Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn.
- Family: Grass (Gramineae)
- Flowering: July-October
- Field Marks: This grass is distinguished by its appressed, 3- to 5-flowered spikelets arranged in 2-10 finger-like spikes.
- Habitat: Disturbed soil.
- Habit: Tufted annual grass with fibrous roots.
- Stems: Spreading or ascending, branched from near the base, flattened, smooth, up to 1 1/2 feet tall.
- Leaves: Elongated, flat or folded, mostly smooth, up to 1/3 inch wide.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets, the spikelets arranged on one side of finger-like spikes; spikes 2-10, up to 4 cm long; spikelets flattened, 3- to 6-flowered; glumes broadly lanceolate, rough on the keel; lemmas lanceolate to ovate, short-pointed at the tip, up to 1/6 inch long.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Grains ellipsoid, up to 1/8 inch long, black.
- Notes: According to Gleason and Cronquist, this family is Poaceae. This tough-stemmed grass is difficult to eradicate from lawns and gardens. This grass has been naturalized from Europe and Asia.
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