This document discusses several monocot weed species found in Chhattisgarh, India. It begins by explaining that monocots have one cotyledon and includes grasses, sedges, lilies and cattails. Several grass species are described, including Saccharum munja, Eleusine indica, Phalaris minor and Cynodon dactylon. Sedges are also discussed. The document then provides detailed descriptions, images and information on the growth habit, habitat and uses of various monocot weed species found in the region.

1. Identification of Monocot Weeds of
Chhattisgarh
Prepare and Presented by

2. Monocotyledones/Monocot Weeds
The Angiosperms are grouped into two subclasses, the monocot and
dicot based on the number of cotyledons present. The seedlings of
monocot plants bear only one cotyledon (seed leaf). Monocot include the
grasses, sedges, lillies and cattails.
Grasses
Grasses are the monocots, arranged in sets of two leaves, that are
usually long, narrow and upright with parallel venation's.
Stems are more or less rounded or flattened in shape, possess
nodes, internodes, generally hollow with scattered vascular
bundles.
Leaves have ligule and auricle at the junction of lamina and leaf
sheath.
Ex. Saccharum munja, Eleusine indica, Phalaris minor, Cynodon
dactylon, Avena fatua,etc.
Sedges
Sedges are very similar to grasses but arranged in three sets

4. Asphodelus tenuifolius
Syn: A.Clavatus, A.fistulosus
Family : Liliaceae
Common Name : Onion weed , Jungali pyaz
Growth Habit: It is an erect annual,
monocotyledonous herb; root yellowish in
young plants and dark brown at maturity.
Onion like leaves are numerous, hollow,
slender and elongated in shape, rise as a
'bunch' from the soil. Flowers are
alternately arranged along the branched
upper parts of its smooth and hollow stem.
These flowers are whitewith pink or purple
stripe, in lax racemes. Seeds are triangular,
pitted, black grayish in color.
Habitat: A weed of pastures, open
roadsides, railway lines, disturbed sites,
waste areas and cropping areas. Principal
weed of wheat, chickpea and other rabi
crops.
Medicinal uses: The seeds are diuretic, and
antiseptic when applied externally to ulcers
Seed oil is used in the manufacture of
paints, varnishes and soap.

5. Common Name: Wild oat, Jungle Jaii
Growth Habit: is an erect, tufted or
ascending stout annual grass 30-120
cm tall with hollow sparsely hairy
stems. Leaf blades are flat, with
ligules (the membranous small
structure at the junction of the
leaf sheath and leaf blade). No
auricles. The long dark green leaves are
rough. The youngest leaf is rolled up.
The inflorescence is a loose,
open panicle with 2-3-flowered stalked
(pedicelled) spiikelets. The panicle is
long with spreading branches and the
spikelets hanging from long stalks.
Grains are 6-8 mm long, rust colored.
Habitat: Avena fatua is a cosmopolitan
grass. widespread in wheat field and
other rabi crops. It is palatable and has
medicinal uses.
Avena fatua
Family:Poaceae

6. Brachiaria mutica
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Para Grass, Tall
Panicum, California Grass
Growth Habit: A spreading long-lived
perennial, rooting at the lower joints.
Stems 6 to 8 feet or sosme times as
much as 15 feet long, trailing and
interwining, forming denses masses; the
joints and sheaths hairy. Leaves 4 to 12
inches long, with stiff hairs at the base.
Flowering heads 5 to 12 inches long,
open, usually purplish, with spikelike
spreading one-sided branches (24).
Propagation: By seed, long runners, and
cuttings. Rarely flowers.
Habitat: Adoptable to a wide range of
moisture conditions. Prefers wet regions,
growing luxuriantly in swampy areas;
yet can survive severe drought. A very
troublesome weed in cultivated areas, in
wastelands, and along roadsides

7. Cenchrus longispinus
Syn: Cenchrus ciliaris L
Family Name: Poaceae
Common Name: Spiny Burrgrass,
Anjan ghas
Growth Habit: It is an annual grass.
Stems are 15 cm 80 cm long,
branched, flattened, and usually
prostrate, forming a mat on the ground.
Leaf blades are smooth, flat or rolling,
and attached to a sheath with hairy
margins. The roots are fibrous and
relatively shallow. Seed spikes bear
clusters of 10 to 30 burs. Spiny burs
contain 1 to 3 seeds per bur. Each
straw colored bur has many sturdy,
backward hooked spines which cause
discomfort to man and animals.
Habitat: Problem weed on sandy or
coarse textured soil.
Uses: An excellent fodder for horses

8. Chloris barbata
Syn: Andropogon barbatus
Family: Poaceae
Common name: Chloris, Swollen
Finger Grass, Airport grass
Habit: It is a annual /perennial herb
with a creeping base. up to 90 cm
tall. Tufted stem with strong root-
fibres, rather stout, 60-90 cm. high,
geniculately ascending, nodes glabrous.
Leaves 15-45 cm long, narrowly linear,
flat or folded, sheath smooth. Ligules
are membranaceous, jagged. Spikes are
5-20, long spikelets green or purple, 3-
awned. Flowers spikelets green or
purple .
Habitat: . Degraded forests,
wastelands and riversides, drylands,
footpaths
Uses: This is a good fodder grass, also
known to serve as alternate host for
shootfly of Jowar. Good for cattle
grazing.

