Cynodon L.C.M. Rich.
Cynodon is a small genus of ten species, concentrated in the Old World tropics. None is native in Belgium. Several species are economically important, either as lawn grasses or as pasture. Cynodon dactylon, Bermuda grass, is an important lawn grass in warm-temperate and (sub-) tropical regions of the world. In recent times, however, it is increasingly replaced by complex hybrids and related species, for instance Cynodon xmagennisii Hurcombe (C. dactylon x C. transvaalensis Davy), C. incompletus and C. transvaalensis (Mabberley 2008).
Molecular studies have shown that the genus Brachyachne (Benth. & Hook. f.) Stapf, once recorded as an ephemeral alien in Belgium, is in fact nested within Cynodon (Peterson & al. 2015).
Additional alien: Cynodon incompletus Nees var. hirsutus (Stent) de Wet et J.R. Harlan (syn.: C. hirsutus Stent) (S-Afr., wool alien) and C. tenellus R. Brown (syn.: Brachyachne tenella (R. Brown) C.E. Hubbard) (Aus., wool alien).
Literature:
Barkworth M.E. (2003) Cynodon. In: Barkworth M.E. & al. (eds.), Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 25: 235-240. Oxford University Press, New York-Oxford.
Caro J.A. & Sánchez E.A. (1969) Las especies de Cynodon (Gramineae) de la República Argentina. Kurtziana 5: 191-252.
De Wet J.M.J. & Harlan J.R. (1970) Biosystematics of Cynodon L.C. Rich. (Gramineae). Taxon 19: 565-569.
De Wet J.M.J. & Harlan J.R. (1971) South African species of Cynodon (Gramineae). Journ .S. Afr. Bot. 37(1): 53-56.
Harlan J.R., de Wet J.M.J., Huffine W.W. & Deakin J.R. (1970) A guide to the species of Cynodon (Gramineae). Oklahoma Agric. Exp. Sta. Bull. 673: 1-37.
Jair S.K. (1968) The genus Cynodon Rich. ex Pers. in India. Bull. Bot. Surv. India 9: 134-141.
Mabberley D.J. (2008) Mabberley’s plant-book (3th ed.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: XVIII + 1021 p.
Peterson P.M., Romaschenko K. & Arrieta Y.H. (2015) A molecular phylogeny and classification of the Eleusininae with a new genus, Micrachne (Poaceae: Chloridoideae: Cynodonteae). Taxon 64(3): 445-467. [available online at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271851457_A_molecular_phylogeny_and_classification_of_the_Eleusininae_with_a_new_genus_Micrachne_%28Poaceae_Chloridoideae_Cynodonteae%29]