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Puelioideae forming the basal lineages; Oryzoideae, Bambusoideae, and Pooideae forming the BOP clade; andAristidoideae, Panicoideae, Arundinoideae, Micraioideae, Danthonioideae, and Chloridoideae forming the
PACMAD clade), 51 tribes, and 80 subtribes evolving clockwise. Triangles are proportional in height tothe size of the taxon. See Soreng et al., pp. 117–137 in this issue.

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Number 2

RESEARCH ARTICLES
166 Xiao-Qin Wu, Pei-Xing Li, Xiao-Fang Deng, and Dian-Xiang Zhang Distyly and cryptic heteromorphic self-incompatibility
in Mussaenda macrophylla (Rubiaceae)
179 Xiao-Qin Li, Qin Zuo, Min Li, Si He, Yu Jia, and You-Fang Wang Phylogenetic relationships and species delimitation among the
taxa with propagula in Pseudotaxiphyllum (Plagiotheciaceae, Bryophyta)
191 Xin-Bo Zhang, Xiang-Ming Ma, Bai-Yun Wang, Xiang-Hui Ma, and Zhi-Wen Wang Selective pressure on synonymous codon
usage in mammalian protein-encoding genes
196 Gao Chen, Wei-Chang Gong, Jia Ge, Yang Niu, Xin Zhang, Bruce L. Dunn, and Wei-Bang Sun Comparison of floral properties
and breeding system in dimorphic Buddleja delavayi (Scrophulariaceae)

Volume 53

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
163 Wei-Ning Bai and Da-Yong Zhang Small effective population size in microrefugia?

Tr

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Anth
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INVITED REVIEW
117 Robert J. Soreng, Paul M. Peterson, Konstantin Romaschenko, Gerrit Davidse, Fernando O. Zuloaga, Emmet J. Judziewicz,
Tarciso S. Filgueiras, Jerrold I. Davis, and Osvaldo Morrone A worldwide phylogenetic classification of the Poaceae (Gramineae)RESEARCH ARTICLE
138 Robert J. Soreng, Lynn J. Gillespie, Hidehisa Koba, Ekaterina Boudko, and Roger D. Bull Molecular and morphologicalevidence for a new grass genus, Dupontiopsis (Poaceae tribe Poeae subtribe Poinae s.l.), endemic to alpine Japan, and implications forthe reticulate origin of Dupontia and Arctophila within Poinae s.l.

NDINOIDEAEMICRAIROIDEAE
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Journal of Systematics
JSE and
Evolution

doi: 10.1111/jse.12150

Invited Review

A worldwide phylogenetic classiﬁcation of the Poaceae(Gramineae)
Robert J. Soreng1, Paul M. Peterson1*, Konstantin Romaschenko1, Gerrit Davidse2, Fernando O. Zuloaga3,
Emmet J. Judziewicz4, Tarciso S. Filgueiras5, Jerrold I. Davis6, and Osvaldo Morrone3,71

Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA
Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, USA
3
Instituto de Botanica Darwinion, Labard
en 200, San Isidro B1642HYD, Buenos Aires, Argentina
4Department of Biology and Museum of Natural History, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, WI 54481, USA
5

Instituto de Bot^anica, Secretaria do Meio Ambiente, Avenida Miguel Stefano 3687, Agua
Funda, S~ao Paulo CEP, 04301-902, Brazil
6
Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, 412 Mann Library Building, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
7
Deceased*Author for correspondence. E-mail: peterson@si.edu. Tel.: 1-202-633-0975. Fax: 1-202-786-2653.
Received 5 February 2015; Accepted 25 February 2015; Article first published online 23 March 2015
2

Abstract Based on recent molecular and morphological studies we present a modern worldwide phylogeneticclassiﬁcation of the  12074 grasses and place the 771 grass genera into 12 subfamilies (Anomochlooideae,
Aristidoideae, Arundinoideae, Bambusoideae, Chloridoideae, Danthonioideae, Micraioideae, Oryzoideae, Panicoideae, Pharoideae, Puelioideae, and Pooideae), 6 supertribes (Andropogonodae, Arundinarodae, Bambusodae,
Panicodae, Poodae, Triticodae), 51 tribes (Ampelodesmeae, Andropogoneae, Anomochloeae, Aristideae,
Arundinarieae, Arundineae, Arundinelleae, Atractocarpeae, Bambuseae, Brachyelytreae, Brachypodieae, Bromeae,
Brylkinieae, Centotheceae, Centropodieae, Chasmanthieae, Cynodonteae, Cyperochloeae, Danthonieae, Diarrheneae, Ehrharteae, Eragrostideae, Eriachneae, Guaduellieae, Gynerieae, Hubbardieae, Isachneae, Littledaleeae,
Lygeeae, Meliceae, Micraireae, Molinieae, Nardeae, Olyreae, Oryzeae, Paniceae, Paspaleae, Phaenospermateae,
Phareae, Phyllorachideae, Poeae, Steyermarkochloeae, Stipeae, Streptochaeteae, Streptogyneae, Thysanolaeneae,
Triraphideae, Tristachyideae, Triticeae, Zeugiteae, and Zoysieae), and 80 subtribes (Aeluropodinae, Agrostidinae,
Airinae, Ammochloinae, Andropogoninae, Anthephorinae, Anthistiriinae, Anthoxanthinae, Arthraxoninae, Arthropogoninae, Arthrostylidiinae, Arundinariinae, Aveninae, Bambusinae, Boivinellinae, Boutelouinae, Brizinae,
Buergersiochloinae, Calothecinae, Cenchrinae, Chionachninae, Chusqueinae, Coicinae, Coleanthinae, Cotteinae,
Cteniinae, Cynosurinae, Dactylidinae, Dichantheliinae, Dimeriinae, Duthieinae, Eleusininae, Eragrostidinae,
Farragininae, Germainiinae, Gouiniinae, Guaduinae, Gymnopogoninae, Hickeliinae, Hilariinae, Holcinae, Hordeinae,
Ischaeminae, Loliinae, Melinidinae, Melocanninae, Miliinae, Monanthochloinae, Muhlenbergiinae, Neurachninae,
Olyrinae, Orcuttiinae, Oryzinae, Otachyriinae, Panicinae, Pappophorinae, Parapholiinae, Parianinae, Paspalinae,
Perotidinae, Phalaridinae, Poinae, Racemobambosinae, Rottboelliinae, Saccharinae, Scleropogoninae, Scolochloinae, Sesleriinae, Sorghinae, Sporobolinae, Torreyochloinae, Traginae, Trichoneurinae, Triodiinae, Tripogoninae,
Tripsacinae, Triticinae, Unioliinae, Zizaniinae, and Zoysiinae). In addition, we include a radial tree illustrating thehierarchical relationships among the subtribes, tribes, and subfamilies. We use the subfamilial name, Oryzoideae,
over Ehrhartoideae because the latter was initially published as a misplaced rank, and we circumscribe Molinieae toinclude 13 Arundinoideae genera. The subtribe Calothecinae is newly described and the tribe Littledaleeae is new atthat rank.
Key words: classiﬁcation, DNA, Gramineae, grasses, morphology, phylogeny, Poaceae, subfamily, subtribe, tribe.

In 1991, most of the authors of this paper attended the 42nd
American Institute of Biological Sciences Annual Meeting in
San Antonio, Texas to discuss the possibility of creating a large
digital database that would include nomenclature, taxonomy,synonymy, original publications, type collections, secondaryreferences using accepted names, and distribution by countryof all New World grasses. Nine years later the ﬁrst hard copy
treatment of subfamilies Anomochlooideae, Bambusoideae,
March 2015 | Volume 53 | Issue 2 | 117–137

Ehrhartoideae, and Pharoideae was published (Judziewicz
et al., 2000). Subsequently, the Chloridoideae (Peterson et al.,2001), Pooideae (Soreng et al., 2003), and the Panicoideae,
Aristidoideae, Arundinoideae, and Danthonioideae (Zuloaga
et al., 2003) were printed. Within each of these, provisional
but now woefully out of date treatments, we included ourbest estimate of the generic classiﬁcation of the tribes andsubtribes for each subfamily. The online database for the© 2015 Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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classiﬁcation of New World grasses was ﬁrst posted as aseparate ﬁle in Tropicos in 2005. Since that time it has been
updated and revised continuously and was expanded in 2011
to account for all grass genera and supragenera worldwide
http://www.tropicos.org/projectwebportal.aspx?pagename=ClassiﬁcationNWG&projectid=10 (Soreng et al., 2014).
The grass family was probably characterized as a distinct
entity in most cultures. There are many words for herbaceous, capim, cS ayır,
grasses around the world, including cao
cS imen, darbha, ghaas, ghas, gish, gramas, graminius, gr€aser,
grasses, gyokh, he-ben-ke, hullu, kasa, kusa
, nyasi, o’tlar,, etc. Three hundred
pastos, pillu, pullu, rumput, zlaki
years before the Christian era, Theophrastus, a Greek scholar,
recognized the grass family. The ﬁrst scientiﬁc subdivision of
the family was made by Brown (1814) who recognized two
different spikelet types between Panicoideae and Pooideae(Festucoideae) subfamilies. Bentham (1881) recognized 13
tribes in two major subfamilies. Hitchcock (1935) and Hitchcock and Chase (1951) in their treatments of the grasses of theUnited States, recognized 14 tribes in these two major
subfamilies. The two-subfamily classiﬁcation was used bymost agrostologists for almost 150 years until more modern
syntheses. With the infusion of molecular data, our present
concept and classiﬁcation of the grasses is changing at a rapid
rate. The crown age for the grasses has been estimated to be
71  9 million years old (Ma) based on fossil pollen and spikelet
calibration (Vicentini et al., 2008) while the estimated crown
age using only macrofossils is 51–55 Ma (Christin et al., 2014).
Our current classiﬁcation builds on earlier work (Brown, 1814;
Bentham, 1881; Hitchcock, 1935; Hitchcock & Chase, 1951;
Tzvelev, 1976 1989; Clayton & Renvoize, 1986; Soderstrom &Ellis, 1987; Watson & Dallwitz, 1992; Judziewicz et al., 2000;
Grass Phylogeny Working Group (GPWG), 2001; Peterson
et al., 2001; Soreng et al., 2003; Zuloaga et al., 2003). Over thelast 25 years, molecular studies have greatly improved ourunderstanding of the relationships of the genera and suprageneric taxa, leading towards a new classiﬁcation that is
phylogenetically informative using four hierarchical ranks ofsubfamily, supertribe, tribe, and subtribe, while attempting to
disrupt the older classiﬁcation as little as possible (Linder,
2005; Grass Phylogeny Working Group (GPWG II), 2012;
Bouchenak-Khelladi et al., 2008, 2014). In addition to ourgeneric classiﬁcation, we provide a hierarchical tree withdetail of relationships that a linear classiﬁcation cannot reﬂect
without additional ranks or notations. For extended bibliographic references relating to DNA studies and classiﬁcation in
Poaceae, see Tropicos available at: http://www.tropicos.org/
ReferenceSearch.aspx (use the Advanced Search option and
Key Words: “Poaceae; DNA”).

