GrassWildAnnual

Echinochloa colonum (L.) Link

Sawanki · Sawank

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Description

Echinochloa colonum is an annual herbaceous grass, usually 20–80 cm tall, with an erect to spreading growth habit. Culms are cylindrical, smooth, and often branched from the base. Unlike many grasses, it usually lacks a distinct ligule and auricles. Leaves are linear to lanceolate, flat, and soft, usually 5–25 cm long and 5–15 mm wide. Leaf blades are green, sometimes with reddish-purple coloration near the base. Leaf sheaths are smooth and open. The inflorescence is a terminal panicle, usually 5–15 cm long, composed of several short, dense racemes. Spikelets are arranged densely along branches, often greenish to purple. Unlike Echinochloa crus-galli, the spikelets are generally awnless. Flowers are small, bisexual, and wind-pollinated. The fruit is a small caryopsis, enclosed within lemma and palea.

Diagnostic Characters

Vegetative

Annual grass. No ligule. Soft flat leaves. Often grows in rice fields.

Floral

Compact panicle. Green-purple spikelets. Usually awnless.

Fruit & Seed

Small grain.

Distribution

Native range: Native to Tropical Asia.

In Pakistan: Widely distributed in Pakistan, India, Southeast Asia, Africa, Tropical America.

Phenology

Flowering

Fruiting

Flowering: Summer–autumn Fruiting: Autumn

Ethnobotany & Uses

Food Importance

Seeds are edible and traditionally used as Minor cereal grain, Emergency food source.

Agricultural Importance

Considered an important weed in Rice cultivation, Irrigated crops. It competes for Nutrients, Water, Light.

Ecological Importance

Provides food for birds. Maintains wetland vegetation.

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Where it grows on campus

North-East Campus1

individuals mapped across 1 zone

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Taxonomic Notes

Echinochloa belongs to tribe Paniceae.