Belongs within: Panicoideae.
Contains: Pollinia, Tripsacinae, Rhytachninae, Chrysopogon, Rottboelliinae, Ratzeburgiinae, Ischaeminae, Apludinae, Germainiinae, Sorghum, Saccharinae, Anthistiriinae, Andropogoninae.
The Andropogoneae are a tribe of C4 grasses typically characterised by the possession of paired spikelets with bracts present outside the spikelets. One member of each spikelet pair is pedicellate whereas the other is more or less sessile. The rachis subtending the spikelet pair disarticulates so the pair are shed as a single unit (Kellogg 2015). The Andropogoneae include a number of economically significant crops.
Basal representatives of the Andropogoneae include Lasiurus scindicus, a perennial with short rhizomes found from eastern Africa to northeastern India. This species bears spikelets in groups of three, with two sessile spikelets present, and acute lemmas. Thelepogon is an Old World tropical genus of annuals in which sessile spikelets have the lower glume strongly sculptured with hooked projections (Kellogg 2015).
Arthraxon is an Old World tropical genus bearing broadly lanceolate leaves with a cordate base, and awned upper lemmas with the awn abaxial and attached well below the midpoint of the lemma (Kellogg 2015). The Indo-Australian Chionachninae bear unisexual spikelets, the sessile spikelets pistillate and the pedicellate spikelets staminate, with the distal part of the inflorescence bearing paired staminate spikelets (Welker et al. 2020). Eriochrysis is a genus of caespitose perennials with the inflorescence covered by golden or reddish hairs (Kellogg 2015). Elionurus are caespitose grasses with a bifid tip on the lower glume of sessile spikelets (Kellogg 2015).
Characters (Kellogg 2015): Ligule membranous. Inflorescence complex. Spikelets paired, with one sessile or nearly so, the other pedicellate; branches often ending with three spikelets, one sessile and two pedicellate. Glumes firm, sometimes indurate and lignified. Lemma and palea hyaline. Rachis disarticulating so that spikelet pair becomes the dispersal unit. All taxa C4, NADP-ME subtype; veins with a single bundle sheath.
<==Andropogoneae [Andropogineae, Euandropogoneae, Garnotieae, Maydeae]
|--+--Lasiurus Boiss. 1859 non Gray 1831 (ICZN)WM20, K15
| | `--*L. scindicusWM20
| `--Thelepogon Roth 1817WM20, K15
| `--*T. elegansWM20
`--+--Arthraxon Beauv. 1812K15 [incl. BatratherumB78; ArthraxoninaeWM20]
| | i. s.: A. ciliare [incl. Andropogon echinatus, Batratherum echinatum, A. submuticus, B. submuticum ms]B78
| | |--A. c. var. ciliareB78
| | `--A. c. var. tenellusB78
| | A. quartinianusS03
| |--A. microphyllusWM20
| `--+--*A. hispidusWM20
| `--+--A. lanceolatusWM20
| `--A. prionodesWM20
`--+--TripsacinaeWM20
`--+--+--ChionachninaeWM20
| | |--Chionachne Br. 1838 [incl. Sclerachne Br. 1838, Trilobachne Schenck ex Henrard 1931]K15
| | | |--*C. koenigiiWM20
| | | |--C. barbata [=Coix barbata; incl. Coix arundinacea (preoc.), Coix koenigii]B78
| | | |--C. cyathopoda (Muell.) Benth. 1878 [=Sclerachne cyathopoda]G52
| | | `--C. hubbardiana Henr. 1938G52
| | `--Polytoca Br. 1838WM20, K15 [incl. Cyathorhachis Nees ex Steud. 1854WM20, K15]
| | `--*P. digitataWM20
| `--RhytachninaeWM20
`--+--+--ChrysopogonWM20
| `--+--Eriochrysis Beauv. 1812WM20, K15 [incl. Leptosaccharum (Hack.) Camus 1923K15]
| | | i. s.: E. filiformis [=Leptosaccharum filiforme]K15
| | | E. rangachariiS03
| | |--E. pallidaWM20
| | `--+--E. villosaWM20
| | `--+--*E. cayennensisWM20
| | `--E. laxaWM20
| `--+--Parahyparrhenia Camus 1950WM20, K15
| | `--P. siamensisWM20
| `--+--‘Eulalia’ contortaWM20 [=Pseudopogonatherum contortumLK14]