Material and Methods
Phylogenetic data
We conducted a maximum likelihood analysis (GARLI 0.951;
Zwickl, 2006) on a large dataset of 448 grass species using
matK and ndhF plastid DNA markers (available upon request).
DNA sequences were primarily gathered from GenBank withsecondary sources taken from Hilu & Alice (2001), Davis &Soreng (2007), Romaschenko et al. (2008, 2012), Davis &Soreng (2010), GPWG II (2012), Morrone et al. (2012), and
J. Syst. Evol. 53 (2): 117–137, 2015

Peterson et al. (2010a, 2014c). A radial phylogenetic tree
produced in FigTree version 1.4.2 (Fig. 1) was derived from thislarge dataset, incorporating the genera into tribes andsubtribes (Rambaut, 2006–2014). Proportional area shading
inside the spiral tree is based on the number of species pertribe and/or subtribe. The number of species per genus,
leading to the total number per subtribe, tribe, etc., wascalculated by consulting GrassWorld (Simon, 2014). Joinvillea
Gaudich. ex Brongn. & Gris and Ecdeiocolea F. Muell. wereused as outgroups based on previous studies (Michelangeli
et al., 2003).
Nomenclature and classification
All suprageneric taxa and genera are recorded in the Missouri
Botanical Garden’s taxonomic database, Tropicos (http://
www.tropicos.org/Home.aspx), with their original place of
publication and authorship. Suprageneric taxa lists can begenerated in Tropicos using the Advanced Search options
under http://www.tropicos.org/NameSearch.aspx. A numberof older legitimate names and invalid, illegitimate, andunranked names have been detected since the publicationof Genera Graminum (Clayton & Renvoize, 1986). We haveconsulted Index Nominum Supragenericorum Plantarum
Vascularium (Reveal, 2015) in the preparation of our revisedclassiﬁcation (see Table 1). At the International BotanicalCongress in 2011, an emendation to the Code of BotanicalNomenclature was accepted to allow terminations of oideae,
eae, and inae for subfamily, tribe and subtribe to determine
rank, even if rank was not stated, to extend back to 1887;
previously, the cutoff was 1 Jan 1908 (Art. 35.2). Although
Reveal suggested this would not impact many names (mostly
only dates of publication and authors), we have not evaluatedthe impact of this change for Poaceae. In Table 1 we list recent
generic synonyms and nothogenera are excluded.

Results
Classification
We currently recognize 12 subfamilies: Anomochlooideae,
Aristidoideae, Arundinoideae, Bambusoideae, Chloridoideae,
Danthonioideae, Micraioideae, Oryzoideae, Panicoideae,
Pharoideae, Puelioideae, and Pooideae, and in these subfamilies we recognize 51 tribes, 80 subtribes, and 771 genera inapproximately 12074 species (Table 1; Soreng et al., 2014).
Each genus in Table 1 is color coded to indicate thepredominant indigenous distribution of its species. A radial
tree illustrating the hierarchical relationships among thesubtribes, tribes, and subfamilies is provided (Fig. 1), and thenumber of species in each tribe or subtribe is shown as ashaded triangle. Using Joinvillea and Ecdeiocolea to polarize
the grasses, our tree (Fig. 1) depicts Poaceae as monophyleticwith 12 monophyletic subfamilies followed by, in order ofdivergence: Anomochlooideae, Pharoideae, and Puelioideae
forming the basal lineages; Oryzoideae, Bambusoideae, andPooideae forming the BOP clade (Clark et al., 1995); andAristidoideae þ Panicoideae as sister to the remaining set ofArundinoideae þ Micraioideae, and Danthonioideae þ Chloridoideae, forming the PACMAD clade (Sanchez-Ken & Clark,
2010). We tally at least 4978 species with known C4
metabolism occurring in Aristidoideae, Chloridoideae,
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Phylogenetic classification of the grasses

119

Fig. 1. A phylogenetic classiﬁcation of the Poaceae, includes 12 subfamilies, 51 tribes, and 80 subtribes evolving clockwise from
Joinvillea and Ecdeiocolea (outgroups). Triangles are proportional in height to the size of the taxon where the Poinae is the largest
with 697 species; BOP ¼ Bambusoideae, Oryzoideae, and Pooideae; PACMAD ¼ Panicoideae, Aristidoideae, Chloridoideae,
Micrairoideae, Arundinoideae, and Danthonioideae.
Micraioideae, and Panicoideae or approximately 41% of thegrasses.
Suprageneric names
There are still problems with the application of some of theearliest proposed suprageneric names. As already indicated by
Clayton (1981), those proposed by Link (1827) are especiallyproblematical. Link used (pp. 1254) the rank of ordo for
Gramineae, the rank of Sectio for 10 taxa (these are all
descriptive names under misplaced rank and, therefore,
invalid) below Gramineae, and below that, the ranks offamilia, div. (¼ familia), and subordo for additional suprageneric names. Link (1827) summarized his classiﬁcation(pp. 267272), in part, and the rank of Sectio is explicitlychanged to suborder. Furthermore, the next lower rank iswww.jse.ac.cn

unnamed and the terminations are used in a very irregularway. So although these can be considered as alternative
names (possible before 1953), they only function as unranked,
suprageneric names. If, following the ﬁrst part of Art 18.2 ofthe Melbourne Code, ordo is taken to mean family rank, thenall of Link’s names would be invalid because their ranks would
be misplaced. However, applying the second clause of Art.
18.2 [“unless this treatment would result in a taxonomic
sequence with a misplaced rank-denoting term”] and literally
accepting the ranks in the modern sense of order, suborder,and family, the problem of misplaced ranks is avoided, thenames are validly published, and the terminations of thesenames can simply be corrected as necessary. This was
the interpretation of Reveal (2015) and is adopted by us.
Consequently, none of Link’s (1827) names can be applied at
J. Syst. Evol. 53 (2): 117–137, 2015

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Soreng et al.

Table 1 A worldwide phylogenetic classiﬁcation of the family Poaceae Barnhart [1895] (nom. alt.: Gramineae
Juss. [1789]). Accepted suprageneric names appear in bold type. The indigenous range of each genus is coloredas follows: Western Hemisphere, Eurasia (including genera that in Africa are exclusively Mediterranean),Australasia, Africa. Genera with bimodal distributions are bicolored, those with broader distributions tricolored,
or are red if more widely distributed. Genera in synonymy (syn. – …..) are colored if the accepted genus is more
widely distributed, i.e., in more than one area. Genera in italics have been sampled in DNA studies. Comments
are in brackets { }. Publication dates for suprageneric taxa appear in square brackets [ ].
________________________________________________________________________________________

subfam. Anomochlooideae Pilg. ex Potztal [1957] (syn. – Streptochaetoideae Butzin [1965]):
tribe Anomochloeae C.E. Hubb. [1934]: Anomochloa.
tribe Streptochaeteae C.E. Hubb. [1934]: Streptochaeta.
subfam. Pharoideae L.G. Clark & Judz. [1996] (syn. – Leptaspidoideae C.O. Morales [1998], supertribe
Pharoidae L. Liu [1980]):
tribe Phareae Stapf [1898] (syn. – Leptaspideae Tzvelev [1987]): Leptaspis, Pharus, Scrotochloa.
subfam. Puelioideae L.G. Clark, M. Kobay, S. Mathews, Spangler & E.A. Kellogg [2000]:
tribe Atractocarpeae Jacq.-Fél. ex Tzvelev [1987 Mar-Sep] (syn. – Atractocarpeae Jacq.-Fél. [1962,
nom. inval.], Puelieae Soderstr. & R.P. Ellis [“1987” March 1988], subtribe Atractocarpinae E.
Camus [1913], Puelliinae Stapf [1917]): Puelia (syn. – Atractocarpa).
tribe Guaduellieae Soderstr. & R.P. Ellis [1987]: Guaduella.
“BOP” clade {Clark et al., 1995; Clark et al., 2000, as BEP}
subfam. Oryzoideae Kunth ex Beilschm. [1833] (syn. – Ehrhartoideae Caro [1982], Oryzoideae Caro
[1982, isonym]; Ehrhartinae Link [1827, unranked], Oryzeae Burmeist. [1837, unranked]):incertae sedis: Suddia {probably Phyllorachideae}.
tribe Streptogyneae C. E. Hubb. ex C. E. Calderón & Soderstr. [1980] (syn. – Streptogyneae C.E.
Hubb. [1956, nom. inval.]; subtribe Streptogyninae Pilg. ex Potztal [1969]): Streptogyna.
tribe Ehrharteae Nevski [1937]: Ehrharta, Microlaena, Tetrarrhena, Zotovia.
tribe Oryzeae Dumort. [1824] (syn. – Zizanieae Hitchc. [1920]):subtribe Oryzinae Griseb. [1853]: Leersia, Oryza (syn. – Porteresia).
subtribe Zizaniinae Benth. [1881] (syn. – subtribe Luziolinae Terrell & H. Rob. [1974]):
Chikusichloa, Hygroryza, Luziola, Maltebrunia, Potamophila (syn. – Maltebrunia?),
Prosphytochloa, Rhynchoryza, Zizania, Zizaniopsis.
tribe Phyllorachideae C.E. Hubb. [1939] {may be better in Oryzeae as a subtribe}: Humbertochloa,
Phyllorachis.
subfam. Bambusoideae Luerss. [1893] (syn. – Olyroideae Pilg. [1956], Parianoideae Butzin [1965]):
supertribe Arundinarodae L. Liu [1980]:
tribe Arundinarieae Asch. & Graebn. [1902] (syn. – Chimonocalameae Keng f. [1982, nom. inval.],Shibataeeae Nakai [1933]):
subtribe Arundinariinae Nees ex Lindl. [1836] (syn. – Aruninariinae Benth. [1881, isonym],
Hack. [1887, isonym], Phyllostachydinae Keng f. [1992], Pleioblastinae Keng & Keng f.
J. Syst. Evol. 53 (2): 117–137, 2015

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Phylogenetic classification of the grasses

