Род Пеньсетум: таксономия и биологические особенности

Genus of grasses

Pennisetum ,/p//ɛ//n//ᵻ/'/s//iː//t//əm/ is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family, native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. They are known commonly as fountaingrasses (fountain grasses). Pennisetum is considered a synonym of Cenchrus in Kew's Plants of the World Online.

Pennisetum is closely related to the genus Cenchrus, and the boundary between them is unclear. Cenchrus was derived from Pennisetum and the two are grouped in a monophyletic clade. Some species now in Pennisetum were once members of Cenchrus, and some have been moved back. A main morphological character used to distinguish them is the degree of fusion of the bristles in the inflorescence, but this is often unreliable. In 2010, researchers proposed to transfer Pennisetum into Cenchrus, along with the related genus Odontelytrum. The genus is currently not accepted as separate from Cenchrus in Kew's Plants of the World Online database.

As currently envisioned, Pennisetum is a genus of 80 to 140 species.

Many Pennisetum grasses are noxious weeds, including feathertop grass (P. villosum) and kikuyu grass (P. clandestinum), which is also a popular and hardy turf grass in some parts of the world. The herbage and seeds of these grasses are food for herbivores, such as the chestnut breasted mannikin (Lonchura castaneothorax), the caterpillar of the butterfly Melanitis phedima, and the larvae of the fly genus Delia. The genus is a host of the pathogenic fungus Cochliobolus sativus.