Panicum (Poaceae)

Abstract

The genus Panicum L. comprises approximately 165 species of tropical and sub tropical distribution, with few species reaching temperate regions of the world. It includes annual or perennial herbs belonging, within the Poaceae, to subfamily Panicoideae A. Braun, characterized by having biflowered spikelets, with two glumes shorter or equal than the anthecia, membranous, the lower anthecium is staminate or neutral and the upper anthecium is perfect, hardened and with the lemma embracing the upper palea. Since the establishment of the genus by Linnaeus, it included a large number of species, many of which have been transferred, mainly in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, to other genera of the subfamily. The present revision includes, for the Flora Neotropica, a total of 54 species within the genus and 9 “incertae sedis” species, which still remain to be classified within the Paniceae or Paspaleae. A total of 35 species were studied in the field; this revision includes 78 illustrations and distribution maps of all taxa.