ECHINOCHLOA

Echinochloa P. Beauv., Ess. Agrostogr. 53. 1812; Bor, Grasses Burma, Ceyl. Ind. Pak. 307. 1960; Sharma & Khosla, Grasses Punj. and Chandigarh 133. 1989; Chen & Phillips, Fl. China @ eFloras.org 22: 515; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 192.

Annuals or perennials. Leaf blades linear, flat; ligule absent or represented by a line of hairs. Inflorescences composed of racemes loosely arranged or crowded on a central axis in alternate or whorled fashion; rachis triquetrous, scabrid; spikelets paired (very rarely solitary) or on short side-branchlets and forming (2-)4 or more rows, secund and abaxial on rachis. Spikelets narrowly elliptic to subrotund, convex on back, flat on the front. Glumes unequal, membranous, ovate; the lower shorter, 1/3 of length of spikelet, ovate, 3-5-nerved, acute, cuspidate, rarely short-awned; upper as long as spikelet, obtuse, acute or with an awn point. Lower floret: Male or barren, its lemma similar to upper glume but often awned; palea as long as lemma or slightly shorter, hyaline, 2-keeled. Upper floret: Bisexual; lemma crustaceous, beaked; palea smaller, acute, with the tip reflexed and protuberant.

33 species

Echinochloa colonum

Echinochloa colonum (L.) Link, Hort. Berol. 2: 209. 1833; Bor, Grasses Burma, Ceyl. Ind. Pak. 308. 1960; Sharma & Khosla, Grasses Punj. and Chandigarh 134. 1989; Dhaliwal & Sharma, Fl. Kullu Dist. 679. 1999; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 665. 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 779. 2006; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 22: 517; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 196; Panicum colonum L., Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 2: 879. 1759; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 7: 32. 1897; Collett, Fl. Siml. ed. 2: 582. 1921 (Reprint 1980); Echinochloa crusgalli subsp. colonum Honda., Bot. Mag. Tokyo 37: 122. 1923; Panicum crus-galli ssp. colonum L. (Richt.), Pl. Eur. 1: 26. 1890.

Annual, tufted with erect or geniculately ascending culms, 20-69 cm long. Nodes glabrous. Leaf blades linear-lanceolate, flat, tapering to an acute point, glabrous, flaccid, 4-20 cm x 3-9 mm, occasionally marked with purple bars, margin slightly scabrous; leaf sheath compressed, glabrous; ligule absent. Inflorescence erect, narrow, 4-10 cm long panicle; racemes 6-many, 1-2 cm long, erect or spreading, alternating on a central axis; rachis triquetrous, scabrid; pedicels of spikelets short, persistent. Spikelets crowded, usually in 4 rows, elliptic or ovate, acute or cuspidate, 2.5-3 mm x 1.3-1.5 mm, abaxial i.e. lower glume turned away from rachis, back of lemma facing rachis, 2-flowered. Glumes unequal, membranous, cuspidate; lower broadly ovate, ca. 1.5 mm long, 3-nerved; upper as long as the spikelet, elliptic- ovate, 5-7-nerved, acute or cuspidate, pubescent between scaberulous nerves. Lower floret: Male or baren. Lemma (lower lemma) similar to upper glume, but flat or depressed on back; palea (lower palea) oblong to narrowly obovate, slightly shorter than lower lemma, keeled, scaberulous on keel, hyaline. Upper floret: Bisexual. Lemma (upper lemma) broadly ovate, 2-2.5 mm long, cuspidate, crustaceous; palea (upper palea) nearly similar in size and texture to upper lemma. Lodicules 2. Stamens 3; anthers ca. 1 m long. Caryopsis broadly elliptic.

Flowering and Fruiting: August to December
Common Names: Jungle Rice, Deccan Grass, Awnless Barnyard Grass, Shama Millet, Small Barnyard Grass; Jangali Jhangora, Jharwa, Jirio, Shama (Hindi)