Brachypodium
Encyclopedia
Brachypodium is a genus
of about 26 annual or perennial bunch grasses from the Northern Hemisphere. Flimsy upright stems form tussock
s. Flowers appear in compact spike-like racemes with 5-25 flowers on each short-stalked spikelet in summer. Leaves are flat or curved.
According to an October 18, 2010 issue of "Nature Online" Laura Longo, an archeologist at University of Siena in Italy found evidence of Brachydodium and cattail residues on prehistoric human grinding tools dated 28,000 years ago from Bilanco in central Italy. A related article authored by Anna Revedina, Biancamaria Arangurenb, Roberto Becattinia, Laura Longo, Emanuele Marconid, Marta Mariotti Lippie, Natalia Skakunf, Andrey Sinitsynf, Elena Spiridonovag, and Jiří Svobodah, was contemporaneously published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America and clarifies that the grain residues resemble Brachypodium, based on a comparison to two modern specimens: "Among these, the grains, which are slightly angular, with hardly visible centric, point-shaped hila and adequate dimensions (in the sample measuring 9–14 μm), appeared very similar to those of Brachypodium (Fig. 3G) or related genera."
Figure 3 provides a graphic comparison of the found starch with Brachypodium ramosum.
Cultivation Plant in any well-drained soil in full sun. Propagate from seed.
and subtropical areas around the world.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of about 26 annual or perennial bunch grasses from the Northern Hemisphere. Flimsy upright stems form tussock
Tussock
Tussock most often refers to a small hillock of grassy, or grass-like plant growth, but may also refer to Plants and ecology, Insects.- Plants and ecology :*Tussock *New Zealand tussock grasslands*Serrated Tussock...
s. Flowers appear in compact spike-like racemes with 5-25 flowers on each short-stalked spikelet in summer. Leaves are flat or curved.
According to an October 18, 2010 issue of "Nature Online" Laura Longo, an archeologist at University of Siena in Italy found evidence of Brachydodium and cattail residues on prehistoric human grinding tools dated 28,000 years ago from Bilanco in central Italy. A related article authored by Anna Revedina, Biancamaria Arangurenb, Roberto Becattinia, Laura Longo, Emanuele Marconid, Marta Mariotti Lippie, Natalia Skakunf, Andrey Sinitsynf, Elena Spiridonovag, and Jiří Svobodah, was contemporaneously published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America and clarifies that the grain residues resemble Brachypodium, based on a comparison to two modern specimens: "Among these, the grains, which are slightly angular, with hardly visible centric, point-shaped hila and adequate dimensions (in the sample measuring 9–14 μm), appeared very similar to those of Brachypodium (Fig. 3G) or related genera."
Figure 3 provides a graphic comparison of the found starch with Brachypodium ramosum.
Cultivation Plant in any well-drained soil in full sun. Propagate from seed.
Species
There are about 26 species found in temperateTemperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
and subtropical areas around the world.
- Brachypodium arbusculum
- Brachypodium bolusii
- Brachypodium cespitosum
- Brachypodium distachyonBrachypodium distachyonBrachypodium distachyon, commonly called purple false brome, is a grass species native to southern Europe, northern Africa and southwestern Asia east to India. It is related to the major cereal grain species wheat, barley, oats, maize, rice, rye, sorghum, and millet...
- Brachypodium distachyum
- Brachypodium durum
- Brachypodium firmifolium
- Brachypodium flexum
- Brachypodium glaucovirens
- Brachypodium humbertianum
- Brachypodium japonicum
- Brachypodium kawakamii
- Brachypodium kotschyi
- Brachypodium longearistatum
- Brachypodium madagascariense
- Brachypodium mexicanum
- Brachypodium mucronatum
- Brachypodium perrieri
- Brachypodium phoenicoides
- Brachypodium pinnatum
- Brachypodium pratense
- Brachypodium pringlei
- Brachypodium ramosum
- Brachypodium retusum
- Brachypodium rupestre
- Brachypodium sylvaticum