Lasiurus scindicus Seeds | Sind Sain
LATIN NAME: Lasiurus scindicus
COMMON NAME: Sind Sain
Plant Profile
Sind sain is a tufted perennial grass of the hot deserts from Pakistan and northwestern India through the Arabian peninsula to the Sahel. It makes a dense clump of wiry, blue-green leaves from a woody base, sending up slender stems sixty to a hundred and twenty centimetres tall, topped by a narrow, nodding panicle that turns straw-coloured as the seed ripens. The roots run deep and wide, which is how the plant holds loose sand and survives years of almost no rain. It is one of the few grasses that stays green through the driest months, and in the Thar desert it is cut for fodder when everything else has gone. The seed head shatters readily, and a stand in fruit looks frayed at the top.
Science & Biotechnology
Lasiurus scindicus is a C4 grass of the Andropogoneae, the tribe that also holds sorghum and sugarcane, and its photosynthetic pathway is what lets it keep growing at temperatures above forty degrees. Studies in the Thar and in Saudi Arabia have measured its water use and its ability to recover after grazing, and the results are unusual: the plant can lose most of its above-ground tissue and regenerate from the basal buds within weeks of rain. It is also being evaluated as a forage for saline and drought-prone land, where it out-yields most introduced grasses. Seed production is erratic and seed set is often poor in cultivation, which limits its use in large-scale seeding programs; vegetative propagation from rooted tillers is the usual method where it matters.
Uses & Benefits
The grass is cut green or dried as fodder for camels, goats and cattle, and it is one of the most important pasture species of the Thar desert. In times of scarcity the grain is ground and mixed with flour, though it is a famine food rather than a staple. The stems are woven into mats and used as thatch, and the plant is planted to stabilise dunes and the edges of irrigation canals, where its roots hold soil against wind and water. For a dry garden it is a useful textural plant: a clump of blue-green leaves that needs no irrigation and gives movement in the wind. It also provides cover for desert birds and small mammals, and its seed feeds finches and sandgrouse.
Growing from Seed
Sow in spring or at the start of the rainy season, in a sandy mix with very little organic matter. Surface-sow and press the seed into the soil, then water lightly; light helps germination, which is fast when the temperature is above twenty-five degrees. Keep the seedlings on the dry side once they are up, since damping off is the main risk. Grow them in deep pots or tubes so the roots can run, and plant out after eight weeks into pure sand or a sandy soil in full sun. Water for the first month, then stop. The clumps establish slowly but live for many years, and they can be divided in spring if the centre dies out.
Our Take
A desert grass that stays green when nothing else will. Grow it for sand, sun and the movement of the seed heads.
Related Reading
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