9. Chrysopogon
aciculatus (Retz.)
Syn: Andropogon aciculatus .
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Love grass, Golden
Beardgrass, Lampa, Keshini
Growth Habit: It s a vigorous perennial
sward-forming grass with stout rhizomes,
growing 20 – 50 cm tall. Creeping and
decumbent stems, nodes glabrous, nodal
rooting with short erect culms. Leaves are
lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, margin
serrulate, apex acute to obtuse; sheaths
slightly keeled; ligules annular, membranous.
Flower panicles pyramidal, reddish purple,
narrowly elliptic and 4-8 cm long. The
inflorescences produce seeds which adhere
to objects passing by and hence the name
‘Love Grass.
Habitat: Commonly grown as lawn-grass,
weed of grassland, wastelands, pastures.
Uses: The plant is sometimes used locally for
weaving into mats, hats etc, and has often
been cultivated as a lawn grass and to
prevent soil erosion. Cattle browse it but
grazing should be avoided at flowering
because its needle like awns cause injury to
the mouth of cattle.

10. Coix lacryma-jobi L.
Syn: Coix arundinacea, Coix lachryma
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Job’s Tears, Vyjanti, Samkru
Growth Habit: is a coarse annual to perennial
strongly tillering herb. The stem is erect, stout
and robust culms growing 1-2 m tall. The
leaves are 10-40 cm long, 2.5-4 cm wide, with
the base broad and cordate. The spikes are 6-10
cm long, erect and peduncled. The male
spikelets are about 8 mm long. The capsules
(fruits), enclosing the female flowers and the
grains, are hard, bony, white or nearly black,
shining, ovoid, about 8 mm long.
Habitat:It grows along river and stream banks,
border of ponds, in wet and moist land. It is
good soil binder and grass.
Medicinal uses: It can be ground into a flour
and used to make bread or used in any of the
ways that rice is used. Seed contains about 52
% starch, 18% protein and 7% fat. The seed,
with the husk removed, is antirheumatic,
diuretic, pectoral, refrigerant and tonic. Tea can
be made from the parched seeds while beers
and wines can be made from fermented grains.

11. Commelina benghalensis
Family: Commelinaceae
Common Name: Dayflowwer, Tropical
Spiderwort, Kankawa
Growth Habit: It is a annual or
sometimes perennial herb, rooting at
basal nodes. The plant is first creeping
and later ascending to 40-50 cm tall. The
leaves are alternate and hairy with
parallels nerves. Attractive little bluish-
violet flowers. The spates are funnel-
shaped, green and compressed.
Habitat: Common in kharif crops,
grasslands, roadsides, shaddy and damp
places, ditches.
Medicinal uses: The tender leaves and
stems are cooked as vegetables and also
used as feed for livestock. Good forage.
The plant is astringent, demulcent,
laxative and mucilaginous. Beneficial
for leprosy. The sap is used for the
treatment of eye ailments, sore throat

12. Common Name Spreading day flower,
Kanshura
Growth Habit: Monocot weed. Annual
or Perennial trailing or creeping herb,
reaching to a length of 1 m. Lance-shaped
to narrowly ovate leaves are smooth with
undulate leaf margin. The leaf base wraps
around the stem in a structure known as a
leaf sheath. Stems are soft and weak with
roots emerging at the leaf nodes. Small,
bright blue flowers are composed of 3
triangular petals with wavy margins.
Reproduced by stolons and by seeds.
Habitat: It naturally occurs in uplands,
damp shaded areas near water, open
swamps. Direct seeded rice. More
common than C.benghalensis.
Medicinal uses: The leaves are rich in
Vitamin C. Tender shoots and leaf are
cooked as leafy vegetable.
Commelina diffusa
Family:Commelinaceae

13. Cyanotis axillaris
Syn : Commelina axillaris L
Family: Commelinaceae
Common Name: Creeping cradle plant,
Blue Ears, Gaarenda
Growth Habit: It is a creeping , prostate
herb up to 70 cm tall, rooting at lower
nodes. Stem rounded, solid, glabrous,
succulent. Leaves are simple, stalkless,
narrow, linear-lance like, glabrous on both
sides, base clasping, parallel-veined, leaf
sheath hairy. Violet blue flowers, couched
in inflated sheaths in each leaf axil. Petals
are broadly ovate and the filaments are
bearded with long blue hairs, which give
the flowers a hairy appearance. Flowers
open only once for a few hours. Seeds
gray-black to gray-brown, pitted.
Habitat: Moist areas, shallow ditches and
borders, old brick walls.
Medicinal use: This species is used to treat
boils and ascites. Decoction of the whole
plant is reportedly used in swellings above
the abdomen.

