{{Short description|Genus of grasses}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Desmostachya bipinnata (L.) Stapf, habit.jpg |image_caption = ''Desmostachya bipinnata'', habit |display_parents = 3 |taxon = Desmostachya |authority = (Stapf) Stapf <ref name=trop1>{{ cite web |url=http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40028701 |title=Name - !''Desmostachya'' (Stapf) Stapf |work=Tropicos |quote=Annotation: non ''Desmostachys'' Miers (1852) <nowiki>[</nowiki>Icacinaceae<nowiki>]</nowiki> |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |location=Saint Louis, Missouri |accessdate=June 15, 2011}}</ref> |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = |synonyms = * ''Eragrostis'' sect. ''Desmostachya'' <small>Stapf</small><br>(basionym) * ''Stapfiola'' <small>Kuntze</small><br>(''nom. illeg. superfl.'') |synonyms_ref = <ref name=trop1/><ref name=trop2>&nbsp;''Stapfolia'' was published in ''Lexikon Generum Phanerogamarum'' 532. 1903. {{ cite web |url=http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40004449 |title=Name - *''Stapfiola'' Kuntze |work=Tropicos |quote=Annotation: ''nom. illeg. superfl.''; as new name for ''Desmostachya'' (Stapf) Stapf, non ''Desmostachys'' Miers, but these two names not considered to be homonyms |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |location=Saint Louis, Missouri |accessdate=June 15, 2011}}</ref> }}

'''''Desmostachya''''' is a genus of grasses in the family Poaceae. It is native to Africa and Asia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Desmostachya (Stapf) Stapf {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:17882-1 |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=Plants of the World Online |language=en}}</ref>

==Taxonomy== The genus ''Desmostachya'' was originally published as ''Eragrostis'' sect. ''Desmostachya'' in ''The Flora of British India'' 7: 324. 1897. Somehow two prominent botanists, Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911) and Otto Stapf (1857–1933), were originally each credited separately as the naming authority for the taxon (the type specimen for this section of ''Eragrostis'' being ''Eragrostis cynosuroides'' (Retz.) P.Beauv., itself based on a previous species taxon, ''Poa cynosuroides'' Retz.). It is generally accepted that ''Eragrostis'' sect. ''Desmostachya'' Hook.f. is the correct name for the taxon. However, ''E.'' sect. ''Desmostachya'' Stapf is accepted as the basionym for the genus name ''Desmostachya''. A year after it was published as a section of ''Eragrostis'', ''Desmostachya'' was published as a genus in its own right in ''Flora Capensis'' 7: 316. 1898.<ref name=trop1/> Two species are recognized: * ''Desmostachya bipinnata'' <small>(L.) Stapf</small> (commonly known variously as, Kusha grass, Kusa grass, or Darbha Grass ) * ''Desmostachya cynosuroides'' <small>Stapf ''ex'' Massey</small> : List source :<ref name=trop3>{{ cite web |url=http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40028701?tab=subordinatetaxa |title=Name - !''Desmostachya'' (Stapf) Stapf subordinate taxa |work=Tropicos |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |location=Saint Louis, Missouri |accessdate=June 15, 2011}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db/www/gen00182.htm Grassbase - The World Online Grass Flora]

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Category:Poaceae genera Category:Chloridoideae

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