Taxonomic knowledge of the Poaceae family in Mexico

Background: The classification of the Poaceae family has changed over the years, due to the knowledge evolution, the use of different techniques and theoretical approaches and the technological advances. Important sources of taxonomic information on grasses are still their morphology and anatomy. However, in the past 20 years, molecular work seeking to infer the phylogeny of different taxa has dominated the Systematics of the Poaceae. This knowledge trend has resulted in changes and rearrangements at all taxonomic levels. Objective: To carry out the review and comprehensive updating of the taxonomic and geographic information of the Poaceae of Mexico, including the species checklist, highlighting the native, introduced and endemic taxa, as well as, the achievements obtained and the future research challenges. Methods: The main reference used was the work of Davila et al. (2006). We also undertook a thorough revision of the available specialized literature since 2006 and the nomenclatural and taxonomic databases. This work also included the specimens' revision from 29 different herbaria that were consulted between 2006-2017. The species checklist follows the classification of Soreng et al. (2015). Results: The grasses recorded in the country belong to 11 subfamilies, 205 genera, 1,216 species and 207 infraspecific categories. A species alphabetical list is included, highlighting the introduced and endemic taxa. In addition, the species distribution, at the state level, is also presented. Also data regarding the achievements obtained and the challenges for the coming years, is included.