E. indica is a tufted annual grass, prostrate and spreading, or erect to about 40 cm, depending on density of vegetation but not usually rooting at the nodes. The root system is very well developed and strong and the name jongos gras, used in South Africa, implies that it takes a young ox to uproot it. On germination, the first leaf, about 1 cm long, tapers very suddenly to a point and may be pressed quite flat on the soil. Later leaves are flat to V-shaped, up to 8 mm wide, 15 cm long and come to a longer, acute, boat-shaped tip. They are glabrous and usually quite bright, fresh green in colour. The ligule is a very short membraneous rim up to 1 mm long, sparsely fringed with short hairs. The sheaths and stem bases are distinctly flattened. The inflorescence consists of 3-8 racemes, each 5-10 cm long, about 5 mm wide, arranged more-or-less digitately, though one raceme may be inserted about 1 cm below the others. The narrow rachis, about 1 mm wide, has two dense rows of almost glabrous spikelets, each 2.5-3 mm long, 3-5 flowered, the lower and upper glumes about 1.5 and 3 mm long, respectively, and the lemmas very similar in both texture and size to the upper glume. All have a slightly scabrid keel and are acute but not awned. The reddish-brown to black seeds are oblong, about 1 mm long, conspicuously ridged.
Related invasive species
- Eleusine indica
Related Farm Practice
- Pastures
- Soil
- Rooting
- Shading
Related location
- South Africa
E. indica is primarily listed as an agricultural and environmental weed (Randall, 2012) and is considered a “serious weed” in at least 42 countries (Holm et al., 1979). This species is described as a “dominant weed” especially in farming systems and annual row-crops where it grows vigorously and produces abundant seedlings (Holm et al., 1979). A single plant may produce more than 50,000 small seeds, which can be easily dispersed by wind and water, attached to animal fur and machinery and as a contaminant in soil (Waterhouse, 1993). E. indica invades disturbed habitats in natural areas and the margins of natural forests and grasslands, marshes, stream banks and coastal areas. It is also a common weed along roads, pavements, and powerline corridors (Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, 2011). Currently it is listed as invasive in several countries in Europe, Asia, Central and South America, the Caribbean and on many islands in the Pacific Ocean (see Distribution Table for details).
E. indica may occur in virtually any annual crop in the tropics and sub-tropics and also in many perennial crops and pastures. It is perhaps most conspicuous in annual row-crops such as cereals, legumes, cotton, tobacco and vegetable crops in which it is able to establish rapidly before there is adequate shading from the crop.