The French naturalist
Palisot de Beauvois described the genus in August or September 1810 in his ''Flore d'Oware et de Benin
. At a later date, however, it was noted that Robert Brown had also defined the genus earlier the same year, as Orthopogon
, in his work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae. Nevertheless, because the name Oplismenus
had been universally used for many years, it was ruled a nomen conservandum
(conserved name) in 1978. The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek hoplismenos'' ("armed"), because the
glumes have
awns. A
multiple discriminant analysis published in 1978 of the characteristics used to define the species of
Oplismenus worldwide found a high degree of overlap in Australia, indicating
O. aemulus and
O. imbecilis fell within the parameters of
O. hirtellus, as did the American taxon
O. setarius. The other American taxon,
O. rariflorus, fell within
O. compositus. The authors proposed the recognition of only five species: •
Oplismenus burmannii - pantropical •
Oplismenus thwaitesii - Sri Lanka (may be synonymous with
O. burmannii) •
Oplismenus compositus - Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, Pacific •
Oplismenus hirtellus - tropics, but replaced in India and Indochina by
O. compositus •
Oplismenus undulatifolius - widespread The German botanist Ursula Scholz published a monograph in 1981, having studied the genus throughout the world and examined over five thousand specimens, including 61
type specimens. She recognized nine species and 18 infraspecific taxa. • Section
Scabriseta •
O. affinis Schult. •
O. affinis var.
affinis •
O. affinis var.
humboldtianus •
O. baronii •
O. burmannii •
O. burmannii var.
burmannii •
O. burmannii var.
lanatus •
O. burmannii var.
multisetus •
O. flavicomus •
O. gracillimus •
O. humbertianus '' • Section
Oplismenus •
O. aemulus •
O. aemulus var.
aemulus •
O. aemulus var.
flaccidus •
O. aemulus var.
densiflorus •
O. compositus •
O. compositus var.
compositus •
O. compositus var.
rariflorus •
O. compositus var.
sylvaticus •
O. hirtellus •
O. hirtellus subsp.
hirtellus •
O. hirtellus subsp.
acuminatus •
O. hirtellus subsp.
capensis •
O. hirtellus subsp.
fasciculatus •
O. hirtellus subsp.
imbecillis •
O. hirtellus subsp.
japonicus •
O. hirtellus subsp.
microphyllus •
O. hirtellus subsp.
psilostachys •
O. hirtellus subsp.
setarius •
O. hirtellus subsp.
tsushimensis •
O. hirtellus subsp.
undulatifolius ==Uses==