14. Cynodon dactylon L.
Family : Poaceae
Common Name : Dub Grass,
Bermuda Grass, Wire Grass, Hariyali,
Durva
Habit : It is a wiry, sprawling
perennial grass with long slender
stolons. Leaves are short, triangular,
often blue-green. Emerging leaf rolled
but flat, appears folded. Ligule short
and hairy. Auricles absent. Sheath
rounded with long hairs next to the
collar.
Habitat: Crop land, wastelands,
roadside, garden, etc. Among the ten
worst weeds in the world.
Uses: It is a highly nutritious fodder
grass and is extensively used as lawn
grass. Sacred grass used in the Hindu
rituals for worshipping Lord Ganesha
as well as used in certain various other
religious ceremonies.

15. Cyperus difformis L.
Family: Cyperaceae
Common name: Nut grass, Java grass,
Purple nut sedge, Small flower umbrella
plant
Growth Habit: It is an erect, glabrous,
annual sedge up to 100 cm tall; roots are
fibrous and reddish. Stem is tufted,
smooth and erect, triangular and slightly
winged. 3-4 basal leaves, sheaths united
at base. Inflorescence umbellate and
subtended by two leaf-like bracts.
spikelets numerous, crowded in masses,
dusky or brown and each spikelet
composed of 10-30 flowers.
Habitat: A common weed direct seeded
rice, flooded or in very moist soils,
swamps, ditches. Forms dense mats of
vegetation in the young crop. World’s
worst weeds, being a problem especially
in rice, sugarcane and many other
crops.

16. Cyperus esculantus L.
Family: Cyperaceae
Common Name: Yellow nut sedge
Growth Habit: Rhizomatous perennial sedge
10-90 cm tall. There are crown buds a little
below the soil surface which gives rise to cluster
of short rhizomes ending to small tubers.
Yellowish green, shiny, grasslike leaves are long
and narrow, and distinctly ridged along the
midvein. Stems are erect, solid, triangular in
cross-section. The seedhead consists of
numerous yellowish brown spikelets, which
occur in a terminal, umbrellalike cluster.
Habitat: Muddy soil and shallow water and also
as a weed of cultivated crops.
Medicinal uses: Tuber - raw, cooked or dried
and ground into a powder. An edible oil is
obtained from the tuber. It is considered to be a
superior oil that compares favourably with olive
oil. The tubers are said to be aphrodisiac,
carminative, diuretic, emmenagogue, stimulant
and tonic. In Ayurvedic medicine they are used
in the treatment of flatulence, indigestion, colic,
diarrhoea, dysentery, debility and excessive

17. Cyperus iria L.
Family: Cyperaceae
Common Name: Flat sedge, Umbrella
sedge, Morphula, Beej wala motha
Growth Habit: It is an erect, clump
forming, annual or sometimes perennial herb
with fibrous roots (yellowish red roots.
Culms (stems) sharptly 3 angled, tufted,
smooth 12-70 cm tall. Leaf sheath reddish or
purplish brown, enveloping the stem at base.
Yellowish brown to greenish crowded
inflorescence
Habitat: Grows in marshy areas and
lowland rice fields as well as dryland annual
crops and along roadsides.
Uses: The plant is astringent, febrifuge,
stimulant, stomachic and tonic. The whole
plant is used to treat rheumatism and to
regulate menstruation. The rhizomes are
used as a diuretic. A decoction of the
ground tubers is used for treating fevers

18. Cyperus rotundus L.
Family: Cyperaceae
Common Name: Nut Grass, Purple
nutsedge, Java grass, Motha
Growth Habit: leaves sprout in ranks of
three from the base of the plant, around
5–20 cm long. It possesses a prominent
basal bulb just below the ground level
which produces a chain of tubers which
ramify as deep as 60 cm in soil. The
flower stems have a triangular cross-
section. The flower is bisexual and has
three stamina and a three-stigma carpel,
with the flower head having 3-8 unequal
rays. The root system of a young plant
initially forms white, fleshy rhizomes.
Habitat: It prefers dry conditions, but
will tolerate moist soils, it often grows in
wastelands and in crop fields. It is an
obnoxious weed with a very high
propagation potential.