121[1959], Sasinae Keng. f. [1992], Shibataeinae (Nakai) Soderstr. & R.P. Ellis [1987],
Sinobambusinae Z.B. Wang [1987], Thamnocalaminae Keng. f. [1992]): Acidosasa,
Ampelocalamus, Arundinaria, Bashania, Bergbambos, Chimonobambusa (syn. –Menstruocalamus), Chimonocalamus, Drepanostachyum, Fargesia (syn. – Borinda,
Sinarundinaria), Ferrocalamus, Gaoligonshania, Gelidocalamus, Himalayacalamus,
Indocalamus (s.s.), Indosasa, Kuruna, Oldeania, Oligostachyum, Phyllostachys,
Pleioblastus, Pseudosasa, Sarocalamus, Sasa, Sasaella, Sasamorpha, Semiarundinaria(syn. – Brachystachym), Shibataea, Sinobambusa, Thamnocalamus s.s,
Vietnamocalamus, Yushania.
supertribe Bambusoidae L. Liu [1980]:
tribe Olyreae Kunth ex Spenn. [1825] (syn. – supertribe Olyrodae L. Liu [1980]; tribes
Buergersiochloeae S.T. Blake [1946], Parianeae C.E. Hubb. [1934]).
subtribe Buergersiochloinae L.G. Clark & Judz [2007]: Buergersiochloa.
subtribe Olyrinae Kromb. [1875]: Agnesia, Arberella, Cryptochloa, Diandrolyra, Ekmanochloa,
Froesiochloa, Lithachne, Maclurolyra, Mniochloa, Olyra, Parodiolyra, Piresiella,Raddia, Raddiella, Rehia, Reitzia (syn. – Piresia), Sucrea.
subtribe Parianinae Hack. [1887]: Eremitis, Pariana, Parianella.
tribe Bambuseae Kunth ex Dumort. [1829] (syn. – Arthrostylidieae E. Camus [1913], Baccifereae E.
Camus [1913, nom. inval.], Chusqueae E. Camus [1913], Hickelieae A. Camus [1935, nom.
inval.], Oxytenanthereae Tzvelev [1987]):
subtribe Melocanninae Benth. [1881] (syn. – Schizostachydinae Soderstr. & R.P. Ellis [1987]):
Cephalostachyum, Davidsea, Dendrochloa, Melocanna, Neohouzeaua, Ochlandra,
Pseudostachyum, Schizostachyum (syn. – Leptocanna), Stapletonia, Teinostachyum.
subtribe Hickeliinae A. Camus (syn. – Nastinae Soderstr. & R.P. Ellis [1987]): Cathariostachys,
Decaryochloa, Hickelia (syn. – Pseudocoix), Hitchcockella, Nastus (syn. –Oreiostachys), Perrierbambus, Sirochloa, Valiha.
subtribe Bambusinae J. Presl [1830] (syn. – Dendrocalaminae Benth. [1881]): Bambusa (syn. –Dendrocalamopsis, Neosinocalamus), Bonia, Cyrtochloa, Dendrocalamus (syn. –Klemachloa, Sinocalamus), Dinochloa, Fimbribambusa, Gigantochloa, Greslania,
Holttumochloa, Kinabaluchloa, Maclurochloa, Melocalamus, Mullerochloa,
Nianhochloa, Neololeba, Neomicrocalamus, Oreobambos, Oxytenanthera (syn. –Houzeaubambus?), Parabambusa, Phuphanochloa, Pinga, Pseudobambusa,
Pseudoxytenanthera, Soejatmia, Sphaerobambos, Temburongia, Temochloa,
Thrysostachys, Vietanamosasa.
subtribe Racemobambosinae Stapleton [1984]: Racemobambos s.s.
subtribe Chusqueinae Soderstr. & R.P. Ellis [1987] (syn. – Neurolepidinae Soderstr. & R.P.
Ellis [1987]): Chusquea (syn. – Neurolepis, Platonia, Rettbergia, Swallenochloa).
subtribe Guaduinae Soderstr. & R.P. Ellis [1987]: Apoclada, Eremocaulon (syn. – Criciuma),
Guadua, Olmeca, Otatea.
subtribe Arthrostylidiinae Soderstr. & R.P. Ellis [1987]: Actinocladum, Alvimia,
Arthrostylidium, Athroostachys, Atractantha, Aulonemia (syn. – Colanthelia,
Matudacalamus), Cambajuva, Didymogonyx, Elytrostachys, Filgueirasia, Glaziophyton,
Merostachys, Myriocladus, Rhipidocladum.

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subfam. Pooideae Benth. [1861] (syn. – Secaloideae Rouy [1913]; Agrostidoideae Kunth ex Beilschm. [1833];
Hordeaceae Burmeist. [1837, unranked], Phalarideae Burmeist. [1837, unranked], Stipaceae Burmeist.
[1837, unranked]):tribe Brachyelytreae Ohwi [1941] (syn. – Brachyelytrinae Ohwi [1942]): Brachyelytrum.
tribe Nardeae W.D.J. Koch. [1837] (syn. – subtribe Nardinae Kromb. [1875]) {sister to Lygeeae}:
Nardus.
tribe Lygeeae J. Presl [1846] (syn. – Lygeinae Röser [2009], Spartineae Trin. [1824, nom. inval, basedon Lygeum]) {sister to Nardeae}: Lygeum.
tribe Phaenospermateae Renvoize & Clayton [1985] (syn. – Duthieeae Röser & Jul.Schneider [2011],
subtribe Duthieinae Pilg. ex Potztal [1969]): Anisopogon, Danthoniastrum, Duthiea s.s. (s.l., syn.
– Triavenopsis), Metcalﬁa, Phaenosperma, Pseudodanthonia, Sinochasea, Stephanachne (syn. –Pappagrostis).
tribe Brylkinieae Tateoka [1960] {sister to Meliceae, may be better in Meliceae as subtribe} (syn. –Brylkiniinae Ohwi [1941]): Brylkinia, Koordersiochloa (syn. – Streblochaete) {placement within
Meliceae s.s. is doubtful, due to presence of cylindrical to lanceoloid (non-globose) styles,
punctiform hilum}.
tribe Meliceae Link ex Endl. [1830] (syn. – Glycerieae Link ex Endl. [1830] {sister to Brylkinieae};
subtribe Glyceriinae Dumort. [1829], Melicinae Fr. [1835]): Glyceria, Lycochloa, Melica,
Pleuropogon, Schizachne, Triniochloa.
tribe Ampelodesmeae Tutin [1978] (syn. – Ampelodesminae Conert [1961]): Ampelodesmos{apparently an ancient hybrid between parents from Stipeae and Phaenospermateae; seeRomaschenko et al., 2012}.
tribe Stipeae Dumort. [1824] (syn. – supertribe Stipodae L. Liu [1980]; subtribe Stipinae Griseb. [1846];
Aciachninae Caro [1982], Ortachninae Caro [1982]): Achnatherum {Eurasian/African, syn. –Aristella; Western Hemisphere species are in limbo, none belong in Achnatherum s.s, most are
Eriocoma but not yet transferred}, Aciachne, Amelichloa {nested within Nassella, but an intergeneric hybrid origin has not been ruled out}, Anatherostipa (syn. – Nicoraella), Anemanthele,
Austrostipa, Celtica, Eriocoma {incl. most American spp. of Achnatherum}, Hesperostipa,
Jarava, Lorenzochloa, Macrochloa, Nassella, Oloptum, Ortachne, Orthoraphium, Oryzopsis,
Pappostipa, Patis, Piptochaetium, Piptatheropsis, Piptatherum, Psammochloa, Ptilagrostis,
Stipa, Stipellula (Stipella nom. illeg. hom.), Timouria, Trikeraia.
tribe Diarrheneae C.S. Campb. [1985] (syn. – subtribe Diarrheninae Ohwi [1941]): Diarrhena,
Neomolinia.
tribe Brachypodieae Harz [1880] (syn. – subtribe Brachypodiinae Hack. [1887]; Brachypodieae Hayek[1925, isonym]): Brachypodium (syn. – Trachynia).
supertribe Poodae L. Liu [1980] (syn. – Poodae T.D. Macfarl. & L. Watson [1982], isonym):
tribe Poeae R.Br. [1814] (syn. – Agrostideae Martinov [1820]{as Koleno = tribe, indirect ref. to Kunth},
Agrostidieae Dumort. [1824], Airopsideae Gren. & Godr. [1855], Alopecureae W.D.J. Koch
[1837], Anthoxantheae Link ex Endl. [1830], Aveneae Dumort. [1824], Beckmannieae Nevski[1937], Calamagrostideae Trin. [1824], Cinneae Ohwi [1941], Coleantheae Husn. [1896],
Cynosureae Dumort. [1824], Dupontieae A. Löve & D. Löve, [1961, nom. nud.], Festuceae
Dumort. [1824], Gaudinieae Rouy [1913], Graphephoreae (Asch. & Graebn.) Hyl. [1953],
Hainardieae Greuter [1967], Holceae J. Presl [1846], Lolieae Link ex Endl. [1830], Koelerieae
Schur [1866, nom. nud.], Milieae Link ex Endl. [1830], Phalarideae Kunth [1829], Phleeae
Dumort. [1824], Scolochloeae Tzvelev [1968], Seslerieae W.D.J. Koch [1837], Triseteae Gren.
& Godr. [1855], Vilfeae Trin. [1824]):

