title: Bouteloua
text: Bouteloua is a genus of plants in the grass family. Members of the genus are commonly known as grama grass.
  
  Taxonomy and systematics 
  The genus was named for Claudio and Esteban Boutelou, 19th-century Spanish botanists. David Griffiths produced a 1912 monograph on the genus.
  
  Description
  
  Bouteloua includes both annual and perennial grasses, which frequently form stolons. Species have an inflorescence of 1 to 80 racemes or spikes positioned alternately on the culm (stem). The rachis (stem) of the spike is flattened. The spikelets are positioned along one side of the spike. Each spikelet contains one fertile floret, and usually one sterile floret.
  
  Distribution 
  Bouteloua is found only the Americas, with most diversity centered in the southwestern United States.
  It also occurs in the Ciénaga de Zapata Biosphere Reserve of Cuba.
  
  Uses 
  Many species are important livestock forage, especially blue grama.
  
  Species
  Species of Bouteloua include:
   Bouteloua alamosana Vasey – Mesoamerica
   Bouteloua americana (L.) Scribn. – American grama – southern Mexico, Central America, West Indies, northern South America
   Bouteloua annua Swallen – Baja California Sur, Sonora
   Bouteloua aristidoides (Kunth) Griseb. – needle grama – United States (California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas); Mexico, South America, Aruba
   Bouteloua barbata Lag. – six-weeks grama – United States, Mexico
   Bouteloua bracteata (McVaugh) Columbus – Michoacán
   Bouteloua breviseta Vasey – United States, Mexico
   Bouteloua chondrosioides (Kunth) Benth. ex S.Watson – sprucetop grama – United States (AZ TX); Mesoamerica
   Bouteloua curtipendula (Michx.) Torr. – sideoats grama – widespread in USA, Canada, Mexico
   Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) Columbus – buffalograss – USA, Canada, Mexico
   Bouteloua dimorpha Columbus – Great Plains in USA, Canada, Mexico, Honduras, Cuba, Trinidad
   Bouteloua distans Swallen – Mexico
   Bouteloua disticha (Kunth) Benth. – from southern Mexico to Ecuador; also Cuba, Galápagos
   Bouteloua eludens Griffiths – USA (Arizona, New Mexico), Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora)
   Bouteloua eriopoda (Torr.) Torr. – United States, Mexico
   Bouteloua gracilis (Willd. ex Kunth) Lag. ex Griffiths – blue grama – Great Plains in USA, Canada, Mexico
   Bouteloua hirsuta Lag. – USA (Great Plains, Southwest), Mexico, Guatemala
   Bouteloua johnstonii Swallen – Coahuila
   Bouteloua juncea (Desv. ex Beauv.) A.S.Hitchc. – lamilla – Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico
   Bouteloua media (E.Fourn.) Gould & Kapadia – from central Mexico to Uruguay
   Bouteloua megapotamica (Spreng.) Kuntze – Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia
   Bouteloua mexicana (Scribn.) Columbus – Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras
   Bouteloua multifida (Griffiths) Columbus – from Sonora to Oaxaca
   Bouteloua nervata Swallen – Hidalgo, México State
   Bouteloua parryi (E. Fourn.) Griffiths – Parry's Grama, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Northern Mexico
   Bouteloua pectinata (Bouteloua hirsuta var. pectinata) – tall grama, eyebrow grass – Texas
   Bouteloua pedicellata Swallen – Puebla, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Tlaxcala, Nuevo León, Veracruz 
   Bouteloua polymorpha (E.Fourn.) Columbus – from Durango to Oaxaca
   Bouteloua purpurea Gould & Kapadia – Guanajuato, D.F., San Luis Potosí, México State, Hidalgo, Querétaro
   Bouteloua radicosa (E. Fourn.) Griffiths – purple grama – USA (Arizona, New Mexico), Mexico (Chihuahua, Michoacán, Coahuila, Morelos, Puebla, Durango, Zacatecas, Distrito Federal de México, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas)
   Bouteloua reederorum Columbus – Durango, Puebla, Zacatecas, Oaxaca
   Bouteloua reflexa Swallen – Sonora, Sinaloa, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Nayarit
   Bouteloua repens (Kunth) Scribn. & Merr. – slender grama –  Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Mesoamerica, Colombia, Venezuela, West Indies
   Bouteloua rigidiseta (Steud.) Hitchc. – Texas grama – New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mexico (Aguascalientes, Durango)
   Bouteloua simplex Lag. Much of southwestern and central United States, Central America, western South America
   Bouteloua scabra (Kunth) Columbus – from Hidalgo to Honduras
   Bouteloua stolonifera Scribn. – San Luis Potosí, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas
   Bouteloua swallenii Columbus – from El Salvador to Venezuela
   Bouteloua triaena (Trin. ex Spreng.) Scribn. – from Sinaloa to Guatemala
   Bouteloua trifida Thunb. – Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Mexico
   Bouteloua uniflora Vasey – Nealley grama, oneflower grama – Utah, Texas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, Nuevo León, Querétaro, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas
   Bouteloua vaneedenii Pilg. – Cuba, Leeward Islands, Venezuela
   Bouteloua warnockii Gould & Kapadia – Warnock's grama – New Mexico, Texas, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas
   Bouteloua williamsii Swallen – Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras
  
  Formerly included
  Some grass species, formerly classified under Bouteloua, have been reclassified under other genera including:Cathestecum ChondrosumNeobouteloua''
  
  See also
  List of Poaceae genera
  
  References
  
  External links
   
    Interactive Key to Bouteloua of North America
  
   
  Bunchgrasses of North America
  Bunchgrasses of South America
  Grasses of North America
  Grasses of South America
  Poaceae genera
  Taxa named by Palisot de Beauvois
  Taxa named by Mariano Lagasca