Cyrtococcum is a genus of grasses in the family Poaceae, order Poales, first described by Otto Stapf and published in the Flora of Tropical Africa in 1917. The genus is native across the Old World tropics and subtropics, with species distributed through Madagascar and tropical Africa (including Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, the Comoros, Mauritius, and Réunion), the Indian Subcontinent (India, Sri Lanka), Myanmar and China, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Queensland in Australia, and a number of Pacific Island groups.
GBIF's backbone taxonomy recognizes 17 taxa under Cyrtococcum, and Wikipedia lists around 14 accepted species, including C. bosseri, C. capitis-york, C. chaetophoron, C. deccanense, C. deltoideum, C. fuscinode, C. humbertianum, C. longipes, C. multinode, C. nossibeense, C. oxyphyllum, C. patens, C. tamatavense, and C. trigonum. At least one species once placed in the genus, C. sparsicomum, has since been transferred to the related grass genus Panicum, reflecting the close taxonomic relationship between the two groups within Poaceae.
Distribution
Species in this genus occur across the Old World tropics: Madagascar and tropical Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Myanmar, China, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Queensland (Australia), and several Pacific Island groups.
Taxonomy Notes
Cyrtococcum was described by Otto Stapf and published in the Flora of Tropical Africa (vol. 9, 1917); it belongs to the grass family Poaceae (order Poales). GBIF's backbone lists 17 descendant taxa, while one former member, C. sparsicomum, has since been reclassified into Panicum.
