Echinochloa crus-galli seed

LATIN NAME: Echinochloa crus-galli

COMMON NAME: Barnyard Grass

Long before the modern grain fields took shape, a vigorous grass of the wet ground fed people across the old world. The barnyard grass grows as a stout, upright, tufted annual, reaching up to a metre and a half or more, with the broad, flat, hairless leaves and the dense, upright or nodding heads of the many small, dry grains in the late summer. It thrives on the wet, open, disturbed ground, springing up thickly along the ditches, the paddy margins and the low fields, and its heads ripen to a warm, straw colour as the season turns. It is a native of the wet, open places of the warm regions, while it has been gathered and grown as a humble grain, and it is known as the barnyard grass or Japanese millet’s wild cousin.

The barnyard grass belongs to the true grass family, Poaceae, and it is a stout, upright, tufted annual of the wet, open places of the warm regions, while it has been gathered and grown as a humble grain, and it is known as the barnyard grass. Its grains have fed people and their animals for a very long time, and it is a close relative of the cultivated Japanese and Indian millets. It is prized for its fine, dense heads of the small grains.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

Archaeologists and botanists have both had a hand in the story of this grass. The grain has turned up in the old settlements across Asia, and the seed of the barnyard grass has been studied as a food of the early farmers, while the grass has also been looked at in the breeding of the millets, since its quick, tough ways have made it a candidate for the tougher grain crops of the wet ground. Its ecology has been written about in the botanical papers as well, since it grows thickly on the wet, disturbed ground and feeds the grain-eating birds, and its seed banks in the soil have been a quiet subject of study. The grass has also been studied for its value as a fodder, and for its quick, dense growth on the wet, bare ground, which holds the loose soil along the water. For a grass with such a long human story, the barnyard grass has a rich and continuing record of research.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

For the garden and the wet corner, the barnyard grass is more useful than it looks. Its dense heads of the small grains feed the seed-eating birds through the autumn, and its thick, leafy growth holds the wet, loose ground and gives a quick cover to a damp, bare patch. Its grains have a long history as a humble food of the old world, and its tough, quick ways have made it a valued fodder in places. Around the pond or the low, damp corner of the garden, its tall, grain-headed form brings a soft, warm presence, and its seed is a generous gift to the finches and the sparrows of the neighbourhood. The barnyard grass is an easy, generous grass for the grower, and for the gardener it brings a tall, grain-headed grass to the wet corner. These are willing seeds — scatter them over the surface of pots of moist, fine soil and just press them in without covering them, since they like a little light, keep the pots in a bright, open spot and water them well, and they’ll be up before long.