Bouteloua

Bouteloua is a genus of plants in the grass family. Members of the genus are commonly known as grama grass.
Taxonomy and systematics
The genus was named for Claudio and Esteban Boutelou, 19th-century Spanish botanists. David Griffiths produced a 1912 monograph on the genus.
Description
Bouteloua includes both annual and perennial grasses, which frequently form stolons. Species have an inflorescence of 1 to 80 racemes or spikes positioned alternately on the culm (stem). The rachis (stem) of the spike is flattened. The spikelets are positioned along one side of the spike. Each spikelet contains one fertile floret, and usually one sterile floret.
Distribution
Bouteloua is found only the Americas, with most diversity centered in the southwestern United States.
It also occurs in the Ciénaga de Zapata Biosphere Reserve of Cuba.
Uses
Many species are important livestock forage, especially blue grama.
Species
Species of Bouteloua include:
Bouteloua alamosana Vasey – Mesoamerica
Bouteloua americana (L.) Scribn. – American grama – southern Mexico, Central America, West Indies, northern South America
Bouteloua annua Swallen – Baja California Sur, Sonora
Bouteloua aristidoides (Kunth) Griseb. – needle grama – United States (California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas); Mexico, South America, Aruba
Bouteloua barbata Lag. – six-weeks grama – United States, Mexico
Bouteloua bracteata (McVaugh) Columbus – Michoacán
Bouteloua breviseta Vasey – United States, Mexico
Bouteloua chondrosioides (Kunth) Benth. ex S.Watson – sprucetop grama – United States (AZ TX); Mesoamerica
Bouteloua curtipendula (Michx.) Torr. – sideoats grama – widespread in USA, Canada, Mexico
Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) Columbus – buffalograss – USA, Canada, Mexico
Bouteloua dimorpha Columbus – Great Plains in USA, Canada, Mexico, Honduras, Cuba, Trinidad
Bouteloua distans Swallen – Mexico
Bouteloua disticha (Kunth) Benth. – from southern Mexico to Ecuador; also Cuba, Galápagos
Bouteloua eludens Griffiths – USA (Arizona, New Mexico), Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora)
Bouteloua eriopoda (Torr.) Torr. – United States, Mexico
Bouteloua gracilis (Willd. ex Kunth) Lag. ex Griffiths – blue grama – Great Plains in USA, Canada, Mexico
Bouteloua hirsuta Lag. – USA (Great Plains, Southwest), Mexico, Guatemala
Bouteloua johnstonii Swallen – Coahuila
Bouteloua juncea (Desv. ex Beauv.) A.S.Hitchc. – lamilla – Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico
Bouteloua media (E.Fourn.) Gould & Kapadia – from central Mexico to Uruguay
Bouteloua megapotamica (Spreng.) Kuntze – Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia
Bouteloua mexicana (Scribn.) Columbus – Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras
Bouteloua multifida (Griffiths) Columbus – from Sonora to Oaxaca
Bouteloua nervata Swallen – Hidalgo, México State
Bouteloua parryi (E. Fourn.) Griffiths – Parry's Grama, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Northern Mexico
Bouteloua pectinata (Bouteloua hirsuta var. pectinata) – tall grama, eyebrow grass – Texas
Bouteloua pedicellata Swallen – Puebla, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Tlaxcala, Nuevo León, Veracruz
Bouteloua polymorpha (E.Fourn.) Columbus – from Durango to Oaxaca
Bouteloua purpurea Gould & Kapadia – Guanajuato, D.F., San Luis Potosí, México State, Hidalgo, Querétaro
Bouteloua radicosa (E. Fourn.) Griffiths – purple grama – USA (Arizona, New Mexico), Mexico (Chihuahua, Michoacán, Coahuila, Morelos, Puebla, Durango, Zacatecas, Distrito Federal de México, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas)
Bouteloua reederorum Columbus – Durango, Puebla, Zacatecas, Oaxaca
Bouteloua reflexa Swallen – Sonora, Sinaloa, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Nayarit
Bouteloua repens (Kunth) Scribn. & Merr. – slender grama – Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Mesoamerica, Colombia, Venezuela, West Indies
Bouteloua rigidiseta (Steud.) Hitchc. – Texas grama – New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mexico (Aguascalientes, Durango)
Bouteloua simplex Lag. Much of southwestern and central United States, Central America, western South America
Bouteloua scabra (Kunth) Columbus – from Hidalgo to Honduras
Bouteloua stolonifera Scribn. – San Luis Potosí, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas
Bouteloua swallenii Columbus – from El Salvador to Venezuela
Bouteloua triaena (Trin. ex Spreng.) Scribn. – from Sinaloa to Guatemala
Bouteloua trifida Thunb. – Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Mexico
Bouteloua uniflora Vasey – Nealley grama, oneflower grama – Utah, Texas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, Nuevo León, Querétaro, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas
Bouteloua vaneedenii Pilg. – Cuba, Leeward Islands, Venezuela
Bouteloua warnockii Gould & Kapadia – Warnock's grama – New Mexico, Texas, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas
Bouteloua williamsii Swallen – Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras
Formerly included
Some grass species, formerly classified under Bouteloua, have been reclassified under other genera including:Cathestecum ChondrosumNeobouteloua''
See also
List of Poaceae genera
References
External links
Interactive Key to Bouteloua of North America
Bunchgrasses of North America
Bunchgrasses of South America
Grasses of North America
Grasses of South America
Poaceae genera
Taxa named by Palisot de Beauvois
Taxa named by Mariano Lagasca