Micrairoideae is a
subfamily of the grass
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Poaceae, distributed in tropical and subtropical regions.
Within the
PACMAD clade, it is
sister
A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...
to subfamily
Arundinoideae.
It includes roughly 190 species in nine genera. A phylogenetic classification of the grasses recognises four main lineages, classified as
tribes
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
. Only species in tribe Eriachneae (genera ''
Eriachne'' and ''
Pheidochloa'') have evolved the
C4 photosynthetic pathway.
Phylogeny
Relationships of tribes in the Micrairoideae according to a 2017 phylogenetic classification,
also showing the Arundinoideae as sister group:
References
*
Poaceae subfamilies
{{Poaceae-stub