The grasses Urochloa multiculma and U. fusca (Poaceae) in the Galapagos archipelago

Abstract

Confusion has existed over the validity of the taxon Urochloa multiculma (Andersson) Morrone & Zuloaga, which was originally described from Galapagos, and over the presence in the islands of the closely related U. fusca (Sw.) B.F. Hansen & Wunderlin. An examination of 14 characters in 182 specimens leads to the conclusions that U. multiculma is a valid taxon endemic to Galapagos, and that U. fusca is probably a recent human‐mediated introduction to the archipelago, which may now be hybridising with multiculma. Leaf pubescence and spikelet structure are used to construct an identification key.