Signalgrass | |
---|---|
Urochloa mosambicensis | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Poales |
Family: | Poaceae |
Subfamily: | Panicoideae |
Supertribe: | Panicodae |
Tribe: | Paniceae |
Subtribe: | Melinidinae |
Genus: | Urochloa P.Beauv.[1][2] |
Type species | |
Urochloa panicoides | |
Synonyms[3] | |
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Urochloa, commonly known as signalgrass,[4][5][6][7] is a genus of plants in the grass family, native to tropical and subtropical regions of Eurasia, Africa, Australia, the Americas, and various islands.[8][9][10][11]
Several species of the genus Urochloa are cultivated as forage and some species of were probably first introduced unintentionally to the Americas in the colonial period, from slave ships. Urochloa eminii was introduced to Brazil in 1952. Urochloa is the most widely used tropical grass in Central and South America, with about 40 million hectares planted in Brazil alone.[12]