeds of at least some species
are edible and nutritious; they were used as food for example by the Chiricahua
Apache
s. Other species are reported to be used as famine food
s, such as Sporobolus indicus
in parts of the Oromia Region
of Ethiopia
, where it is known as muriy in Oromiffa
.
Known as popote de cambray, Sporobolus is used in popotillo art or straw mosaics, a Mexican folk art with Pre-Columbian origins.
Caterpillar
s of the small moth
Bucculatrix sporobolella have only been found on Alkali Sacaton
(Sporobolus airoides). The Laysan Dropseed Noctuid Moth
(Hypena laysanensis) on Laysan Island apparently became extinct with the local eradication of S. virginicus
by feral
rabbit
s. Seed-eating
birds including American sparrow
s (genus Aimophila
) feed on sacaton seeds. S. wrightii is a critical resource for the Botteri's Sparrow
(Aimophila botterii) which at one time was extirpated from Arizona
.
At least one species (S. caespitosus
from Saint Helena
) is threatened with extinction, and another (S. durus
from Ascension Island
) is extinct.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
es in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Poaceae
Poaceae
The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...
. They are usually called dropseed grasses or sacaton grasses. They are typical prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
and savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
plants, and they occur in other types of open habitat in warmer climates.
Uses and ecology
While some dropseed grasses make nice gardeningGardening
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants are grown for consumption , for their dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use...
plants, they are generally considered to make inferior pasture
Pasture
Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
s. On the other hand, seeds of at least some species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
are edible and nutritious; they were used as food for example by the Chiricahua
Chiricahua
Chiricahua are a group of Apache Native Americans who live in the Southwest United States. At the time of European encounter, they were living in 15 million acres of territory in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona in the United States, and in northern Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico...
Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
s. Other species are reported to be used as famine food
Famine food
A famine food or poverty food is any inexpensive or readily-available foodstuff used to nourish people in times of extreme poverty or starvation, as during a war or famine...
s, such as Sporobolus indicus
Sporobolus indicus
Sporobolus indicus is a species of grass known by the common name smut grass.-Distribution:This bunchgrass is native to temperate and tropical areas of the Americas....
in parts of the Oromia Region
Oromia Region
Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...
of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, where it is known as muriy in Oromiffa
Oromo language
Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Afan Boran, Afan Orma, and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names , is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic family. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and...
.
Known as popote de cambray, Sporobolus is used in popotillo art or straw mosaics, a Mexican folk art with Pre-Columbian origins.
Caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
s of the small moth
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
Bucculatrix sporobolella have only been found on Alkali Sacaton
Sporobolus airoides
Sporobolus airoides is a species of grass known by the common name alkali sacaton. It is native to western North America, including the Western United States west of the Mississippi River, British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, and northern and central Mexico...
(Sporobolus airoides). The Laysan Dropseed Noctuid Moth
Laysan Dropseed Noctuid Moth
The Laysan Dropseed Noctuid Moth was a species of moth in the Noctuidae family. This species is now extinct.This moth was endemic to Laysan Island, one of the Outlying Hawaiian Islands, United States....
(Hypena laysanensis) on Laysan Island apparently became extinct with the local eradication of S. virginicus
Sporobolus virginicus
Sporobolus virginicus, known by numerous common names including Marine Couch, Sand Couch, Coastal Rat-tail Grass, Salt Couch Grass, Saltwater Couch and Nioaka, is a coastal non-bunching tussock grass with a wide distribution.-Description:It is a perennial tussock grass from 10 to 50 centimetres in...
by feral
Feral
A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...
rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
s. Seed-eating
Seed predation
Seed predation, often referred to as granivory, is a type of plant-animal interaction in which granivores feed on the seeds of plants as a main or exclusive food source, in many cases leaving the seeds damaged and not viable...
birds including American sparrow
American sparrow
American sparrows are a group of mainly New World passerine birds, forming part of the family Emberizidae. American sparrows are seed-eating birds with conical bills, brown or gray in color, and many species have distinctive head patterns....
s (genus Aimophila
Aimophila
Aimophila is a genus of American sparrows. The derivation of the genus name is from aimos/αιμος 'thicket' and phila/φιλα 'loving'.- Species in taxonomic order:* Stripe-capped Sparrow, Aimophila strigiceps...
) feed on sacaton seeds. S. wrightii is a critical resource for the Botteri's Sparrow
Botteri's Sparrow
The Botteri's Sparrow, Aimophila botterii, is a medium-sized sparrow.This passerine bird is primarily found in Mexico, with a breeding range that extends into the southeastern tip of the U.S...
(Aimophila botterii) which at one time was extirpated from Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
.
At least one species (S. caespitosus
Sporobolus caespitosus
Sporobolus caespitosus is a species of grass in the Poaceae family.It is endemic to Ascension Island, in the South Atlantic Ocean, where it is known only from the weather side of the Green Mountain area, where it occupies an area of less than 0.5 km²...
from Saint Helena
Saint Helena
Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...
) is threatened with extinction, and another (S. durus
Sporobolus durus
Sporobolus durus was a species of grass in the Poaceae family, found only on Ascension Island. It is extinct due to overgrazing and displacement by invasive weeds. Its date of extinction is unknown; it was last recorded in 1886 but not looked for dedicatedly until 1998.-Source:* Gray, A. 2003. . ...
from Ascension Island
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...
) is extinct.
