Poales is an order of flowering plants in the monocotyledons, and includes families of plants such as the grasses, bromeliads, and sedges. Sixteen families are currently recognized to be part of Poales. [1] The flowers are typically small, enclosed by bracts, and arranged in inflorescences The flowers of many species are wind pollinated, and the seeds usually contain starch. [2]
23,420 species of vascular plant have been recorded in South Africa, making it the sixth most species-rich country in the world and the most species-rich country on the African continent. Of these, 153 species are considered to be threatened. [3] Nine biomes have been described in South Africa: Fynbos, Succulent Karoo, desert, Nama Karoo, grassland, savanna, Albany thickets, the Indian Ocean coastal belt, and forests. [4]
The 2018 South African National Biodiversity Institute's National Biodiversity Assessment plant checklist lists 35,130 taxa in the phyla Anthocerotophyta (hornworts (6)), Anthophyta (flowering plants (33534)), Bryophyta (mosses (685)), Cycadophyta (cycads (42)), Lycopodiophyta (Lycophytes(45)), Marchantiophyta (liverworts (376)), Pinophyta (conifers (33)), and Pteridophyta (cryptogams (408)). [5]
10 families are represented in the literature. Listed taxa include species, subspecies, varieties, and forms as recorded, some of which have subsequently been allocated to other taxa as synonyms, in which cases the accepted taxon is appended to the listing. Multiple entries under alternative names reflect taxonomic revision over time.
Family: Bromeliaceae, [5]
Genus Tillandsia : [5]
Family: Cyperaceae, [5]
Genus Abildgaardia : [5]
Genus Afroscirpoides : [5]
Genus Archaeocarex : [5]
Genus Asterochaete : [5]
Genus Bolboschoenus : [5]
Genus Bulbostylis : [5]
Genus Capeobolus : [5]
Genus Chrysitrix : [5]
Genus Coleochloa : [5]
Genus Costularia : [5]
Genus Courtoisia : [5]
Genus Cyathocoma : [5]
Genus Dracoscirpoides : [5]
Genus Eleocharis : [5]
Genus Epischoenus : [5]
Genus Fimbristylis : [5]
Genus Hellmuthia : [5]
Genus Holoschoenus : [5]
Genus Kyllingiella : [5]
Genus Lipocarpha : [5]
Genus Macrochaetium : [5]
Genus Neesenbeckia : [5]
Genus Pseudomariscus : [5]
Genus Pseudoschoenus : [5]
Genus Rhynchospora : [5]
Genus Schoenoplectus : [5]
Genus Schoenoxiphium : [5]
Genus Scirpoides : [5]
Genus Trianoptiles : [5]
Family: Eriocaulaceae, [5]
Genus Eriocaulon : [5]
Genus Syngonanthus : [5]
Family: Flagellariaceae, [5]
Genus Flagellaria : [5]
Family: Poaceae, [5] 206 genera have been recorded. Not all are necessarily currently accepted.
Family: Restionaceae, [5]
Genus Anthochortus : [5]
Genus Askidiosperma : [5]
Genus Ceratocaryum : [5]
Genus Chondropetalum : [5]
Genus Hydrophilus : [5]
Genus Hypodiscus : [5]
Genus Ischyrolepis : [5]
Genus Mastersiella : [5]
Genus Platycaulos : [5]
Genus Thamnochortus : [5]
Genus Willdenowia : [5]
Family: Thurniaceae, [5]
Family: Xyridaceae, [5]
The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large; botanists have described some 5,500 known species in about 90 genera – the largest being the "true sedges", with over 2,000 species.
The Restionaceae, also called restiads and restios, are a family of flowering plants native to the Southern Hemisphere; they vary from a few centimeters to 3 meters in height. Following the APG IV (2016): the family now includes the former families Anarthriaceae, Centrolepidaceae and Lyginiaceae, and as such includes 51 genera with 572 known species. Based on evidence from fossil pollen, the Restionaceae likely originated more than 65 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period, when the southern continents were still part of Gondwana.
Cannomois is a group of plants in the Restionaceae described as a genus in 1828. The entire genus is endemic to Cape Province in South Africa.
Tetraria is a genus of flowering plants in the sedge family, Cyperaceae, native to Tanzania, South Africa, Borneo, Australia and New Zealand.
Fuirena, called umbrella sedges or umbrella grasses, are a genus of flowering plants in the sedge family (Cyperaceae), with a worldwide distribution, chiefly in the tropics and temperate zones. They are named for Danish physician and early botanist Georg Fuiren, 1581–1628.