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Poeae CHLOROPLAST GROUP 1 (Aveneae type):
subtribe Torreyochloinae Soreng [2003]: Amphibromus, Torreyochloa.
subtribe Aveninae J. Presl [1830] (syn. – Gaudiniinae Holub ex Tzvelev [1976, nom. nud.],Graphephorinae Asch. & Graebn. [1900], Koeleriinae Asch. & Graebn. [1900]):
Arrhenatherum, Avellinia, Avena, Gaudinia, Graphephorum, Helictotrichon s.s. (syn. –Pseudarrhenathrum; excl. Avenula, Helictochloa), Koeleria (syn. – Parafestuca),
Lagurus, Leptophyllochloa, Peyritschia, Rostraria, Sphenopholis, Trisetaria,
Tricholemma, Trisetum.
subtribe Phalaridinae Fr. [1835]: Phalaris.
subtribe Anthoxanthinae A. Gray [1856] (syn. – Foenodorinae Krause [1909, nom. inval.]):Anthoxanthum (syn. – Ataxia, Hierochloe).
subtribe Brizinae Tzvelev s.s. [1968]: Airopsis, Briza (syn. – Macrobriza; excl. Brizochloa).
subtribe Calothecinae Soreng [2015]: Chascolytrum (syn. – Calotheca, Erianthecium,
Gymnachne, Lombardochloa, Microbriza, Poidium, Rhombolytrum), Relchela.
subtribe Agrostidinae Fr. [1835] (syn. – Chaeturaceae Link [1827, unranked],Calamagrostidinae Lindl. [1836, nom. nud.], Vilﬁnae Steud. [1954]): Agrostis,
Ammophila, Ancistragrostis, Bromidium, Calamagrostis p.p. (syn. – Deyeuxia){polyphyletic, p.p, in Western Hemisphere}, Chaetopogon, Dichelachne, Echinopogon,
Hypseochloa, Gastridium, Lachnagrostis, Limnodea, Pentapogon, Podagrostis,
Polypogon, Triplachne.
Poaeae CHLOROPLAST GROUP 2 (Poeae type):
incertae sedis: Avenula (syn. – Homalotrichon) {s.s., p.p. typica – A. pubescens; excl.
Helictochloa. Avenula s.s. is a ﬂoater, probably allied to the set of Coleanthinae, Poinaes.l., and Miliinae}.
subtribe Scolochloinae Tzvelev [1987] (syn. – subtribe Scolochloeae Tzvelev [1968]): Dryopoa,
Scolochloa {this subtribe seems to share plastids with the classical Poeae and nrDNA
with early GROUP 1 above}.
subtribe Sesleriinae Parl. [1845] (syn. – subtribe Miborinae Asch. & Graebn. [1899]): Mibora,
Echinaria, Oreochloa, Sesleria, Sesleriella {this subtribe seems to share plastids with theold Poeae and nrDNA with early Aveninae GROUP 1 above}.
subtribe Coleanthinae Rouy [1913] (syn. – Puccinelliinae Soreng & Davis [2003]): Catabrosa,
Catabrosella, Coleanthus, Colpodium (syn. – Keniochloa), Hyalopoa {apparently
heterogenous}, Paracolpodium {apparently heterogenous}, Phippsia, Puccinellia (syn. –Pseudosclerochloa), Sclerochloa, Zingeria {probably best united with Colpodium s.s.}.
subtribe Miliinae Dumort. [1829] {possibly part of Poinae s.l, possibly sister to Poa or Phleum}:
Milium.
subtribe Poinae Dumort. s.l. [1829] (syn. – subtribe Alopecurinae Dumort. [1829];
Beckmanniinae Nevski [1937], Cinninae Caruel. [1892], Gramininae Krause [1909,
nom. inval.], Phleinae Dumort. [1868], Phleinae Benth. [1881, isonym], Ventenatinae
Holub [1958, nom. nud.; Tzvelev, 1976, nom. inval., without Latin]): Agrostopoa,
Alopecurus, Aniselytron, Apera, Arctagrostis, Arctophila, Beckmannia, Bellardiochloa,
Brizochloa? {usually placed in Briza}, Cinna, Cornucopiae, Cyathopus, Dupontia,
Dupontiopsis, Gaudiniopsis, Hookerochloa (syn. – Festucella), Limnas, Nephelochloa,
Nicoraepoa {hybrids with Poa are known}, Parvotrisetum, Phleum (syn. – Maillea),www.jse.ac.cn

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Pholiurus, Poa (syn. – Anthochloa, Aphanelytrum, Austrofestuca, Dissanthelium,
Eremopoa, Libyella, Lindbergella, Neuropoa, Oreopoa, Parodiochloa, Tovarochloa,
Tzvelevia), Pseudophleum, Rhizocephalus, Saxipoa, Simplicia, Sylvipoa, Ventenata.
subtribe Airinae Fr. [1835] (syn. – Corynephorinae subtrib V. Jirásek & Chrtek) {aheterogenous subtribe with no satisfactory resolution}: Aira, Antinoria, Avenella,
Corynephorus, Helictochloa {incl. Avenula p.p. non-typica, A. subg. Pratavenastrum},
Molineriella, Periballia.
subtribe Holcinae Dumort. [1868] (syn. – Deschampsinae Holub [1958, nom. nud.],
Aristaveninae F. Albers & Butzin [1977], Scribneriinae Soreng [2003]): Deschampsia
s.s. (syn. – Scribneria) {excl. Avenella; possibly better as its own tribe}, Holcus, Vahlodea.
subtribe Loliinae Dumort. [1829] (syn. – Festucinae J. Presl [1830], Psilurinae Pilg. ex Potztal[1969]): Castellia, Drymochloa, Festuca (syn. – Ctenopsis, Dielsiochloa, Hellerochloa,
Loliolum, Micropyrum, Narduroides, Psilurus, Vulpia, Wangenheimia), Leucopoa (syn. –Xanthochloa), Lolium (syn. – Micropyropsis, Schedonorus), Megalachne, Patzkea,
Podophorus, Pseudobromus {the latter seems odd here. DNA data show a long branch,but outgroup selection has not clariﬁed its placement}.
subtribe Dactylidinae Stapf [1898]: Dactylis, Lamarckia.
subtribe Cynosurinae Fr. [1835]: Cynosurus.
subtribe Ammochloinae Tzvelev [1976]: Ammochloa.
subtribe Parapholiinae Caro [1982] (syn. – Monerminae Tzvelev [1987, nom. inval.]):Agropyropsis, Catapodium, Cutandia, Desmazeria, Hainardia, Parapholis, Sphenopus,
Vulpiella.
supertribe Triticodae T.D. Macfarl. & L. Watson [1982]:
tribe Littledaleeae Soreng & J.I. Davis [2015] (syn. – Littledaleinae Röser [2009]: Littledalea {thisisolated genus appears to be the sister to Bromeae plus Triticeae}.
tribe Bromeae Dumort. [1824]: Bromus (syn. – Anisantha, Boissiera, Bromopsis, Ceratochloa,
Nevskiella, Stenofestuca, Trisetobromus).
tribe Triticeae Dumort. [1824] (syn. – Aegilopineae Orb. [1841], Hordeeae Kunth ex Spenn. [1825],
Frumenteae Krause [1903, nom. illeg.], Secaleinae Rchb. [1828, unranked]):subtribe Hordeinae Dumort. [1829] (syn. – Elyminae Benth. [1881], Agropyrinae Nevski[1933], Clinelyminae Nevski [1933, nom. illeg.], Roegneriinae Nevski [1933],
Henrardiinae C.E. Hubb. [1948]): Agropyron, Anthosachne, Australopyrum,
Connorochloa, Crithopsis, Douglasdewya, Elymus (syn. – Campeiostachys, Elytrigia,
Hystrix, Roegneria, Sitanion), Eremopyrum, Festucopsis, Henrardia, Heteranthelium,
Hordelymus, Hordeum (syn. – Critesion), Kengyilia, Leymus (syn. – Aneurolepidium,
Eremium, Macrohystrix, Microhystrix), Pascopyrum, Peridictyon, Psathyrostachys,
Pseudoroegneria, Secale, Stenostachys, Taeniatherum.
subtribe Triticinae Fr. [1835] (syn. – Aegilopinae Nevski [1933]): Aegilops, Amblyopyrum,
Dasypyrum, Thinopyrum, Triticum.
“PACMAD” clade {Sánchez-Ken & Clark, 2010; also known as PACC (Davis & Soreng, 1993), PACCAD(GPWG, 2001), or PACCMAD (Sánchez-Ken et al. 2007)}
subfam. Aristidoideae Caro [1982] {sister to rest of PACMAD}:
tribe Aristideae C.E. Hubb. [1960]: Aristida, Sartidia, Stipagrostis.
subfam. Panicoideae A. Braun [1864] (syn − Andropogonoideae Rouy [1913], Centothecoideae

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Soderst. [1981]; Andropogineae Burmeist. [1837, unranked], Paniceae Burmeist. [1837,
unranked], Paniceae Link [1827, unranked], Rottboëllaceae Burmeist. [1837, unranked]):incertae sedis: Chandrasekharania {C3 }, Jansenella {C3}{both genera were treated in Arundinellae by
Clayton & Renvoize, 1986}.
tribe Thysanolaeneae C.E. Hubb. [1934] {possibly better within Centotheceae}: Thysanolaena.
tribe Cyperochloeae L. Watson & Dallwitz ex Sánchez-Ken & L.G. Clark [2010] (syn. –Cyperochloeae L. Watson & Dallwitz [1992, nom. nud.]): Cyperochloa, Spartochloa.
tribe Centotheceae Ridl. [1907] (subtribe Centothecinae Benth. [1881]): Centotheca, Megastachya.
tribe Chasmanthieae W.V. Br. & B.N. Smith ex Sánchez-Ken & L.G. Clark [2010]: Bromuniola,
Chasmanthium (syn. – Gouldochloa).
tribe Zeugiteae Sánchez-Ken & L.G. Clark [2010] (syn. – Zeugitinae Caro [1982]): Chevalierella,
Lophatherum, Orthoclada, Pohlidium, Zeugites (syn. – Calderonella).
tribe Steyermarkochloeae Davidse & R.P. Ellis [1984] {DNA places with Chasmanthieae s.l. or
Tristachyideae, the placment remains tentative}: Arundoclaytonia, Steyermarkochloa.
tribe Tristachyideae Sánchez-Ken & L.G. Clark [2010] (syn. – Trichopteryginae Jacq.-Fél. [1962, nom.
inval.]): Danthoniopsis, Dilophotriche, Gilgiochloa, Loudetia, Loudetiopsis, Trichopteryx,
Tristachya, Zonotriche.
tribe Gynerieae Sánchez-Ken & L.G. Clark [2001]: Gynerium.
{Paniceae sensu Clayton & Renvoize (1986) was revised following Morrone et al., 2012. Supertribes
added here}.
Supertribe Panicodae L. Liu [1980]:
tribe Paniceae R.Br. [1814] (syn. – Cenchreae Rchb. [1828, unranked], Digitarieae J.J.Schmitz & Regel[1841], Paniceae Horan. [1847, as Panicinae], Spiniﬁceae Dumort. [1829], Melinideae Hitchc.
[1920], Boivinelleae A. Camus [1925], Anthephoreae Pilg. ex Potztal [1957], Trachideae Pilg. ex
Potztal [1957], Cyphochlaeneae Bosser [1965], Neurachneae S.T. Blake [1972]):
incertae sedis: Chloachne, Oryzidium, Hydrothauma, Hylebates, Poecilostachys p.p.,
Sacciolepis, Thedachloa, Trichanthecium.
subtribe Anthephorinae Benth. [1881] (syn. – Digitariinae Butzin [1972]; Trachidinae Pilg.
[1940, nom. inval.], Trachydastrae Stapf [1917]): Anthephora, Chaetopoa,
Chlorocalymma, Digitaria, Megaloprotachne, Taeniorhachis, Tarigidia, Thyridachne,
Trachys.
subtribe Dichantheliinae Zuloaga [2014]: Adenochloa, Dichanthelium.
subtribe Boivinellinae Pilg. [1940]: Acroceras, Alloteropsis (syn. – Coridochloa), Amphicarpum,
Cyphochlaena, Cyrtococcum, Echinochloa, Entolasia, Lasiacis, Mayariochloa,
Morronea, Microcalamus, Oplismenus, Ottochloa, Parodiophyllochloa,
Pseudechinolaena.
subtribe Neurachninae Clayton & Renvoize [1986]: Ancistrachne, Calyptochloa, Cleistochloa,
Neurachne, Paraneurachne, Thyridolepis.
incertae sedis {clade of ambiguous placement among latter set of subtribes}: Homopholis,
Walwhalleya.
subtribe Melinidinae Stapf [1917, as Melinidastrae] Pilg. (syn. – Brachiariinae Butzin [1970],
Thuarinae Ohwi [1942], Tristegininae Harv. [1869, nom. illeg.]; Melinidinae Pilg.