19. Dactyloctenium
aegyptium L.
Synonyms: Eleusine aegyptiaca
Family :Poaceae
Common Name : Crow Foot Grass,
Baffalo grass, Makra
Growth Habit: It is a spreading annual
30-45 cm high. Creeping with ascending
culms, rooting from the lower nodes.
Leaves are typically grass-like,2-30 cm
long, 2-9 mm wide, with blades and
sheaths that are without hair. Leaf
margins have long, stiff hairs. Flowers
arise in 1-7 spikes, 1-6.2 cm long, 3-7
mm wide, at the tip of stems. Seed head
resembles a crow's foot. Emerge just
after rainfall.
Habitat: dry land weed associated with
ragi crop, often distributed in waste
places along road sides.
Uses: Considered to be very nutritious
fodder for cattle. The grain is eaten by
the poor classes. juice of fresh plants is
prescribed in fevers. Decoction of the

20. Desmostachya bipinnata
Syn: Poa Cynosuroides
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Halfa grass,Big cordgrass,
Kusha grass, Sacrificial grass, Dabh ghas
Growth Habit: It is a tall tufted, perennial
rhizomatous grass. Culms are rigid and
herbaceous having glabrous nodes, covered at
the base by leathery yellowish sheaths;
varying in height from 30 to 150 cm. The
stems are much branched, tufted and profusely
rooted, and it branches from the rootstock,
sending out rhizomes in all directions. The
inflorescence is an erect, spike-like panicle
having 101-185 spikes per panicle. Spikelets
are sessile, 3-10 mm long; compressed
laterally and pale brown in colour during the
rainy season. Root can go as deep as 1.5 m
until they rfind subsoil water.
Habitat: wastelands and fallow fields, sand
dunes. Edges of rice fields.
Uses:The stems are used for making mats.
The culms may be used for thatching and rope
making. It is used in Yagya and religious rites.

21. Dichanthium annulatum
(Forsk.)
Syn: Andropogon annulatus
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Marval grass, Sheda
grass, Kleberg’s blue stem
Growth Habit: A highly variable perennial
grass, forming dense tufts, with erect culms
50-100 cm tall from a decumbent base,
nodes pubescent; leaves linear-lanceolate,
blades flat, 5-20 cm long, tapering to a fine
point. Ligule membranous with long hairs.
Inflorescence a sub-digitate panicle,
comprising 2-15 pale green or purplish
racemes, each 3-7 cm long; geniculate,
twisted awn 8-25 mm long, arising from the
upper lemma of the sessile spikelet.
Caryopsis oblong to obviate, dorsally
compressed, 2 mm long.
Habitat: Grasslands, wastelands, pasture s
of dry to moist areas.
Uses: Pasture grass for grazing or cut-and-
carry. Suitable for silage and hay if cut
before flowering. Good for grassland.

22. Common Name: Large crab Grass
Growth habit: It is tufted, hairy,
sprawling annual grass which often roots
at the nodes. Both leaf surfaces and sheath
are densely hairy. Emerging leaf rolled.
Leaves are generally shorter, wider and
more tapered than those of most other
grasses. Leaf blade green to purple.
Jagged, membranous ligule but auricles
absent. The seed head is a terminal
panicle that consists of a few to several
slender, fingerlike branches arranged in a
whorl. Yellowish brown, narrow oval- to
lance-shaped seeds. Reproduced by seeds
and rooted parts.
Habitat: Disturbed areas, edges of
degraded wetlands, areas along roads and
railroads, lawns and gardens, fields and
grassy paths.
Uses: Useful forage for animals.
Digitaria sanguinalis L.
Family : Poaceae

23. Dinebra retroflexa .
Syn : Dinebra arabica ,
Cynosurus paniculatus
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Viper grass
Growth Habit : An annual grass with stem
tufted up to 50 cm high, stout or slender,
erect or geniculately ascending, leafy
throughout and nodes glabrous. Leaves are
linear, finely acuminate, flaccid, glabrous or
sparsely hairy, contracted at the insertion,
sheaths thin, loose, glabrous ligule a narrow
lacerate membrane. Inflorescence panicles
up to 25 cm long; rachis triquetrous.
Spikelets elliptic, aristate at apex, ca. 4.5
mm long; lower glume lanceolate-elliptic,
ca. 4.4 mm long, awned. Floret 2 - 3; palea
lanceolate, acute at apex. Stamens 3;
filament minute; Grains oblong-ellipsoid,
furrowed. Floral glumes ovate-oblong,
trigonous, pale brown
Habitat: Dryland and wastelands
Uses:The grass is considered to be an
excellent fodder for cattle, particularly
buffaloes, when fed green it is reported to
increase the flow of milk.