Selected species
- Sporobolus actinocladus (F.Muell.) F.Muell.
- Sporobolus africanus (Poir.) Robyns & Tournay – Rat's-tail Grass
- Sporobolus airoidesSporobolus airoidesSporobolus airoides is a species of grass known by the common name alkali sacaton. It is native to western North America, including the Western United States west of the Mississippi River, British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, and northern and central Mexico...
(Torr.) Torr. – Alkali Sacaton - Sporobolus argutas KunthCarl Sigismund KunthCarl Sigismund Kunth , also Karl Sigismund Kunth or anglicized as Charles Sigismund Kunth, was a German botanist...
- Sporobolus caespitosusSporobolus caespitosusSporobolus caespitosus is a species of grass in the Poaceae family.It is endemic to Ascension Island, in the South Atlantic Ocean, where it is known only from the weather side of the Green Mountain area, where it occupies an area of less than 0.5 km²...
Kunth - Sporobolus compositusSporobolus compositusSporobolus compositus, alt. Sporobolus asper, Tall dropseed or composite dropseed, is a native North American prairie grass growing from two to four feet tall. Also called rough dropseed and meadow dropseed it is common on the Great Plains, and found in most states in the United States.It flowers...
(Poir.) Merr. (= S. asper) – Tall Dropseed, Meadow Dropseed, Rough Dropseed - Sporobolus contractusSporobolus contractusSporobolus contractus is a species of grass known by the common name spike dropseed. It is native to western North America, including the southwestern United States and northern Mexico...
Hitchc. - Sporobolus cryptandrusSporobolus cryptandrusSporobolus cryptandrus is a species of grass known by the common name sand dropseed. It is native to North America, where it is widespread throughout southern Canada, most all of the United States, and northern Mexico.-Habitat:...
(Torr.) A.Gray – Sand Dropseed - Sporobolus cubensis Hitchc. – Cuban Dropseed
- Sporobolus domingensis
- Sporobolus durusSporobolus durusSporobolus durus was a species of grass in the Poaceae family, found only on Ascension Island. It is extinct due to overgrazing and displacement by invasive weeds. Its date of extinction is unknown; it was last recorded in 1886 but not looked for dedicatedly until 1998.-Source:* Gray, A. 2003. . ...
Brongn.Adolphe Theodore BrongniartAdolphe-Théodore Brongniart was a French botanist. He was the son of the geologist Alexandre Brongniart and grandson of the architect, Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart. Brongniart's pioneering work on the relationships between extinct and existing plants has earned him the title of father of...
(extinct) - Sporobolus elongatus R.Br.
- Sporobolus fertilis (Steud.) Clayton
- Sporobolus flexuosusSporobolus flexuosusSporobolus flexuosus is a species of grass known by the common name mesa dropseed. It is native to western North America, where it can be found in the deserts and woodlands of the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico....
(Thurb. ex Vasey) Rydb. – Mesa Dropseed - Sporobolus fourcadei Stent
- Sporobolus heterolepis (A.Gray) A.Gray – Prairie Dropseed, Northern Dropseed
- Sporobolus indicusSporobolus indicusSporobolus indicus is a species of grass known by the common name smut grass.-Distribution:This bunchgrass is native to temperate and tropical areas of the Americas....
(L.) R.Br. – Smutgrass, Wiregrass- Sporobolus indicus var. flaccidus (Roem. & Schult.) Veldkamp (= Sporobolus diander)
- Sporobolus indicus var. indicus
- Sporobolus indicus var. major (Büse) Baaijens
- Sporobolus indicus var. pyramidalis (P.Beauv.) Veldkamp
- Sporobolus jacquemontii Kunth (= S. pyramidalis P.Beauv.) – Giant Rat's-tail Grass
- Sporobolus marginatus Hochst. ex A.Rich.
- Sporobolus neglectus Nash – Small Dropseed
- Sporobolus pulchellus R.Br.
- Sporobolus pyramidatus (Lam.) A.S.Hitchc. – Madagascar Dropseed
- Sporobolus rigens (Tr.) Desv.
- Sporobolus spicatusSporobolus spicatusSporobolus spicatus, also known as salt grass, is a halophyte.-Distribution:This bunchgrass is distributed:*in dryer parts of Africa such as Namibia, as a well known common plant in the western desert of Egypt...
Kunth - Sporobolus stapfianus
- Sporobolus tenuissimus (Mart. ex Schrank) Kuntze – Tropical Dropseed
- Sporobolus vaginiflorusSporobolus vaginiflorusSporobolus vaginiflorus is a species of grass known by the common names poverty grass, poverty dropseed, and sheathed dropseed.-Distribution:...
(Torr. ex A.Gray) Alph.Wood – Sheathed Dropseed, Poverty Grass - Sporobolus virginicusSporobolus virginicusSporobolus virginicus, known by numerous common names including Marine Couch, Sand Couch, Coastal Rat-tail Grass, Salt Couch Grass, Saltwater Couch and Nioaka, is a coastal non-bunching tussock grass with a wide distribution.-Description:It is a perennial tussock grass from 10 to 50 centimetres in...
(L.) Kunth. – Seashore Dropseed - Sporobolus wrightii Munro ex Scribn. – Giant Sacaton
Formerly placed here
- Muhlenbergia arenacea (Buckley) Hitchc. (as S. arenaceus Buckley)
- Muhlenbergia fastigiata (J.Presl) Henrard (as S. fastigiatus J.Presl)