''Sporobolus'' is a nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the

grass family Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...

. The name ''Sporobolus'' means "seed-thrower", and is derived from Ancient Greek word (), meaning "seed", and the root of () "to throw", referring to the dispersion of seeds. Members of the genus are usually called dropseeds or sacaton grasses. They are typical prairie and savanna plants, occurring in other types of open habitat in warmer climates. At least one species ('' S. caespitosus'' from

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

) is threatened with extinction, and another ('' S. durus'' from

Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...

) is

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

Uses

While some dropseeds, such as prairie dropseed (''Sporobolus heterolepis''), make nice

gardening Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits ...

plants, they are generally considered to make inferior pastures, but seeds of at least some species are edible and nutritious; they were used as food, for example, by the

Chiricahua Chiricahua ( ) is a band of Apache Native Americans. Based in the Southern Plains and Southwestern United States, the Chiricahua (Tsokanende ) are related to other Apache groups: Ndendahe (Mogollon, Carrizaleño), Tchihende (Mimbreño), Sehende ...

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

s. Other species are reported to be used as famine foods, such as ''

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. It can be found in more regions, as well as on many Pacific Islands, as a ...

'' in parts of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, where it is known as ''muriy'' in

Oromiffa Oromo ( or ; Oromo: ''Afaan Oromoo''), in the linguistic literature of the early 20th century also called Galla (a name with a pejorative meaning and therefore rejected by the Oromo people), is an Afroasiatic language that belongs to the Cushiti ...

. Known as ''popote de cambray'', ''Sporobolus'' grasses are used in

popotillo art Straw paintings are craft objects made by shaping straw into patterns and representational images. By modeling and playing with straw, people, especially women, started weaving straw into artistic objects. As time passed, they acquired more skil ...

or straw mosaics, a Mexican folk art with pre-Columbian origins. The 1889 book ''The Useful Native Plants of Australia'' records that ''Sporobolus actinocladus'' is a "Perennial; seeds in October and November. A much esteemed pasture grass of the back country, common on rich loamy soil; stock of all kinds are very fond of it."

Ecology

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

s of the small moth ''

Bucculatrix sporobolella ''Bucculatrix sporobolella'' is a moth in the family Bucculatricidae. It was described by August Busck in 1910 and is found in North America, where it has been recorded from New Mexico and California. The larvae have been reported as feeding o ...

'' have only been found on alkali sacaton (''Sporobolus airoides''). The

Laysan dropseed noctuid moth The Laysan dropseed noctuid moth (''Hypena laysanensis'') was a species of moth in the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Otto Herman Swezey in 1914. This species is now extinct. This moth was endemic to Laysan Island, one of t ...

(''Hypena laysanensis'') on

Laysan Island Laysan (; haw, italics=no, Kauō ), located northwest of Honolulu at , is one of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It comprises one land mass of , about in size. It is an atoll of sorts, although the land completely surrounds a shallow ...

apparently became

with the local eradication of '' S. virginicus'' by feral

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

Seed-eating Seed predation, often referred to as granivory, is a type of plant-animal interaction in which granivores (seed predators) feed on the seeds of plants as a main or exclusive food source,Hulme, P.E. and Benkman, C.W. (2002) "Granivory", pp. 13 ...

birds including

American sparrow New World sparrows are a group of mainly New World passerine birds, forming the family Passerellidae. They are seed-eating birds with conical bills, brown or gray in color, and many species have distinctive head patterns. Although they share t ...

s (genus ''

Aimophila ''Aimophila'' is a genus of American sparrows. The derivation of the genus name is from ''aimos''/αιμος "thicket" and ''phila''/φιλα "loving". Some species that were formerly classified in ''Aimophila'' are now considered to be in the ...

'') feed on sacaton seeds. '' S. wrightii'' is a critical resource for Botteri's sparrow (''Aimophila botterii'') which at one time was extirpated from Arizona.

Selected species

About 160 species are placed in the genus, including: This list does not include numerous species moved from other genera to ''Sporobolus'' after a 2014 taxonomic revision, including species in ''

Crypsis In ecology, crypsis is the ability of an animal or a plant to avoid observation or detection by other animals. It may be a predation strategy or an antipredator adaptation. Methods include camouflage, nocturnality, subterranean lifestyle and ...

'', '' Eragrostis'', ''

Thellungia ''Sporobolus'' is a nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family. The name ''Sporobolus'' means "seed-thrower", and is derived from Ancient Greek word (), meaning "seed", and the root of () "to throw", referring to the dispersion o ...

'', '' Calamovilfa'', and '' Spartina''. Numerous species have been moved from ''Sporobolus'' to other genera: ''

Agrostis ''Agrostis'' (bent or bentgrass) is a large and very nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family, found in nearly all the countries in the world. It has been bred as a GMO creeping bent grass. Species * '' Agrostis aequivalvi'' ...

'', '' Arctagrostis'', '' Blepharoneuron'', '' Eragrostis'', ''

Mosdenia ''Mosdenia'' is a genus of African plants in the grass family. The only known species is ''Mosdenia leptostachys'', native to Angola and Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, whi ...

'', '' Muhlenbergia'', ''

Poa ''Poa'' is a genus of about 570 species of grasses, native to the temperate regions of both hemispheres. Common names include meadow-grass (mainly in Europe and Asia), bluegrass (mainly in North America), tussock (some New Zealand species), a ...

'', ''

Sacciolepis ''Sacciolepis'' is a genus of plants in the grass family. Cupscale grass is a common name for plants in this genus. They are widespread in tropical and warmer temperate regions. Many are native to Africa, with others in Asia, Australia, and th ...

'', '' Thysanolaena'', and ''

Urochondra ''Urochondra'' is a genus of plants in the grass family. The only known species is ''Urochondra setulosa'', native to northeastern Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Socotra) and southwestern Asia (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, northwestern ...

''.

Starr 040711-0055 Sporobolus pyramidatus

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2603825 Poaceae genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot