Eragrostis tef
Sign in to saveAlso known as Teff, Williams' lovegrass, Annual bunch grass, teff
Teff (), Eragrostis tef, also known as Williams lovegrass and annual bunch grass, is an annual species of lovegrass native to Ethiopia, where it originated in the Ethiopian Highlands. It has been cultivated for its edible seeds, also called teff, since at least 1000 BCE and possibly as long ago as 4000 BCE. It is one of Ethiopia's most important staple crops. As a modern crop, it is low-yielding and susceptible to lodging; the tef shoot fly is a major pest.
OverviewAI-generated
Eragrostis tef, commonly known as teff or serchwellt teff, is a species of plant within the family Poaceae. It belongs to the genus Eragrostis and is classified under the order Poales, class Liliopsida, and phylum Tracheophyta. The species is categorized as a useful plant, with "injera" listed as a common name in Amharic.
The native range of Eragrostis tef includes Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Yemen. While its primary distribution is in these regions, the taxon range is also noted to include China. Records of the species have been documented in Mexico, the United States, Canada, and South Africa.
Synthesized by Vinony from 32 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, Gbif Occ, Encyclopedia of Life, Plants of the World, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Species
SPECIES
- KingdomPlantae
- PhylumTracheophyta
- ClassLiliopsida
- OrderPoales
- FamilyPoaceae
Ethiopia.
via GBIF · Kew POWO
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 884
- With media
- 783
- Family
- Poaceae
- Collections
- ENCB-IPN, DBG, MEL, DAV, CMN, CM
- Recorded in
- Mexico, United States, Ethiopia, Canada, South Africa
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Subclass of
- useful plant
- Parent taxon
- Eragrostis
- Image
- Teff pluim Eragrostis tef.jpg
Show 9 more facts
- taxon name
- Eragrostis tef
- taxon rank
- species
- Commons category
- Eragrostis tef
- Commons gallery
- Eragrostis tef
- taxon common name
- teff
- sequenced genome URL
- plants.ensembl.org/Eragrostis_tef
- taxon range
- China
- short name
- E. tef
via Wikidata · CC0
~14 min read
Encyclopedic overview
14 sectionsContents
- Description
- Distribution and habitat
- Ecology
- Cultivation
- History
- Modern cultivation
- Challenges and prospects
- Pests
- Uses
- Nutrition
- Patent and bio-piracy
- See also
- References
- External links
Teff (), Eragrostis tef, also known as Williams lovegrass and annual bunch grass, is an annual species of lovegrass native to Ethiopia, where it originated in the Ethiopian Highlands.<!-- Teff is a plant, which allows it to more efficiently fix carbon in drought and high temperatures, and is an intermediate between a tropical and temperate grass. The name teff is thought to originate from the Amharic word teff, which means "lost". This probably refers to its tiny seeds, which have a diameter smaller than . Teff is a fine-stemmed, tufted grass with large crowns and many tillers. Its roots are shallow, but develop a massive fibrous rooting system. The plant height varies depending on the cultivation variety and the environmental conditions.
== Distribution and habitat ==
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Eragrostis tef” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.