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[1940]): Chaetium, Eriochloa Eccoptocarpha, Leucophrys, Megathrysus, Melinis (syn. –Rhynchelytrum), Mildbraediochloa, Moorochloa, Rupichloa, Scutachne, Thuarea,
Tricholaena, Urochloa (syn. – Brachiaria s.s, Pseudobrachiaria?), Yvesia.
subtribe Panicinae Fr. [1835]: Arthragrostis, Louisiella, Panicum, Yakirra.
subtribe Cenchrinae Dumort. [1829] (syn. – Pennisetinae Rchb. [1828, unranked], Setariinae
Dumort. [1829]; Pseudoraphidinae Keng & Keng f. [1990], Snowdeniinae Butzin [1972]
Spiniﬁcinae Owhi [1942], Uranthoeciinae Butzin [1970], Xerochloinae Butzin [1970])):
Acritochaete, Alexﬂoydia, Cenchrus (syn. – Odontelyrum, Pennisetum, Snowdenia),
Chamaeraphis, Dissochondrus {Hawaii}, Holcolemma, Hygrochloa, Ixophorus,
Paractaenum, Paratheria, Plagiosetum, Pseudochaetochloa, Pseudoraphis, Setaria (syn.
– Paspalidium), Setariopsis, Spinifex, Stenotaphrum, Stereochlaena, Streptolophus,
Uranthoecium, Whiteochloa, Xerochloa, Zuloagaea, Zygochloa.
tribe Paspaleae J. Presl [1830] (syn. – Arthropogoneae Pilg. ex Butzin [1972], Lecomtelleae Pilg. ex
Potztal [1957]):
incertae sedis: Reynaudia {basal to the other subtribes}.
subtribe Paspalinae Griseb. [1846] (syn. – Lecomtellinae Pilg. [1940]; Paspalinae Griseb.
[1853], Paspalidinae Keng & Keng f, ex S.L. Chen & Y.X. Jin [1984], Reimarochloinae
Caro [1982]): Aakia, Acostia, Anthaenantiopsis, Axonopus (syn. – Centrochloa,
Ophiochloa), Baptorhachis, Echinolaena (syn. – Chaseochloa), Gerritea, Hopia,
Ichnanthus, Lecomtella, Ocellochloa, Osvaldoa, Paspalum (syn. – Thrasya, Thrasyopsis,
Reimarochloa), Renvoizea, Spheneria, Streptostachys.
subtribe Otachyriinae Butzin [1970]: Aconisia {tentatively accepted}, Anthaenantia (syn. –Leptocoryphium), Hymenachne (syn. – Dallwatsonia), Otachyrium, Plagiantha, Rugoloa,
Steinchisma (syn. – Cliﬀordiochloa, Fasciculochloa).
subtribe Arthropogoninae Butzin [1972]: Achlaena, Altoparadisium, Apochloa, Arthropogon,
Canastra, Coleataenia (syn. – Sorengia), Cyphonanthus, Homolepis, Keratochlaena(syn. – Sclerochlamys), Mesosetum, Oncorachis, Oplismenopsis, Phanopyrum,
Stephostachys, Tatianyx, Triscenia.
supertribe Andropogonodae L. Liu [1980] {Arundinelleae—Sacchareae clade}:
tribe Arundinelleae Stapf [1898] (syn. – Garnotieae Tateoka [1957]; subtribe Arundinellinae Honda[1930], Garnotiinae Pilg. [1956]): Arundinella, Garnotia.
tribe Andropogoneae Dumort. [1824] (syn. – Sacchareae Dumort. [1824], Coiceae Nakai [1943],
Euchlaeneae Nakai [1943], Imperateae Godr. & Gren. [1855], Maydeae Dumort. [1824, nom.
illeg.], Ophiureae Dumort. [1824], Rottboellieae Kunth [1829], Sacchareae Rchb. ex Horan.
[1847, as Saccharinae], Tripsaceae C.E. Hubb. ex Nakai [1943], Zeeae Rchb. [1828, unranked],
Zeeae Nakai [1943]) {Papers by Hodkinson et al., 2002, Skendzic et al., 2007, and Estep, et al.
2014, portend lots of problems for classiﬁcation within this tribe, of which some obvious ones
are noted below.}:incertae sedis {Eriochrysis, Imperata, Pogonatherum, Tripidium, formerly placed in
Saccharrinae, may be allied to Germaniinae. Chrysopogon and Thelepogon appear to besisters and isolated from other tribes}: Apluda, Chrysopogon (syn. – Vetiveria),
Eriochrysis (syn. – Leptosaccharum), Imperata, Phacelurus (syn. – Thyrsia) {apparently
polyphyletic}, Pogonatherum, Spathia, Spodiopogon (syn. – Eccoilopus), Thelepogon,
Tripidium.
subtribe Arthraxoninae Benth. [1881]: Arthraxon.
subtribe Tripsacinae Dumort. [1829] (syn. – Maydinae Harv. [1868, nom. illeg.], Zeinae
Tzvelev [1968]): Tripsacum, Zea.

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subtribe Chionachninae Clayton [1981]: Chionachne, Polytoca, Sclerachne, Trilobachne.
subtribe Coicinae Clayton & Renvoize [1986, inadvertent transfer of rank, may have been done
earlier.] {Apparently sister to Rottoelliinae.}: Coix.
subtribe Rottboelliinae J. Presl [1830] (syn. – Vossiastae Stapf [1917]): Chasmopodium,
Elionurus {orth. var. Elyonurus}, Eremochloa, Glyphochloa, Hemarthria, Heteropholis,
Lasiurus, Loxodera, Manisuris, Mnesithea (syn. – Coelorachis, Hackelochloa), Ophiuros,
Oxyrhachis, Ratzeburgia, Rhytachne, Rottboellia, Thaumastochloa, Urelytrum, Vossia.
subtribe Ischaeminae J. Presl [1830] (syn. – Apludinae Hook.f. [1896]) {entangled with
Saccharinae}: Andropterum, Ischaemum, Kerriochloa, Pogonachne, Triplopogon,
Sehima.
subtribe Dimeriinae Hack ex C.E. Hubb. [1934] (syn. – Dimeriinae Hack [1887, sin. descr.]){apparently nested within Ischaeminae}: Dimeria.
subtribe Germainiinae Clayton [1972] (syn. – Apocopidinae Keng [1939, nom. inval.]):Apocopis, Germainia, Trachypogon.
subtribe Sorghinae Stapf [1917], as Sorghastrae (syn. – Amphilophiastrae Stapf [1917]; SorghaBluﬀ, Nees & Schauer [1836, unranked]): Asthenochloa, Euclasta (syn. – Indochloa),
Hemisorghum, Pseudodichanthium, Sorghastrum {placement better in
Saccharinae/Ischaeminae?}, Sorghum (syn. – Cleistachne, Sarga, Vacoparis).
subtribe Saccharinae Griseb. [1846] (syn. – Erianthinae Hack. [1883]; Polliniastrae Stapf[1917]): Erianthus, Eulalia s.s. {s.l. is apparenly polyphyletic}, Eulaliopsis,
Homozeugos, Lophopogon, Microstegium (syn. – Ischnochloa), Miscanthus (syn. –Diadranthus, Rubomons, Triarrhena), Miscanthidium, Narenga, Polliniopsis, Polytrias,
Pseudopogonatherum, Pseudosorghum, Saccharum s.s., Sclerostachya {better in
Miscanthus?}, Veldkampia.
subtribe Andropogoninae J. Presl [1830] (syn. – Hyparrheniastrae Stapf [1917], Hypogyniastrae
Stapf [1917], Schizachyriastrae Stapf [1917]) {the subtribe is apparently sister to
Anthistiriinae + Eulalia p.p. s.l.}: Andropogon (syn. – Hypogynium), Bhidea, Diectomis,
Diheteropogon, Hyparrhenia, Schizachyrium.
subtribe Anthistiriinae J. Presl [1830] (syn. – Anadelphiastrae Stapf [1917], Bothriochloinae
Keng [1939, nom. inval.], Heteropogonastrae Stapf [1917], Themedastrae Stapf [1917]):
Agenium, Anadelphia, Bothriochloa, Capillipedium, Clausospicula, Cymbopogon,
Dichanthium (syn. – Eremopogon?), Elymandra, Exotheca, Heteropogon, Hyperthelia,
Iseilema, Monocymbium, Parahyparrhenia, Pseudanthistiria, Themeda.
subfam. Arundinoideae Kunth ex Beilschm. [1833] (syn. – Arundinoideae Tateoka [1957, isonym],
Phragmitoideae Parodi [1958, nom. inval.], Phragmitoideae Parodi ex Caro [1982]; Arundinaceae
Burmeist. [1837, unranked], {sister to Micrairoideae}:
tribe Arundineae Dumort. [1824] (syn. – Amphipogoneae L. Watson & T.D. Macfarl. [2002]; subtribe
Arundininae Miq. [1857]): Amphipogon (syn. – Diplopogon), Arundo, Monachather.
tribe Molinieae Jirásek [1966] (syn. – subtribes Crinipinae Conert, [1961], Molininae Ohwi [1941]){see Linder et al. (1997) on the Crinipoid group}; Phragmiteae Horan. [1847, unranked]):Crinipes, Dichaetaria, Dregeochloa, Elytrophorus, Hakonechloa, Leptagrostis, Molinia,
Moliniopsis, Nematopoa, Phragmites, Piptophyllum, Styppeiochloa, Zenkeria.

