Elytrophorus P.Beauv. is a small genus of grasses in the family Poaceae (order Poales), described by Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot de Beauvois in his 1812 work Essai d'une Nouvelle Agrostographie. The genus comprises two accepted species — Elytrophorus globularis and Elytrophorus spicatus — and is treated by GBIF as the accepted name over the synonym Echinalysium Trin. (1820).
The genus has a broadly Old World tropical distribution spanning Africa, Asia, and Australia. Elytrophorus globularis is confined to southern and central Africa, recorded from the Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa's Limpopo province. Elytrophorus spicatus has a much wider range, extending across tropical Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Indochina, Hainan and Yunnan in China, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and northern Australia.
As grasses (Poaceae), species in this genus are herbaceous, wind-pollinated monocots typical of the family.
Distribution
Elytrophorus spans the Old World tropics and subtropics. E. globularis is restricted to southern and central Africa (Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and Limpopo, South Africa), while E. spicatus ranges much more widely across tropical Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Indochina, Hainan, Yunnan, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and Australia.
Taxonomy Notes
The genus was described by Palisot de Beauvois in 1812 (Essai d'une Nouvelle Agrostographie, p. 67) and belongs to Poaceae (order Poales). GBIF treats Echinalysium Trin. (1820) as a synonym of Elytrophorus. The genus contains two accepted species, E. globularis and E. spicatus.
