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.

Zambia: 2 taxa.

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

SpeciesFZ divisionsProvincesContent
africana Kenn.-O'ByrneB,N,W,C,E,SNw,Lp,N,Lk,SDescription, Image
indica (L.) Gaertn.W,C,ENw,N,CDescription

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 Zimbabwe: 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: Mike Bingham, Annette Willemen, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Mark Hyde, 2011-24

Bingham, M.G., Willemen, A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. and Hyde, M.A. (2024). Flora of Zambia: Genus page: Eleusine.
https://www.zambiaflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=168, retrieved 19 March 2024

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