24. Echinochloa colona L.
Syn: Panicum colonum
Family : Poaceae
Common Name : Jungle rice, Awnless
barnyard grass, Sanwa
Growth Habit: An annual/perennial grass,
tufted and erect up to 0.6 m or taller.
Stem reddish purple or green, ascending to
erect, without hairs. Leaf linear, 10−15 cm
long, basal portion often tinged with red;
ligule absent. Inflorescence simple,
ascending racemes, green to purple,
Propagated by seeds
Habitat: Prefers moist but unflooded
conditions and is a problem mainly in
upland and rainfed lowland rice fields. It is
one of the world’s worst weeds.
Importance: It closely "mimics" rice in the
vegetative growth stage and is a severe
competitor of rice. It is a host of diseases
such as tungro and rice yellow dwarf. It can
be used as a palatable fodder for milking
animals .

25. Echinochloa crus-galli L.
Syn: Echinochloa glabrescens
Family: Poaceae
Common name: Barnyard grass,
Barnyard millet, Sawa millets, Sanwak
Growth Habit: It is a clump-forming
annual grass with ascending or
decumbent stems 30 – 120 cm long.
Stem (culm) is erect, thick, hairless,
branched and purple tinted at the base.
Hairless leaves, emerging leaf rolled.
Leaves have a distinct midvein and are
rough to touch on both surface.
The leaf sheaths are red while rice has
green sheaths. Both ligule and auricles
absent. The seed head consists of several
coarse, thick branches that occur in an
upright to nodding terminal panicle. The
green, purple to brown panicle, brown,
shiny, oval seeds.
Habitat: Rice fields, shady places,
ditches road sides. One of the world’s
worst weeds.
Uses: Used as a millet, it can be cooked

26. Eichhornia crassipes
Family: Pontederiaceae
Common Name: Water Hyacinth,
Jalkumbhi
Growth habit: It is a free-floating, very fast
growing plant with leaves on or above the
water surface. These leaves have a
thickened, spongy, stalk (petiole) and a
broad leaf blade with entire margins. Stems
may be in the form of short runners
(stolons) or upright flowering stems (up to
60 cm or more tall. The showy flowers are
purple, blyish or rarely white in colour
arranged along an upright spike up to 15 cm
long.
Habitat: Grows and spread rapidly in
freshwater. Found in ponds, lakes, flooded
to wet places. Widely considered to be the
world's worst water weed.
Medicinal uses: The leaf petioles are eaten as
a treatment for diarrhoea.An infusion of the
inflated petioles is used in a bath to treat
fevers. Young leaves and petioles are cooked
as vegetables.

27. Eleusine indica L.
Syn:Chloris repens Steud.
Family : Poaceae
Common Name : Indian goose grass,
bullgrass, Mandua
Growth Habit : Annual, erect or spreading,
flattened stem 30-60 cm high, tufted, slightly
compressed, glabrous, roots of strong fibres.
The V-shaped leaves are glabrous and usually
fairly bright, fresh green in color. Ligule a
thin fringe of hair, auricles absent. Green
stripes on pale leaf sheath. The inflorescence
consists of 3-8 racemes, each 5-10 cm long,
arranged digitately. Fruits are achene,
seedheads consist of 2-8 spikes in clusters at
the top of stems.
Habitat: It grows in uplands, moist as well
as marshy areas, shallow ponds, stream,
ditches, canals etc.
Uses: Fodder for cattle. The plant is also used
for paper manufacture. The seeds are used as
food. The culms are used for making hats,
mats, baskets. Decoction of the fresh plant

28. Elymus repens L.
Syn: Elytrigia repens,
Agropyron repens
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Quack grass, Couch
grass.
Growth Habit: It is a tufted perennial
grass re-growing from long white
rhizomes. Stem is erect and clump-
forming, up to 120 cm tall. Blue-green
leaves, emerging leaf rolled, hairless to
sparsely hairy above. Small auricles at
the junction of blade and sheath. The
auricles clasp the stem which distinguish
it from other grass weeds. Ligule are very
short and membranous. Blades are
sparsely hairy above and hairless below.
Spikes are narrow, erect, 8-10 cm long,
one spikelet per node. Each spikelet
contains up to eight straw-colored, lance-
shaped seeds. Each seed has a short to
prominent awn.
Medicinal uses: The roots being very
useful in the treatment of a wide range of

29. Eragrostis pilosa L.
Syn: Poa pilosa L., P. Punctata L.
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Indian Love grass,
Hairy grass, Chidiya ka dana
Growth Habit: It is a loosely clump-
forming annual or perennial grass;
Culms is erect, tufted, slender, 30-80 cm
high; nodes glabrous. Leaves short and
narrow, linear or linear-lanceolate, base
rounded or shallowly cordate, flat,;
sheaths to 14 cm long, keeled. The
ligule is a short fringe of hairs.
Inflorescence a terminal, narrow panicle,
5-20 cm long, erect or inclined.
Translucent glumes, lemma and palea.
Grains brownish yellow.
Habitat: Found in direct seeded rice
field as well as weed of other cultivated
crops, roadsides, wastelands, river sand
banks.
Uses:Seed - ground into a flour and used
as a cereal. It is grazed by cattle.

