Indian Goosegrass

The root-systems are deep and numerous, therefore it is not easy to eradicate. This is one of the common grasses growing everywhere in Taiwan.
A free hand leaf section show a series of bulliform cells on the upper epidermis

This pantropical, annual weed is a forage grass and is used for Chinese medicine.

Crab or Crowfoot Grass is considered in some regions to be a good fodder grass. It is highly esteemed as a pasture grass in Australia and North America.

Annuals; culms tufted, sheaths laterally compressed and keeled; ligule about 1mm long. Inflorescence of 1 to several digitate spikes, spikes 3-9 cm long. Spikelets more than 4-flowered, about 5 mm long; glumes keeled, membranous, lanceolate, 1-nerved, unequal; lower glume 2 mm long; upper glumes 3 mm long; the lowest floret about 3 mm long; lemma membranous, keeled and winged, semi-ovate in side view, 1-nerved, as long as the floret; palea membranous, 2-keeled, shorter than the lemma; anthers 3, about 0.6 mm long. Utricle ovate, about 1.5 mm long, ventrally grooved,finely marked with comb-like wrinkles.

Tufted annual; culms 15-85 cm high, erect or geniculately ascending. Leaf-blades usually folded, 5-35 cm long, 2.5-6 mm wide. Inflorescence digitate, composed of 1-10(17) slender ascending spikes 3.5-15 cm long, a few spikes often set below the main apical cluster. Spikelets 3-9-flowered, elliptic, 4.6-7.8 mm long; lower glume 1.1-3.2(3.9) mm long. upper glume 1.8-4.7 mm long; lemmas lanceolate, 2.4-4.8 mm long, acute to subacute.

Annual. Culms tufted, erect or geniculate at base, 10–90 cm tall. Leaf sheaths glabrous or tuberculate-pilose; leaf blades flat or folded, 10–15 × 0.3–0.5 cm, glabrous or adaxial surface tuberculate-pilose; ligule ca. 1 mm, membranous, at most sparsely ciliolate. Inflorescence digitate, racemes (1–)2–7, linear, ascending, 3–10 × 0.3–0.5 cm, one raceme often set below the rest. Spikelets elliptic, 4–7 mm, florets 3–9; glumes lanceolate, scabrid along keel; lower glume 1-veined, 1.5–2 mm; upper glume with small additional veins in the thickened keel, 2–3 mm; lemmas ovate, 2–4 mm, keel with small additional veins, acute; palea keels winged. Grain blackish, oblong or ovate, obliquely striate with fine close lines running vertically between the striae. Fl. and fr. Jun–Oct. 2n = 18.

Distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

Distribution: Pakistan (Sind, N.W.F.P. & Kashmir); tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world.

Tropical & subtropical regions.

600-2600 m

Fl. & Fr. Per.: June-August.

Disturbed places, roadsides. Anhui, Beijing, Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanghai, Sichuan, Taiwan, Tianjin, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [tropics and subtropics].

Cynosurus indicus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 72. 1753.

Cynosurus indicus L., Sp. Pl. 72. 1753.
Echinochloa indica Gaertn. var. oligostachya Honda, Bot. Mag. Tokyo 41: 636. 1927.

indica: of India

Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. Fruct. 1: 8. 1788
Cynosurus indicus L. Sp. PI. 72. 1753.
Eleusine gracilis Salisb. Prodr. 19. 1796. (Based on Cynosurus indicus L.)
Cynodon indicus Rasp. Ann. Sci. Nat. 5: 303. 1825. (Based on Eleusine indica Lam. [error for
Gaertn.].) Chloris repens Steud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 1 : 353, as synonym of Eleusine indica Pers. 1840. Eleusine scabra Foum.; Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Am. Bot. 3: 565, name only. 1885; Mex. PI. Gram. 2:
145. 1886. (Locality cited, Mexico.) Eleusine indica var. major Foum. Mex. PI. Gram. 2: 145. 1886. (Locality cited, Mexico.)
Culms in tough spreading clumps, somewhat decumbent at the base, 15-70 cm. or rarely as much as 1 meter taU, compressed, very smooth; sheaths compressed, sharply keeled, sparsely papillose near the margins toward the summit, otherwise glabrous, the margins hyaline; ligule membranaceous, erose, about 1 mm. long; blades as much as 25 cm. long, 2-8 mm. wide, flat or conduplicate, the tip navicular, glabrous or sparsely pilose on the upper surface, the margins scabrous; spikes 2-several, 5-10 cm. long, stiflly ascending; spikelets 5 mm. long; lemmas 3 mm. long, broad at the base, rather abruptly narrowed to the subacute apex, sometimes mucronate.
Type locality: India.
Distribution: Introduced; a common weed in the warm regions of both hemispheres

Annuals, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems mat or turf forming, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems compressed, flattened, or sulcate, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath or blade keeled, Lea f sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blade with prominently raised or widened midvein, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with digitately arranged spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Inflorescence branches paired or digitate at a single node, Rachis dilated, flat, central axis to which spikelets are attached, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets with 8-40 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nod es, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 1 nerved, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis isodiametric, trigonous or globose, broadest at base or beaked, Caryopsis minutely rugose, Caryopsis finely striate or ribbed.

Eleusine indica, the Indian goosegrass, yard-grass, goosegrass, wiregrass, or crowfootgrass, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is a small annual grass distributed throughout the warmer areas of the world to about 50 degrees latitude. It is an invasive species in some areas.

Eleusine indica is closely related to Eleusine coracana (finger millet or African finger millet), and the diploid E. indica is likely an ancestor of the allotetraploid E. coracana.

Seeds of E. indica are edible and are sometimes used as a famine food, but yields are low. It is an important weed of cultivated crops, lawns, and golf courses. It thrives in disturbed areas with compacted soils in full sun. Both tillage and herbicides are used in its control. This low-growing grass is capable of setting seed even when closely mown. Some populations have evolved resistance to certain herbicides, including glyphosate.

Eleusine indica performs C4 photosynthesis and therefore can grow in hot climates and in the hotter months of the temperate zone. Its seeds germinate later in spring than most other temperate zone weeds, such as crabgrasses. Though usually considered an annual, it may survive for more than a year in climates not subject to frost.