| `--‘Andropogon’ burmanicusWM20
`--+--+--Microstegium Nees 1836WM20, K15 [incl. Ischnochloa Hook. f. 1896K15]
| | |--*M. vimineumWM20
| | `--M. falconeriK15
| `--+--Sehima Forssk. 1775WM20, K15
| | `--S. nervosum (Rottb.) Stapf 1917G52 [=Andropogon nervosusG52, Hologamium nervosumB78]
| `--Kerriochloa Hubb. 1951WM20, K15
| `--*K. siamensisWM20
`--+--+--Elionurus Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd. 1806 (nom. cons.)WM20, K15
| | |--*E. tripsacoidesWM20
| | |--E. candidusS06
| | |--E. citreus [=Andropogon citreus]B78
| | |--E. elegansK15
| | |--E. muticusRJ11
| | |--E. rostratumS06
| | `--E. viridulus Hackel in Stuckert 1906S06
| |--+--RottboelliinaeWM20
| | `--TripidiumWM20
| | |--*T. ravennaeWM20
| | |--T. arundinaceumWM20
| | |--T. kanashiroiWM20
| | |--T. procerumWM20
| | `--‘Saccharum’ rufipilumWM20
| `--RatzeburgiinaeWM20
`--+--IschaeminaeWM20
`--+--+--ApludinaeWM20
| `--+--GermainiinaeWM20
| `--+--SorghinaeWM20
| | |--+--*Cleistachne sorghoidesWM20
| | | `--Sarga Ewart 1911WM20, K15
| | | |--S. angusta [=Sorghum angustum]K15
| | | |--S. timorensisWM20
| | | `--S. versicolorWM20
| | `--+--Lasiorhachis (Hack.) Stapf 1927WM20, K15 (see below for synonymy)
| | | `--*L. hildebrandtiiWM20
| | `--SorghumWM20
| `--+--‘Eulalia’ siamensisWM20
| `--SaccharinaeWM20
`--+--Jardinea Steud. 1854WM20, K15
| `--J. congoensisWM20
`--+--AnthistiriinaeWM20
`--AndropogoninaeWM20
Andropogoneae incertae sedis:
Sclerandrium truncatiglume (Muell.) Stapf & Hubb. 1935 [=Ischaemum truncatiglume]G52
PolliniaB78
Clausospicula Lazarides 1991K15
`--C. extensaK15
Lakshmia Veldk. 2013K15
`--L. venustaK15
Pogonachne Bor 1949K15
`--P. racemosaK15
Spodiopogon Trin. 1820 [incl. Eccoilopus Steud. 1854]K15
`--S. sibiricusRJ11
Triplopogon Bor 1954K15
`--T. ramosissimusK15
VeldkampiaWM20
Nomen nudum: Chionachne wightii msB78
Lasiorhachis (Hack.) Stapf 1927WM20, K15 [=Andropogon subg. Lasiorhachis Hack. 1889K15]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[B78] Bentham, G. 1878. Flora Australiensis: A description of the plants of the Australian Territory vol. 7. Roxburghiaceae to Filices. L. Reeve & Co.: London.
[G52] Gardner, C. A. 1952. Flora of Western Australia vol. 1 pt 1. Gramineae. William H. Wyatt: Perth.
[K15] Kellogg, E. A. 2015. The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants vol. 13. Flowering Plants: Monocots: Poaceae. Springer.
[LK14] Lyons, M. N., G. J. Keighery, L. A. Gibson & T. Handasyde. 2014. Flora and vegetation communities of selected islands off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 81: 205–244.
[RJ11] Rising, J. D., A. Jaramillo, J. L. Copete, P. G. Ryan & S. C. Madge. 2011. Family Emberizidae (buntings and New World sparrows). In: Hoyo, J. del, A. Elliott & D. A. Christie (eds) Handbook of the Birds of the World vol. 16. Tanagers to New World Blackbirds pp. 428–683. Lynx Edicions: Barcelona.
[S03] Singh, J. N. 2003. Grasses and their hydro-edaphic characteristics in the grassland habitat of Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, Tamil Nadu. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 45: 143–164.
[S06] Stuckert, T. 1906. Segunda contribución al conocimiento de las gramináceas Argentinas. Anales del Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, serie 3, 6: 409–555.
[WM20] Welker, C. A. D., M. R. McKain, M. C. Estep, R. S. Pasquet, G. Chipabika, B. Pallangyo & E. A. Kellogg. 2020. Phylogenomics enables biogeographic analysis and a new subtribal classification of Andropogoneae (Poaceae—Panicoideae). Journal of Systematics and Evolution 58 (6): 1003–1030.