30. Fimbristylis miliacea L.
Syn:Trichelostylis miliacea (L.)
Family: Cyperaceae
Common name: Lesser fimbristylis,
grasslike fimbristylis, and hoorahgrass
Growth Habit: Annual or perennial,
without hairs, strongly tillering, with fibrous
roots and up to 80−90 cm high. Culm
densely tufted, compressed, and smooth;
strongly angled at the top and flattened at
the base. Leaves stiff and thread-like; on
flowerless stems: in 2 rows and with
flattened sheaths; no prominent midribs; on
flowering stems: only linear leaf sheaths;
basal leaves have overlapping leaf sheaths;
ligule absent. Inflorescence 6−10 cm long,
compound umbel with 6−50 spikelets;
spikelets reddish brown, 2−4 mm long and
either round or acute at apex. Fruits straw-
colored or pale ivory nut, 0.2−0.3 mm long.
Habitat: In wet localities, wastelands and
near of paddy fields. In India, it is one of the
most harmful weeds in rice field.

31. Heteropogon contortus
Syn: Andropogon contortus
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Black speargrass
Growth Habit: It is a perennial tussock
grass that grows 20-100 cm tall. Leaves
and stems are green to blue-green and
usually hairless or with only a few
scattered hairs. The leaf sheath and blade
are folded along the mid-rib and leaves
are 5–30 cm long. Old leaves pinkish
brown. The seed heads arise singly or in
pairs from the axils of the upper leaves.
The spikelets are paired, with one
member of each pair being fertile, dark
brown, the other being male or sterile.
The fertile spikelet bears an awn 5–12 cm
long, the basal part of which is twisted.
The awns of the spikelets in a seed head
intertwine at maturity.
Habitat: Forest land and grasslands.

32. Imperata cylindrica L.
Syn: Saccharum cylindricum
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Cogon grass, Thatch grass,
Dabh
Growth Habit: It is a perennial rhizomatous
grass grows 60-300 cm. Culms are erect and
arise from rhizomes. The rhizomes are tough,
long, white and extensively branched. Leaves
are stiff, linear-lanceolate, scabrid margin and
pointed tip. The ligule is an inconspicuous
membrane. Inflorescence is a white, spike-like
panicle, terminal, fluffy, 5-20 cm long.
Spikelets are numerous, each surrounded by a
basal ring of silky hairs. Grain is oblong,
pointed, brown. It ranks number seven on the
list of world’s worst weeds.
Habitat: Sandy soils
Medicinal uses: The flowers and the roots are
antibacterial, diuretic, febrifuge, sialagogue,
styptic and tonic.. A decoction of roots is used
in case of indigestion, diarrhoea and dysentry.
The leaves are woven to make mats, bags and
raincoats. The inflorescences are valued for
stuffing pillows and cushions. Leaf fiber is

33. Ischaemum rugosum
Syn:Andropogon arnottianus
Family: Poaceae
Common name: Wrinkle duck beak,
saromacca grass
Growth Habit: An erect or ascending annual
or short lived perennial grass up to 150 cm
tall. Stem rooting at the nodes, often purplish,
usually has hairs at nodes, cylindrical much
branched culms. Leaf blades 10−30 cm long,
glabrous; compressed sheaths rather loose and
green or purplish, with hairs on margins;
ligule membranous and fused with auricles.
Inflorescence paired terminal spikes that are
often strongly pressed against one another,
thus appearing like a single spike. Spikelets
are boat shapped, yellowish green or brown,
awns spiral at base, dark colored.
Habitat: found in wet conditions, especially
in direct-seeded rice fields. serious weed in
lowland direct-seeded rice, where it emerges
later than many weeds in the crop and is
favored by shallow flooding.

34. Leptochloa chinensis L.
Syn: Poa chinensis L., P.panicea
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Red sprangletop
Growth Habit: It is a strongly tufted and
smooth annual or short lived perennial; 50-
120 cm tall. Stems are slender, hollow, erect
with glabrous leaves and fibrous roots,
sometimes rooting at lower nodes, smooth and
without hair, typically 10−20 nodes, and can
reach as high as 50−100 cm. Leaves
are smooth, linear, 10−30 cm long; ligule an
inconspicuous membrane 1−2 mm long and
deeply divided into hairlike segments.
Inflorescence is narrowly ovate, loose panicle,
main axis 10−40 cm long, and with many
spike-like slender branches; racemes slender,
each with two rows of spikelets, purplish or
green and 4−6 flowered. Grain is brown,
smooth or wrinkled.
Habitat: Waterlogged fields, moist condition
in sugarcane, soybean, cotton, maize and
vegetables, serious weed of rice.
Uses: It is used as feed for animals. Grains are
edible.

