Abstract
Disakisperma Steud. is a genus of four predominantly perennial C4 (NAD-ME) species in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Its species previously were treated in Eleusine, Eragrostis, Coelachyrum, Cypholepis, Leptochloa, or Diplachne by nearly all authors.It includes the widespread North and South American amphitropical disjunct Disakisperma dubium (type of the genus), Disakisperma eleusine from southern Africa, Disakisperma obtusiflorum from central and northern Africa to southern Asia, and Disakisperma yemenicum, comb. nov. from eastern and southern Africa to Yemen. This paper provides a key to the species, geographic distributions, descriptions, including comments on the anatomy of leaves, stems, lemmatal micromorphology, a phylogram based on five molecular markers, and discussions of chromosome numbers. The species are rarely, if at all, known outside of their native ranges and are unlikely to become aggressively invasive. All species are considered Least Concern following IUCN guidelines. Lectotypes are designated for Diplachne dubia var. pringleana Kuntze, Disakisperma mexicana Steud., Eragrostis yemenica Schweinf., and Leptochloa appletonii Stapf.
Highlights
Recent molecular studies by Peterson et al (2010, 2012) determined Leptochloa P
These were the first molecular results to suggest a close relationship among these species, based on overall morphology Steudel (1841: 30) placed Leptochloa obtusiflora Trin. ex Steud. as a synonym of L. dubia, suggesting their affinity
In a paper documenting C4 origins in the grasses, Aliscioni et al (2012) presented a summary tree for Chloridoideae derived from rbcL, ndhF, and trnK/matK sequences, which united Leptochloa dubia and Coelachyrum yemenicum (Schweinf.) S.M
Summary
Recent molecular studies by Peterson et al (2010, 2012) determined Leptochloa P. (Snow 1997) to be polyphyletic, with its sampled species partitioned into five strongly supported clades. The clade in Peterson et al (2012) that we recognize as Disakisperma included Leptochloa dubia (Kunth) Nees, L. eleusine (Nees) Cope & N. These were the first molecular results to suggest a close relationship among these species, based on overall morphology Steudel (1841: 30) placed Leptochloa obtusiflora Trin. In a paper documenting C4 origins in the grasses, Aliscioni et al (2012) presented a summary tree for Chloridoideae derived from rbcL, ndhF, and trnK/matK sequences, which united Leptochloa dubia and Coelachyrum yemenicum (Schweinf.) S.M. Phillips in a clade with moderate bootstrap support.
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