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subfam. Micrairoideae Pilg. [1956] {sister to Arundinoideae}:
tribe Micraireae Pilg. [1956]: Micraira.
tribe Eriachneae Eck-Borsboom [1980]: Eriachne (syn. – Massia), Pheidochloa.
tribe Isachneae Benth. [1881] (syn. – subtribe Isachninae Stapf [1898]): Coelachne, Heteranthoecia,
Isachne, Limnopoa, Sphaerocaryum.
tribe Hubbardieae C.E. Hubb. [1960]: Hubbardia.
subfam. Danthonioideae H.P. Linder & N.P. Baker [2001] {sister to Chloridoideae}:
incertae sedis: Alloeochaete, Danthonidium, Phaenanthoecium.
tribe Danthonieae Zotov. [1963] (syn. – Cortaderieae Zotov. [1963]; subtribe Cortaderinae Conert[1961], Danthoniinae Fr. [1835]): Austroderia, Capeochloa, Chaetobromus, Chimaerochloa,
Chionochloa, Cortaderia (syn. – Lamprothyrsus) Danthonia, Geochloa, Merxmuellera,
Notochloe, Pentameris (syn. – Pentaschistis, Poagrostis, Prionanthium), Plinthanthesis,
Pseudopentameris, Rytidosperma (syn. – Monostachya, Notodanthonia, Pyrrhanthera),
Schismus (syn. – Karroochloa), Tenaxia, Tribolium.
subfam. Chloridoideae Kunth ex Beilschm. [1833] (syn. – Eragrostoideae Pilg. [1956]; Chlorideae Burmeist[1837, unranked], Pappophorae Burmeist. [1837, unranked]) {sister to Danthonioideae}:
incertae sedis: Decaryella, Indopoa, Lepturopetium, Myriostachya, Neostapﬁella, Pogonochloa,
Pseudozoysia, Silentvalleya, Viguierella.
tribe Centropodieae P.M. Peterson, N.P. Barker & H.P. Linder [2011]: Centropodia, Ellisochloa.
tribe Triraphideae P.M. Peterson [2010] (syn. − Triraphidinae Stapf [1917]): Habrochloa, Neyraudia,
Triraphis.
tribe Eragrostideae Stapf [1898] (syn.– supertribe Eragrostodae L. Liu [1980], Unioleae Roshev. ex
C.S. Campb. [1985]):subtribe Cotteinae Reeder [1965]: Cottea, Enneapogon, Kaokochloa, Schmidtia.
subtribe Unioliinae Clayton [1982]: Entoplocamia, Fingerhuthia, Tetrachaete, Tetrachne,
Uniola.
subtribe Eragrostidinae J. Presl [1830]: Catalepis, Cladoraphis, Ectrosia (syn. – Ectrosiopsis,
Planichloa), Eragrostis (syn. – Acamptoclados, Diandrochloa, Neeragrostis),
Harpachne, Heterachne, Pogonarthria Psammagrostis, Richardsiella, Steirachne,
Stiburus.
tribe Zoysieae Benth. [1881] (syn. – Spartineae Steele [1847], Sporoboleae Stapf [1898]):
subtribe Zoysiinae Benth. [1878]: Urochondra, Zoysia.
subtribe Sporobolinae Benth. [1881] (syn. – Crypsidinae Maire & Weiler [1953, nom. inval.],Spartininae Maire & Weiler [1953, nom. inval.]): Psilolemma, Sporobolus (nom. cons.
prop. 2332, syn. – Calamovilfa, Crypsis, Heleochloa, Spartina, Thellungia).

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tribe Cynodonteae Dumort. [1824] (syn. – Aeluropodieae Nevski ex Bor [1965], Chlorideae Rchb.
[1828, unranked], Chlorideae Trin. [1824, nom. illeg. superﬂ, later than Dumort. and included
Cynodon], Jouveae Pilg. [1956], Leptureae Dumort. [1824, as Lepiureae], Monermeae C.E.
Hubb. [1948, nom. inval.], Nazieae Hitchc. [1920, nom. illeg.], Pappophoreae Kunth [1829],
Perotideae C.E. Hubb. [1960], Pommereulleae Bor [1960], Trageae Hitchc. [1927], Triodieae
S.W.L. Jacobs [2004], Hubbardochloinae Auquier [1980]):
incertae sedis: Allolepis, Brachychloa, Cleistogenes, Dactyloctenium, Halopyrum,
Hubbardochloa, Jouvea, Kalinia, Kampochloa, Lepturidium, Neobouteloua, Orinus,
Pogononeura, Sohnsia, Vietnamochloa.
subtribe Aeluropodinae P.M. Peterson [2010] (syn. – Aeluropodinae Jacq.-Fél. [1962, nom.
inval.]): Aeluropus, Odyssea s.s.
subtribe Triodiinae Benth. [1881]: Monodia, Symplectrodia, Triodia (syn. – Plectrachne).
subtribe Orcuttiinae P.M. Peterson & Columbus [2007]: Neostapﬁa, Orcuttia, Tuctoria.
subtribe Gouiniinae P.M. Peterson & Columbus [2007]): Gouinia, Schenckochloa, Tridentopsis,
Triplasis, Vaseyochloa.
subtribe Cteniinae P.M. Peterson, Romaschenko & Herrera Arrieta [2014]: Ctenium.
subtribe Trichoneurinae P.M. Peterson, Romaschenko & Herrera Arrieta [2014]: Trichoneura.
subtribe Perotidinae P.M. Peterson, Romaschenko & Herrera Arrieta [2014]: Mosdenia, Perotis(syn. – Lopholepis, Toliara), Trigonochloa.
subtribe Farragininae P. M. Peterson, Romaschenko & Herrera Arrieta [2014]:
Craspedorhachis, Farrago.
subtribe Gymnopogoninae P. M. Peterson, Romaschenko & Herrera Arrieta [2014]: Bewsia,
Dignathia, Gymnopogon, Leptocarydion, Leptothrium, Lophacme.
subtribe Eleusininae Dumort. [1829] (syn. – Astreblinae Clayton [1982], Chloridinae J. Presl[1830], Cynodontinae (Dumort.) Tzvelev [1968], Diplachninae Rouy [1913], Lepturinae
Benth. [1881], Monerminae Janch. [1953, nom. nud.], Pommereullinae Potztal [1969]):
Acrachne, Afrotrichloris, Apochiton, Astrebla, Austrochloris, Chloris (syn.
– Ochthochloa), Chrysochloa, Coelachyrum (syn. – Coelachyropsis), Cynodon, (syn.
– Brachyachne) Daknopholis, Dinebra (syn. – Drake-Brockmania, Heterocarpha, Oxydenia),
Diplachne, Disakisperma (syn. – Cypholepis), Eleusine, Enteropogon, Eustachys, Harpochloa,
Leptochloa (syn. – Trichloris), Lepturus, Lintonia, Microachne, Microchloa (syn. – Rendlia),
Oxychloris, Pommereulla, Rendlia, Rheochloa, Saugetia, Schoenefeldia, Sclerodactylon,
Stapfochloa, Tetrapogon.
subtribe Tripogoninae Stapf [1917]: Desmostachya, Eragrostiella, Melanocenchris, Oropetium,
Tripogon.
subtribe Pappophorinae Dumort. [1829] (syn. – Tridentinae Keng & Keng f. [1960]):
Neesiochloa, Pappophorum, Tridens s.s. {excl. Tridentopsis}.
subtribe Traginae P.M. Peterson & Columbus [2007] (syn. – Lappaginineae Link ex Endl.

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[1830, nom. illeg.], Tragineae Rchb. [1845, unranked]): Monelytrum, Polevansia, Tragus,
Willkommia (syn. – Willbleibia).
subtribe Hilariinae P.M. Peterson & Columbus [2007]: Hilaria (syn. – Pleuraphis).
subtribe Monanthochloinae Pilg. ex Potztal [1969] (syn. – Distichlinae Parodi [1946, nom.
nud.]): Distichlis (syn. – Monanthochloe, Reederochloa).
subtribe Boutelouinae Stapf [1917]: Bouteloua (syn. – Buchloe, Buchlomimus, Cathestecum,
Chondrosum, Cyclostachya, Griﬃthsochloa, Opizia, Pentarrhaphis, Pringleochloa,
Soderstromia).
subtribe Scleropogoninae Pilg. [1956] (syn. – Munroinae Parodi ex P.M. Peterson [1995]):
Blepharidachne, Dasyochloa, Erioneuron, Munroa, Scleropogon, Swallenia.
subtribe Muhlenbergiinae Pilg. [1956] (syn. – Lycurinae Pilg. [1956]): Muhlenbergia (syn. –Aegopogon, Bealia, Blepharoneuron, Chaboissaea, Lycurus, Pereilema, Redﬁeldia,
Schaﬀnerella, Schedonnardus).

the level of subfamily, tribe, or subtribe. Earlier, in our printed
Catalogue of New World Grasses (Judziewicz et al., 2000) andin Soreng et al. (2014) we attributed the names Panicoideae
and Ehrhartoideae to Link (1827) but as a consequence now
use Panicoideae A. Braun [1864], and for Ehrhartoideae revert
back to the previously, more widely used, Oryzoideae Kunth
ex Beilschm. [1833].
Nomenclatural changes
Subtribe Calothecinae Soreng, subtribe nov. Spikelets
generally similar to Brizinae s.s., but basal sheaths ﬁbrous.
TYPE genus Calotheca Desv., Nouv. Bull. Sci. Soc. Philom. Paris
2: 190. 1810. (¼ Chascolytrum Desv.). Sometimes referred to as
the “Calotheca clade” or the “Brizinae s.l. clade,” the twogenera (sensu Essi et al., 2011), Chascolytrum and Relchella
Steud., are conﬁned to the Western Hemisphere occurring
almost entirely in South America. Brizinae s.s. is native toEurasia and North Africa.
Tribe Littledaleeae Soreng & Davis, tribe et stat nov. (based€ser, Taxon 58(2): 420. 2009): TYPE
on—Littledaleinae Ro
genus Littledalea Hemsl., in Hooker’s Icon. Pl. 25: pl. 2472.
1896. The species in this monogeneric tribe are conﬁned tohigh altitudes on the Tibetian Plateau and adjacent Central
Asian mountains.

Discussion
Anomochlooideae, Pharoideae, and Puelioideae
The basal lineages in the family include three small subfamilies
Anomochlooideae (Anomochloa Brongn. and Steptochaeta
Schrad. ex Nees), Pharoideae (Pharus P. Browne, Leptaspis R.
Br., and Scrotochloa Judz.), and Puelioideae (Guaduella Franch.
and Puelia Franch.) totaling 31 species. These form a grade (inthe order listed) leading to the split between the BOP and
PACMAD clades. Possible morphological synapomorphies forthese three subfamilies were identiﬁed by the Grass Phylogeny Working Group (2001).
J. Syst. Evol. 53 (2): 117–137, 2015