35. Common Name: Poison rye-grass, Ivary,
Darnel, Mochni, Ryeghas
Growth Habit: It is an erect annual grass
grows 30-100 tall with fibrous root
system. Stem (culm) simple, often in
clumps, tufted or solitary, erect or
geniculate at the base, slender to
moderately stout. Leaves are lanceolated,
simple with a shiny surface, leaf-blades
are flat, with short spreading auricles at
the base. Inflorescence is a terminal
spikes, erect, 15-30 cm long, rigid with 6-
30 spikelets. Grains, dull, yellow brown.
Habitat: Weed of wheat and other
winter crops. Also appear in wasteland
and orchards. Seeds are similar to wheat.
The seeds are poisonous to human and
animals when consumed in conjunction
with wheat and other cereals.
Lolium temulentum L.
Family: Poaceae

36. Marsilea minuta L.
Family: Marsileaceae
Common Names: Water clover,
Pepperwort, Char patia, Sunsunia
Growth Habit: It is a aquatic perennial
herb, quite close to M.quadrifolia and also
resembles much with Oxalis corniculata,
is only a fern ally growing to 20 cm. Stem
creeping hairy rhizomes, thin green stalks
rise to the water surface, each stalk
bearing a single shamrock-like leaf with
four wedge-shaped leaflets.
Habitat: Floating in ponds, ditches,
irrigated chhanels and rice fields.
Medicinal uses:The plant is anti-
inflammatory, diuretic, depurative,
febrifuge and refrigerant. A juice made
from the leaves is diuretic and febrifuge.
The plant is also applied externally in the
treatment of snakebites and skin injuries.
Tender plants are cooked as vegetable.

37. Monochoria vaginalis
Family : Pontederiaceae
Common Names: pickerel weed, Oval
Leaf Pondweed, Launki, Indivarah
Growth Habits: It is an an annual or
perennial herb growing in water from a
small rhizome. It is quite variable in
morphology. The shiny green leaves are
borne on rigid, hollow petioles, that can
either float or grow upwards for up to 50
cm. The stems are sometimes rhizomatous.
The inflorescence bears 3 to 25 flowers
which open around the same time. Each has
six purple-blue sepals. The fruit is a capsule
contains many tiny winged seeds.
Habitat: Fresh water swamps, ditches,
shallow pools, canal banks and flooded rice
fields. More widespread than M. hastata.
Medicinal uses: The entire plant except
roots is eaten in India. Plant is considered
alterative, tonic and cooling. Juice of leaves
is applied to boils. The root is used for
toothache and the bark is eaten with sugar
for asthma.

38. Oryza barthii
Syn: O.nivara
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: African wild rice, Barth’s
rice, Pasar chawal
Growth Habit: is an annual, clump-forming
grass with erect to semi-erect culms that form
new roots at the lower nodes; it can grow 60 -
120cm tall. Leaf-sheaths smooth; glabrous on
surface. Leaf-sheath auricles erect. Ligule an
eciliate membrane. Inflorescence a terminal
panicle, dense, erect with erect or obliquely
ascending branches. Spikelet oblong to
narrowly oblong, pale green to straw
coloured.
This species is closely related to the rice
(Oryza sativa) and can hybridize with it when
both plants grow nearby..
Habitat: Growing in shallow water in ponds,
marshes, rice fields and other similar habitats.
Uses: The edible seed of this species is
sometimes collected and serve as a famine
food. It is sold at a very high price as it is
eaten by women during fast.

39. Panicum repens L.
Syn: P dichotomiflorum L.
Family: Poaceae
Common name: Torpedo grass, creeping
panic, Victoria grass
Growth Habit: It is a perennial grass
growing up to 100 cm tall from sturdy,
widely creeping rhizomes. It is a
rhizomatous grass, stoloniferous,
extensively branched, turfting, and
forming large patches. Culms are erect
and leaf sheaths are hairy and leaf blades
are stiff, flat or folded with an often waxy
or whitish surface. The inflorescence is a
closely oblong panicle, erect, 5 to 20 cm
long, loose and quite stiffy. Spikelets are
pale green/glaucous, sometimes tinged
with purple.
Habitat: A very common weed of wet
lands, marshy areas of grassland and
wastelands. especially on bunds of paddy
fields. It is much relished by cattle.

40. Paspalum distichum
Syn : Digitaria disticha (L.)
Family: Poaceae
Common name : Knotgrass, devil’s
grass, Water couch, Kodo
Growth Habit: It is a fast growing
perennial rhizomatous grass up to 60 cm
tall; creeping and rooting at the nodes,
stoloniferous, nodes glabrous. Flat, often
keeled at the base, and hairless
except for a few long hairs at the base.
Sheaths are open and usually are
covered with long hairs. Leaves are
rolled in the bud. The flower head is
"V"-shaped, formed by two branches.
The main flowering stem can be up to 15
cm long. Spikelets usually solitary on
the pedicels, occasionally binate near the
middle of the raceme, imbricate,, widely
elliptic, abruptly acute, pale greenish.
Habitat: Rice fields, fallow wetlands,
ponds, ditches and riverbanks.

