690 MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



130. ECHINCCHLOA Beauv. 



Spikelets piano convex, often stiffly hispid, subsessile, solitary or in 



irregular clusters on one side 

 of the panicle branches; first 

 glume about half the length 

 of the spikelet, pointed; sec- 

 ond glume and sterile lemma 

 equal, pointed, mucronate, 

 or the glume short-awned 

 and the lemma long-awned, 

 sometimes conspicuously 

 so, enclosing a membrana- 

 ceous palea and sometimes 

 a staminate flower; fer- 

 tile lemma planoconvex, 

 smooth and shining, acum- 

 inate-pointed, the margins 

 inrolled below, flat above, 

 the apex of the palea not 

 enclosed . Coarse , often suc- 

 culent, annuals or peren- 

 nials, with compressed 

 sheaths, linear flat blades, 

 and rather compact panicles 

 composed of short, densely 

 flowered racemes along a 

 main axis. Our species are 

 annuals without ligules. 

 Type species, Echinochloa 

 crusgalli. Name from 

 Greek, ec hinos, hedgehog, 



Figure 1551.— Echinochloa colonum, X 1. (Bentley, Tex.) and Cfi-Wfl, grass, alluding 



to the echmate spikelets. 

 All the species are grazed by stock but usu- 

 ally grow in sparse stands or in situations where 

 they cannot well be utilized. E. crusgalli is 

 occasionally cut for hay. Echinochloa crusgalli 

 var. frumentacea, Japanese millet, has been 

 advertised by seedsmen in this country as 

 billion-dollar grass and recommended for for- 

 age. It has some forage value, but requires 

 considerable moisture to produce abundantly, 

 and is rather too succulent for hay. This and forms of E. colonum 

 are cultivated in tropical Asia and tropical Africa for the seeds 

 which are used for food. 



Racemes simple, rather distant, 1 to 2 cm long; spikelets crowded in about 4 

 rows, the awn of the sterile lemma reduced to a short point; blades 3 to 6 

 mm wide 1. E. colonum. 



Racemes more or less branched, usually more than 2 cm long; spikelets irregu- 

 larly crowded and fascicled, usually not arranged in rows, the awn of the 

 sterile lemma variable; blades usually more than 5 mm wide. 

 Sterile floret staminate 4. E. paludigena. 



Figure 1552.— Distribution of 

 Echinochloa colonum. 



