The generic placement of two African species currently included in the genus Fimbristylis, F. hygrophila and F. variegata, has been contentious. These two species, which have been known for the past half century, are glabrous tufted perennials whose spikelets have semi-distichous to spiral glume arrangement, bisexual flowers, and a pistil with an enlarged and deciduous style base. While the two species fit the gross morphology of Fimbristylis, they differ in lacking the characteristic Kranz anatomy. We present phylogenetic inference of the Abildgaardieae based on DNA sequence data and map photosynthetic type. C4 photosynthesis has arisen twice in Abildgaardieae, in the Bulbostylis and the Fimbistylis clades, with a C3 clade (including Arthrostylis) sister to rest of tribe and a C3 grade (the two African Fimbristylis species, Trachystylis, Actinoschoenus) separating the two C4 clades. The new genus Zulustylis is described here, to segregate the two aberrant African Fimbristylis species, and its taxonomy presented.
