Belongs within: Poaceae.
Contains: Danthonia.
The Danthonioideae is a clade of mostly Southern Hemisphere tussocks and pampas grasses, though the type genus Danthonia has a Holarctic distribution. The genus Pentaschistis is found in Africa whereas Austrodanthonia and Chionochloa are Australasian. Danthonioideae are distinguished from other grasses by the presence of haustorial synergids in the ovule.
The pampas grasses of the genus Cortaderia have been widely grown as ornamentals, and have become significant invasives in some parts of the world. They bear plumose inflorescences and culms up to several metres in height. Species of Chionochloa, snow tussocks, are a significant part of the high alpine vegetation in New Zealand. The African Pentaschistis is the most speciose grass genus in the southern Cape floral region (Galley & Linder 2006). Merxmuellera macowanii is a South African species with serrated leaves.
Characters (Grass Phylogeny Working Group 2001): Plants perennial (caespitose, rhizomatous or stoloniferous) or less commonly annual, herbaceous or rarely suffrutescent, of mesic to xeric open habitats in grasslands, heathlands, and open woodlands. Culms solid or very rarely hollow. Leaves distichous; abaxial ligule usually absent (sometimes present); adaxial ligule a fringe of hairs or a fringed membrane; blades relatively narrow, without a pseudopetiole, venation parallel; sheaths usually not auriculate. Inflorescences paniculate or less commonly racemose or spicate, bracts outside of the spikelets absent. Spikelets bisexual or unisexual, glumes 2 and usually equal, female-fertile florets 1 to 6(to 20), with apical reduction and a rachilla extension usually present, laterally compressed, disarticulating above the glumes and between the florets, less commonly below the glumes; lemma lacking uncinate macrohairs, awn single and from a sinus; palea well developed, sometimes relatively short; lodicules 2, free (rarely joined), fleshy or rarely with an apical membranous flap, glabrous or ciliate, often with microhairs, sometimes heavily vascularized; stamens 3; ovary glabrous or rarely with apical hairs, apical appendage absent, haustorial synergids present, only weakly developed in a few taxa, styles 2, the bases usually widely separated, stigmas 2. Caryopsis with the hilum short or long-linear; endosperm hard, usually containing compound starch grains; embryo large or small, epiblast absent, scutellar cleft present, mesocotyl internode elongated, embryonic leaf margins meeting. Basic chromosome numbers: x = 6, 7, 9. Foliar mesophyll nonradiate, an adaxial palisade layer absent, fusoid cells absent, arm cells absent; Kranz anatomy absent; midrib simple, usually with one bundle, rarely an arc of bundles; adaxial bulliform cells present or absent. Foliar stomata with domeshaped or parallel-sided subsidiary cells (rarely high dome-shaped or slightly triangular); bicellular microhairs present, panicoid-type, sometimes absent; papillae usually absent, sometimes present.
<==Danthonioideae [Danthonieae]
|--Merxmuellera macowaniiGPWG01
`--+--DanthoniaGPWG01
`--+--Karroochloa purpureaGPWG01
`--AustrodanthoniaGPWG01
|--A. caespitosaOS04
|--A. laevisGPWG01
|--A. occidentalisGK00
|--A. penicillataB00
|--A. pilosaB00
`--A. setaceaOS04
Danthonioideae incertae sedis:
Cortaderia [Cortaderieae]GPWG01
|--C. araucanaD03
|--C. argentea Stapf 1897G52, S06 [=Gynerium argenteumS06; incl. Arundo dioica Spreng. 1825G52, S06, C. dioicaS06]
|--C. jubataAC93
|--C. pilosaD03
|--C. rudiusculaS06
|--C. selloana (Schult.) Aschers & Graebn. 1900LH97, S06
`--C. splendensL97
PentaschistisGL06
|--P. airoides [=Danthonia airoides]G52
|--P. caulescensGL06
|--P. clavata Galley in Galley & Linder 2006GL06
|--P. eriostomaGL06
|--P. horrida Galley in Galley & Linder 2006GL06
|--P. juncifolia Stapf 1899GL06
|--P. pallidaGL06
|--P. pictiglumaGL06
|--P. pusillaGL06
|--P. rigidissimaGL06
|--P. roseaGL06
|--P. thunbergii [=Danthonia thunbergii]G52
|--P. trifida Galley in Galley & Linder 2006GL06
`--P. trisetaGL06
Pentameris thuariiGPWG01
Tribolium pusillumGL06, GPWG01
PrionanthiumGPWG01
ChionochloaGPWG01
|--C. australisG01
|--C. bromoidesLM98
|--C. conspicuaW91
|--C. flavescensW91
| |--C. f. ssp. flavescensW91
| `--C. f. ssp. lupeolaW91
|--C. junceaNL98
|--C. oreophilaW91
|--C. pallensWH02
`--C. rubraW91
|--C. r. ssp. rubraW91
`--C. r. ssp. occultaW91
ChaetobromusGPWG01
Joycea pallidaGPWG01, B00
NotochloeGPWG01
NotodanthoniaGPWG01
|--N. caespitosaRL06
`--N. setaceaRL05
PlinthanthesisGPWG01
|--P. tenuiorB78
`--P. urvilleiB78
PseudopentamerisGPWG01
RytidospermaGPWG01
|--R. nigricansW91
`--R. setifoliumW91
SchismusGL06
|--S. arabicusH93
`--S. barbatus [=Festuca barbata; incl. S. calycinus]G52
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
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[S06] Stuckert, T. 1906. Segunda contribución al conocimiento de las gramináceas Argentinas. Anales del Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, serie 3, 6: 409–555.
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