Echinochloa colona

Echinochloa colona
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Panicoideae
Genus: Echinochloa
Species: E. colona
Binomial name
Echinochloa colona
(L.) Link

Echinochloa colona is a type of wild grass originating from tropical Asia. It was formerly classified as a type of panicum grass.

Contents

Habitat

Throughout tropical Asia and Africa in fields and along roadsides.

Usage

Often used in times of food shortage as a famine food. In Chad (central) and Sudan (Kordofan, Darfur) the seeds of this plant are ground into flour from which porridge or bread can be prepared. In Rajasthan in India the seeds are used as rice - hence its English common name of 'jungle rice', from the Hindustani jangal, meaning wild.

Indian barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea), a cultivated crop in India, was domesticated from E. colona[1].

Synonyms

Common Names

Punjabi dialect forms

The following Punjabi dialect forms are recorded in Punjab for this grass:

Indian languages

Non-Indian languages

References

  1. ^ Hilu, Khidir W. (1994). "Evidence from RAPD markers in the evolution of Echinochloa millets (Poaceae)". Plant Systematics and Evolution 189 (3): 247–257. doi:10.1007/BF00939730. 

External links