Oryzoideae
Subfamily Oryzoideae is the basal lineage of the BOP clade andincludes 116 species in 20 genera divided into 4 tribes:
Streptogyneae with two species in a single genus, Ehrharteae
with 38 species in 4 genera, Phyllorachideae with 3 species in 2
genera, and the Oryzeae with 72 species in 11 genera, divided
into 2 subtribes (Oryzinae with 40 species in 2 genera and
Zizaniinae with 32 species in 9 genera). The branching positionof Phyllorachideae in Fig. 1 is based on the analysis of Zhang(2000). The Oryzeae are economically important since Oryza
sativa L. (rice) and Zizania palustris L. (wild rice) are members.
The rice plastid genome was the ﬁrst to be completely
sequenced in the monocots (Hiratsuka et al., 1989). Suddia
sagittifolia Renvoize is not placed in a subtribe (incertae sedis)
and is currently on the International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species (Ali, 2010).
Bambusoideae
Subfamily Bambusoideae includes 1641 species in 120 genera in
3 tribes. The classiﬁcation largely follows BPG (2012). Tribe
Arundinarieae with only the subtribe Arundinariinae contains
621 species in 31 genera that are almost exclusively distributedin Eurasia; only the three species of Arundinaria Michx. reachNorth America (Triplett & Clark, 2010; Triplett et al., 2010). The
species are principally temperate in distribution, and all arewoody. Tribe Olyreae (herbaceous bamboos) includes 127
species in 21 genera, and these, with the exception of
Buergersiochloa Pilg. from Malaysia and Olyra latifolia L.
populations in Africa, occur in the western hemisphere,
primarily in the tropical forests of South and Central America.
Recent molecular analyses may change circumscription
among the genera (Attigala et al., 2014; Oliveira et al., 2014;
Triplett et al., 2014). Tribe Bambuseae (woody subtropical andtropical bamboos) includes 893 species in 68 genera placed in
7 subtribes. Subtribes Melanocanninae (95 species in 10
genera), Hickeliinae (38 species in 8 genera), Racemobambosinae (19 species in 1 genus), and Bambusinae (368 species in
29 genera) form a clade distributed in Eurasia, Australasia, or
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Phylogenetic classification of the grasses
Africa, and these share a common ancestor with subtribes
Arthrostylidiinae (167 species in 14 genera), Guaduinae (41species in 5 genera), and Chusqueinae (165 species in 1 genus)
distributed in the western hemisphere, primarily in South andCentral America.
Pooideae
Subfamily Pooideae includes 4234 species in 197 genera in 14
tribes. The species are known as the “cool season” or “pooid”
grasses and all are C3 and distributed in temperate climates.
The tribe Brachyelytreae is the deepest split in the subfamily,
with three species in a single genus: one distributed insoutheastern Asia and two from the southeastern USA(Saarela et al., 2003). The monotypic tribes Lygeeae andNardeae, each with a single species, share a common ancestor
and are the only pooids with bicellular microhairs (Soreng &Davis, 1998). Schneider et al. (2011) united these two species in
one tribe, but we feel they are worthy of separate tribal statusbecause each species appears on a long branch in our
phylogenetic trees suggesting ancient diversiﬁcation. The
Phaenospermateae (14 species in 8 genera) are sister to theremaining tribes. Brylkinieae (4 species in 2 genera) and
Meliceae (154 species in 6 genera), and Stipeae (582 species in
28 genera) and Ampelodesmeae (1 species of putative ancienthybrid origin derived from Stipeae and Phaenospermateae;
Romschenko et al., 2012), each share a common ancestor.
Recent work on the Stipeae and relatives supports theinclusion of Duthiea Hack. in the Phaenospermateae (Romaschenko et al., 2010, 2012) rather than in a separate tribe(Schneider et al., 2011). In our current analysis, as inRomaschenko et al. (2012), Stipeae (plus Ampelodesmeae)
are sister to the remaining pooid tribes. The pattern ofspeciation in two Stipeae genera, Patis Ohwi and Ptiliagrostis
Griseb. revealed a past hybridization followed by two plastid
capture events preceded migration of Patis coreana (Honda)
Ohwi and Ptilagrostis porteri (Rydb.) W.A. Weber from Asia to
North America (Romaschenko et al., 2014). Diarrheneae (5species in 2 genera) and Brachypodieae (20 species in 1 genus)
are the next 2 sequentially diverging lineages. Brachypoidieae
and the remaining tribes are frequently referred to as the“core Pooideae” (Soreng & Davis, 1998).
Early molecular studies using plastid restriction sites led
Soreng et al. (1990) to identify Aveneae and Poeae groups
which correspond to the 2 plastid clades in the tribe Poeae(2776 species in 118 genera) (Fig. 1). The Poeae include many
temperate forage and lawn species in the genera Agrostis L.,
Festuca L., Lolium L., Phleum L., Poa L., and Avena L. (includes
A. sativa L.: cultivated oats). The following seven subtribes
share a common ancestor in chloroplast group 1 (Aveneaetype): Agrostidinae (604 species in 16 genera), Calothecinae(26 species in 2 genera; see Essi et al., 2008, 2010, 2011),
Brizinae (5 species in 2 genera), Aveninae (302 species in 15
genera), Anthoxanthinae (69 species in 1 genus), Phalaridinae(17 species in 1 genus), and Torreyochloinae (16 species in 2
genera). Generic limits among the core Agrostidinae genera,such as Calamagrostis Adans. and Trisetum Pers., are not wellunderstood and more study is needed (Saarela et al., 2010).
This group has also been studied by Quintanar et al. (2007,2010). The following 11 subtribes share a common ancestor inchloroplast group 2 (Poeae type): Coleanthinae (163 species in
10 genera), Airinae (41 species in 7 genera), Miliinae (5 species
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in 1 genus), Poinae s.l. (697 species in 29 genera), Holcinae (52species in 3 genera), Parapholiinae (26 species in 8 genera),
Ammochloinae (3 species in 1 genus), Cynosurinae (10 species
in 1 genus), Dactylidinae (2 species in 2 genera), Sesleriinae (37species in 5 genera), Loliinae (698 species in 9 genera), andthe Scolochloinae (3 species in 2 genera). Avenula (Dumort.)
Dumort. s.s. remains incertae sedis. Poinae s.l. here includes
Alopecurinae, Cinninae, and Phleinae but Poinae s.s. could
include only Poa L. (Gillespie et al., 2010; Soreng et al., 2015).
Loliinae and allied subtribes, which include Festuca s.l., havebeen extensively studied (Inda et al., 2008; Catalan et al.,rez et al., 2014). Since the genera with traditional
2009; Dıaz-Pe
Aveneae and Poeae morphologies are intermingled among
the two plastid groups, the Aveneae were melded into tribe
Poeae (Soreng & Davis, 2000; GPWG, 2001). Subsequentphylogenetic studies of the nuclear ribosomal spacer regions
show the whole lineage with Aveneae type plastids emerge
from among lineages with Poeae type plastids, indicating
deep reticulation in the tribe. Subtribe Sesleriinae is considered hybrid in origin since Sesleria Scop. shares a distinctly
Poeae type plastid and a nuclear ribosomal type that places it
among early diverging elements of subtribe Aveninae(Quintanar et al., 2010; Saarela et al., 2010).
Littledaleeae (4 species in 1 genus) is sister to Bromeae (166
species in 1 genus) and Triticeae (503 species in 27 genera, notcounting some 20 nothogenera!). Bromeae was investigatedby Saarela et al. (2007, 2014) where it was treated as
monotypic. Triticeae includes subtribes Triticinae (448 species
in 22 genera) and Hordeinae (55 species in 5 genera). Triticeae
includes Triticum aestivum L. (wheat), Hordeum vulgare L.
(barley), and Secale cereale L. (rye), and is one of the mostintensively studied grass tribes. Triticinae is derived fromwithin Hordeinae s.l, but no new infratribal classiﬁcation has
been offered (Seberg & Petersen, 2007). The tribe is wellknown for reticulate evolution and the classiﬁcation of genera
is largely based on genome types and pairings (Barkworth
et al., 2009; Anamthawat-Jonsson, 2014; Sha et al., 2014; Sun2014; Wang & Lu, 2014; Zhang et al., 2014).
Aristidoideae
Subfamily Aristidoideae includes 1 tribe, Aristideae (364
species in 3 genera): Aristida L., Sartidia De Winter, andStipagrostis Nees. Within Aristida (304 species) there is asingle species, A. longifolia Trin. from South and Central
America, that has been veriﬁed as C3, and it was found to bebasal in a survey of 67 species in the genus (Cerros-Tlatilpa
et al., 2011). Apparently, all four species of Sartidia are C3,
whereas all examined species of Stipagrostis are C4 grasses.
Therefore, at least two independent C4 origins, each withunique anatomical and genetic features, are hypothesized for
Aristidoideae (Cerros-Tlatilpa et al., 2011).
Panicoideae
Subfamily Panicoideae includes 3560 species in 12 tribes. The
species are predominantly distributed in tropical to warmtemperate habitats with summer precipitation, and in tropicalforests and savannas. Important genera include Zea mays L.
(corn or mays), Saccharum ofﬁcinarum L. (sugarcane),
Sorghum bicolor L. (sorghum), Cenchrus L., Panicum L., andSetaria P. Beauv. Within the subfamily there are six major
clades. Two monotypic genera, Chandrasekharania V. J Nair,
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Ramachandran, Srekumar and Jansenella Bor, both placed inArundinelleae by Clayton & Renvoize (1986), are here
considered incertae sedis in Panicoideae pending future
DNA studies, leaving Arundinelleae as strictly C4. These twogenera are hypothesized to belong to Tristachyideae, which
was separated from Arundinelleae (Sanchez-Ken & Clark,
2010). The basal lineage of subfamily Panicoideae consists ofthe following seven tribes and has loosely been referred to as
the “centothecoid” clade: Thysanolaeneae (2 species in 1
genus), Cyperochloeae (2 species in 2 genera), Centotheceae(6 species in 2 genera), Chasmanthieae (7 species in 2 genera),
Zeugiteae (18 species in 5 genera), Tristachyidae (71 species in
8 genera), and Steyermarkochloeae (3 species in 2 genera).
The phylogenetic relationships of Arundoclaytonia Davidse &R.P. Ellis and Steyermarkochloa Davidse & R.P. Ellis, both in
Steyermarkochloeae (Sanchez-Ken & Clark, 2007, 2010), are
not well established. Steyermarkochloeae is tentatively
placed in Fig. 1 based on the study of Morrone et al. (2012),
but also see Sanchez-Ken & Clark (2010) for further discussion.
These seven tribes were formerly classiﬁed as subfamily
Centothecoideae or placed in Arundinoideae, or mixed among
Arundinelleae and Paniceae (Soderstrom, 1981; Clayton &Renvoize, 1986; Sanchez-Ken & Clark, 2007). Tristachyideae issometimes resolved among the basal elements of Paniceae orPaspaleae (Sanchez-Ken & Clark, 2010) after the divergence ofGynerieae. The Gynerieae (1 species in 1 genus) is the next
diverging lineage (Fig. 1).
Tribe Paniceae (1498 species in 84 genera) includes thefollowing seven subtribes: Anthephorinae (298 species in 9
genera), Dichantheliinae (66 species in 2 genera), Boivinellinae(135 species in 15 genera), Neurachninae (21 species in 6
genera), Melinidinae (215 species in 14 genera, Panicinae (343
species in 4 genera), and Cenchrinae (394 species in 24
genera). Tribes Paniceae and Paspaleae have been extensively
revised by Morrone et al. (2007, 2008, 2012) with a series of
new genera proposed over the last decade by Acosta et al.
(2014), Denham & Zuloaga (2007), Donadıo et al. (2009),
Salariato et al. (2010), Scataglini et al. (2014a, 2014b), Scataglini& Zuloaga (2014), Sede et al. (2009a, 2009b, 2010), andZuloaga et al. (2007, 2010). The following 10 genera in
Paniceae are incertae sedis: Chloachne Stapf, Homopholis C.E.
Hubb., Hydrothauma C.E. Hubb., Hylebates Chippin., Oryzidium
C.E. Hubb. & Schweick., Poecilostachys Hack., Sacciolepis Nash,
Thedachloa S.W.L. Jacobs, Trichanthecium Zuloaga & Morrone,
and Walwhalleya Wills & J.J. Bruhl. Tribe Paspaleae is the next
diverging lineage in Fig. 1 and includes 673 species in 40 genera
distributed in the following three subtribes: Paspalinae (556species in 16 genera), Otachyriinae (40 species in 7 genera),and Arthropogoninae (75 species in 16 genera). Reynaudia
ﬁliformis (Spreng. ex Schult.) Kunth is incertae sedis within the
Paspaleae. Relationships of the Andropogoneae–Arundinelleae clade to Paniceae and Paspaleae are still unsettled, andgenera tenuously assigned as incertae sedis are in need ofadditional study.
The remaining clade in Panicoideae includes the Arundinelleae (88 species in 2 genera) and the Andropogoneae (1189
species in 90 genera), all of which are C4. Arundinelleae here is
restricted to include 88 species in 2 genera. Andropogoneae
includes the following 12 subtribes: Arthraxoninae (27 species
in 1 genus), Tripsacinae (22 species in 2 genera), Chionachninae(12 species in 4 genera), Coicinae (4 species in 1 genus),
J. Syst. Evol. 53 (2): 117–137, 2015

