Taxonomie numerique du genre <i>Eragrostis</i>

• Main Author: L. E. Ohoto-Omana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: South African National Biodiversity Institut 1983-12-01
• Series: Bothalia: African Biodiversity & Conservation
• Online Access: https://abcjournal.org/index.php/abc/article/view/1158

The genus Eragrostis which, according to Roberty (1953), originated on the African continent, belongs to the tribe Eragrosteae, subfamily Eragrostoideae and family Gramineae. It is one of the most important genera o f the Gramineae, because o f the large number of species and their many uses. The purpose of this study is to try and provide a more natural classification of the species of Eragrostis, collected in Zaire, by using statistical methods. We have examined and compared 54 species with one another for a number of  'characters’: 17 characters of the vegetative structure,  28. of the* inflorescence, 20 microscopic characters of the leaf epidermis and 23 microscopic characters of the leaf anatomy. The methods used are divisive and agglomerative. We did not 'separate' quantitative and qualitative characters and gave the sUme priority rating to all characters. The three methods tested are: the Virtual Centres method; the similarity coefficient of Sorensen; and the coefficient  of Gower. The coefficient of Gower proved to be best suited to our data and gave satisfactory results.