Clostridium phytofermentans is an obligately anaerobic, rod-shaped spore-forming, Gram-positive bacterium in the family Lachnospiraceae. It is a model organism of interest for its ability to rapidly ferment diverse plant polysaccharides including cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin to ethanol, acetate, and hydrogen. The C. phytofermentans 4.8 Mb genome has been fully sequenced, revealing it contains over 170 enzymes in the CAZy database, though one hydrolase appears to be essential for degrading cellulose.