Rottboelliinae (134 species in 18 genera), Ischaeminae (98species in 6 genera), Dimeriinae (61 species in 1 genus),
Germainiinae (30 species in 3 genera), Sorghinae (53 species in
6 genera), Saccharinae (144 species in 16 genera), Andropogoninae (249 species in 6 genera), and Anthistiriinae (244species in 16 genera). Based on interpretations of recent DNA
studies (Estep et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2014b; Welker et al., 2015)
there are at least ten incertae sedis genera in Andropogoneae:
Apluda L., Chrysopogon Trin., Eriochrysis P. Beauv., Imperata
Cirillo, Phacelurus Griseb., Pogonartheum P. Beauv., Spathia
Ewart, Spodiopogon Trin., Thelepogon Roth., and Tripidium
H. Scholz. Hybridization has played a major role in thediversiﬁcation of the Andropogoneae (Estep et al., 2014; Liuet al., 2014b; Welker et al., 2015) and we anticipate signiﬁcantrearrangements to occur in the classiﬁcation, which iscurrently based on that of Clayton & Renvoize (1986).
Arundinoideae
Subfamily Arundinoideae was fairly large and quite heterogeneous sensu Watson & Dallwitz (1992). It formerly included
736 species, but now is reduced to 40 species in 16 genera in 2
tribes. Arundineae sensu GPWG (2001) is paraphyletic in a
recent phylogeny (GPWG II, 2012), and in our analysis, if
Amphipogoneae is recognized. We recongnize two main
lineages as tribes: Arundineae (16 species in 3 genera:
Amphipogon R. Br., Arundo L., and Monachather Steud.);and Molinieae (24 species in 13 genera, including the Crinipes
group). Further dividing these two tribes into subtribes seems
reasonable, but more data are needed. Dichaetaria Steud.
(monotypic) and Dregeochloa Conert (2 species) are strongly
supported as members of Molinieae (Jordan Teisher, preliminary data, pers comm.), along with Styppeiochloa De Winter,
Elytrophorus P. Beauv., and Eragrostis walteri Pilg. The
following six genera were referred to as the Crinipes group(Barker, 1997; Linder et al., 1997): Crinipes Hochst. (2 species),
Leptagrostis C.E. Hubb. (monotypic), Nematopoa C.E. Hubb.
(monotypics), Piptophyllum C.E. Hubb. (monotypic), Styppeiochloa (2 species), and Zenkeria (5 species). The Crinipes group
has had scant representation in molecular studies and its
monophyly is uncertain. All species currently placed in thissubfamily are C3 grasses.
Micrairoideae
Subfamily Micrairoideae includes 186 species in 4 tribes:
Micraireae (15 species in 1 genus), Eriachneae (50 species in 2
genera), Isachneae (119 species in 5 genera), and Hubbardieae(2 species in 1 genus). Sanchez-Ken et al. (2007) recognized 8
genera in 3 tribes by sinking Hubbardieae within Isachneae.
We include Hubbardieae in the subfamily since Clayton &Renvoize (1986) indicate it is apparently derived from
Isachneae. Only Eriachne R. Br. and Pheidochloa S.T. Blake(Eriachneae) appear to be C4.
Danthonioideae
The primarily southern hemisphere subfamily, Danthonioideae consists of 293 species in 20 genera. Molecularphylogenetic analyses and generic classiﬁcations for thissubfamily have been completed (Pirie et al., 2008; Linder et al.,2010). However, 3 genera: Alloeochaetae C.E. Hubb. (6species), Danthoniastrum C.E. Hubb. (monotypic), and Phaenanthoecium (monotypic), were not mentioned by Linder
www.jse.ac.cn

Phylogenetic classification of the grasses
et al. (2010) even though other agrostologists thought they
were allied to Rytidosperma Steud. (Clayton & Renvoize, 1986;
Phillips, 1995). We treat these three genera as incertae sedis in
the subfamily because their lemmas have well developed,
ﬂattened, coiled, geniculate awns diverging between relatively slender lateral lobes, typical of Danthonieae, but not foundin Arundinoideae. Embryological features for these three taxa
are also unknown. Linder et al. (1997) speciﬁcally included
Alloeochaetae in Danthonieae, and indicated that Danthonidium was probably misplaced in Arundineae. All the species inthis subfamily as currently circumscribed are C3.
Chloridoideae
Subfamily Chloridoideae is sister to Danthonioideae. It
consists of 1601 species in 131 genera and 5 tribes. The species
are predominantly found in arid temperate grasslands withwarm-season precipitation or in arid tropical grasslands. The
following nine chloridoid genera have not yet been included inany molecular studies and their afﬁnities are uncertain:
Decaryella A. Camus, Indopoa Bor, Lepturopetium Morat,
Myriostachya (Benth.) Hook.f., Neostapﬁella A. Camus, Pogonochloa C.E. Hubb., Pseudozoysia Chiov., Silentvalleya V.J. Nair,
Viguierella A. Camus. The basal lineage, tribe Centropodieae,
includes two genera (Centropodia Rchb. and Ellisochloa P.M.
Peterson & Barker) and six species distributed in Africa andAsia (Peterson et al., 2011). Ellisochloa is currently the only
genus within the chloridoids that includes C3 grasses.
Tribe Triraphideae includes 14 species in 3 genera distributed in Africa, Asia, and Australasia. Based on preliminary DNA
studies Habrochloa C.E. Hubb. belongs in this Tribe (Peterson& Romaschenko, unpublished).
Tribe Eragrostideae includes 488 species in 20 genera and iscomposed of 3 subtribes: Eragrostidinae (449 species in 11
genera), Unioliinae (11 species in 5 genera), and Cotteinae (28species in 4 genera). Eragrostidinae and Unioliinae form aclade, and together are sisiter to Cotteinae. Earlier morphological studies of Eragrostis Wolf (416 species) concluded thatthe genus was polyphyletic (Van den Borre & Watson, 1994)
but more recent studies indicate that it is monophyletic or
possibly paraphyletic since other genera appear to be derived
from within (Ingram & Doyle, 2004; Peterson & Romaschenko,
in preparation). Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter (tef) is widely
cultivated in Africa and its grain includes all eight essential
amino acids for humans (El-Alfy et al., 2010).
Tribe Zoysieae includes 244 species in 4 genera and 2
subtribes: Zoysiinae (12 species in 2 genera) and Sporobolinae(232 species in 2 genera). Based on DNA studies Peterson et al.
(2014b) found Sporobolus R. Br. (231 species) to be paraphyletic with Calamovilfa (A. Gray) Hack. ex Scribn. & Southw.,
Crypsis Aiton, Spartina Schreb., Thellungia Stapf, and Eragrostis
megalosperma F. Muell. ex Benth. embedded within.
Tribe Cynodonteae includes 839 species in 93 genera and 18
subtribes. The following 15 genera have not been placed in a
subtribe: Allolepis Soderstr. & H.F. Decker, Brachychloa S.M.
Phillips, Cleistogenes Keng, Dactyloctenium Willd., Halopyrum
Stapf, Hubbardochloa Auquier, Jouvea E. Fourn., Kalinia H.L.
Bell & Columbus, Kampochloa Clayton, Lepturidium Hitchc. &Eckman, Neobouteloua Gould, Orinus Hitchc., Pogononeura
Napper, Sohnsia Airy Shaw, and Vietnamochloa Veldkamp &Nowack. The following 6 subtribes form a clade in a study
previously determined by Peterson et al. (2014a): Gouiniinae
www.jse.ac.cn

133(17 species in 5 genera, western hemisphere), Cteniinae (20species in 1 genus, African/western hemisphere), Trichoneurinae (8 species in 1 genus, western hemisphere), Gymnopogoninae (25 species in 6 genera, African), Farragininae (4species in 2 genera, African), and the Perotidinae (20 species in
5 genera, African and Eurasian). The Eleusininae (238 species
in 31 genera), a larger subtribe and topic of a recent DNA study(Peterson et al., 2015) is sister to these six subtribes (Peterson
et al., 2012). Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn. (ﬁnger millet) is an
important cereal crop in semi-arid regions of the world(Liu et al., 2011, 2014a). Aleuropodinae (11 species in 2 genera)
and Troidiinae (69 species in 3 genera) distributed inAustralasia and Africa form a clade that is sister to the six
previously mentioned subtribes and Eleusininae. Subtribes
Tripogoninae (60 species in 5 genera, primarily Australasianand African), Pappophorinae (28 species in 3 genera,
western hemisphere), Tragiinae (14 species in 4 genera,
primarily African and Australasian), Hilariinae (10 species in 1
genus), Muhlenbergiinae (182 species in 1 genus), Scleropogoninae (15 species in 6 genera), Boutelouinae (58 species in 1
genus), and Monanthochloinae (10 in 1 genus) form a cladethat is sister to all other Cynodonteae. The latter four
subtribes are primarily distributed in the western hemispherewith only six species of Muhlenbergia Schreb. known to occur
in Asia (Peterson et al., 2010a, 2010b).

Acknowledgements
We thank the National Geographic Society Committee for
Research and Exploration (Grant Nos. 8848-10, 8087-06) for
ﬁeld and laboratory support, the Smithsonian Institution’sRestricted Endowments Fund, the Scholarly Studies Program,Research Opportunities, Atherton Seidell Foundation, Biodiversity Surveys and Inventories Program, Small Grants
Program, the Laboratory of Analytical Biology, the Missouri
Botanical Garden for supporting Tropicos, and the UnitedStates Department of Agriculture, all for ﬁnancial support. We
would also like to acknowledge Lynn J. Gillespie and Jeffery M.
Saarela for discussions pertinent to the manuscript, and Sun
Hang and Jimmy K. Triplett for providing helpful comments on
the manuscript.

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