41. Perotis indica (L.)
Syn : Anthoxanthum indicum L.
Family: Poaceae
Common Name : Kuras, Indian Comet
Grass
Growth Habit: It is an erect
ascending, loosely tufted, annual grass.
Culms to 40 cm tall, slender, erect or
geniculate, tufted. Leaves are oblong
or ovate-lanceolate, base rounded,
margins wavy and scabrid, apex acute
or acuminate; sheaths to 3.5 cm long;
ligules membranous, truncate. Spike 8-
17 cm long, compact, violet-purplish.
Spikelets linear or lanceolate, awned,
spiral on rachis, 1-flowered, purplish.
Lower glume to 2.5 mm long, narrowly
elliptic, scabrid without, awn to 1.5 cm
long. Upper glume linear-lanceolate,
awn 1 cm long. Lemmas linear-
lanceolate.. Grains are linear.
Habitat: Dry sandy areas, roadsides
and wastelands

42. Phalaris minor Retz.
Family: Poaceae
Common Names: Little-seed Canary,
Gulidanda
Growth Habit: Grows as a tufted annual
bunch grass up to 1.5 m. Seedlings are
bluish green in color, have a large, white
ligule inside the leaf blade where its base
wraps the stem and a leaf sheath with a
reddish base. The youngest leaf is rolled,
Stems is Erect or decumbent, caespitose.
Leaves are long, linear and acuminate.
Flowers are produced on spike-like heads
0.80 to 4 inches long. Flower clusters, or
spikelets, are densely packed in the head.
Habitat: serious weed in wheat. Due to
its high competitiveness it infests many
crops in arable fields. Prefers medium-to-
heavy, moist and well drained soils.
Uses: It is used as a fodder or forage for
livestock and birdseed.

43. Pistia stratiotes L.
Family: Araceae
Common Name: Waterlettuc, water
cabbage,
Growth Habit: It is a mat forming
floating perennial herb in rosettes of
grey-green leaves, rosettes occurring
singly or connected to others by short
stolons. Roots numerous, feathery.
Leaves often spongy near base, densely
soft pubescent with obvious parallel
veins, slightly broader than long, widest
at apex, to 15 cm long. Tubular, axillary,
arum-like, yellowish-green to creamy
white flowers are generally
inconspicuous. No ornamental flowers.
Habitat: major weed of lakes, dams,
ponds, irrigation channels and slow-
moving waterways.
Medicinal uses: The plant is considered
antiseptic, antitubercular, and
antidysentric. The Plant is bitter, pungent
flavored having cooling, laxative
property

44. Poa annua L.
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Annual bluegrass, annual
meadowgrass
Growth Habit: It is a clump-forming annual
Or shsort-lived perennial grass. It is small in
stature and may be variable in form. It is
sometimes erect but, in the vegetative
state, it is usually geniculate and may root
at the nodes. Hairless, soft, light green
leaves are folded in the sheath which is
smooth and lack auricles. Leaves have
linear margins (sides are parallel) and
distinctive boat-shaped tips. Ligule are
slightly pointed and membranous. The
seedhead is a greenish white open panicle
made up of single or paired branches that
form a pyramid shape.
Habitat: Found in cultivated field, gardens,
grassland from lowland to mountain
pastures. It prefers fertile agricultural soils
with an adequate water supply.

45. Common Name: Itchgrass
Growth Habit: It is an erect, profusely
tillering annual grass grows up to 4 m tall.
Pale green-coloured foliage, brace roots near
the base of the plant. Stems and leaves are
covered with stiff, irritating hairs that can
penetrate and irritate the skin. Leaf blades are
15-45 cm long, 5-20 mm wide and flat;
characterized by pale, green-colour.
Inflorescence is a cylindrical raceme that is 3-
15 cm long. The floral units consist of a
sessile spikelet, pedicellate spikelet and
internode. The pedicel is fused to the swollen
floral internode. The spikelets are awnless.
The floral units separate and fall as soon as
they mature, from the top of the raceme
downwards. Caryopsis oblong-ovate, gibbous,
3 - 4 mm long, 2 - 2.2 mm wide.
Habitat: Aggressive weed in moist places,
ditches, grassland, wastelands and along
roadsides. Competitive weed with maize crop.
Rottboellia
cochinchinensis
Family: Poaceae

46. Saccharum munja
Syn:Saccharum bengalense
Family: Poaceae
Common names: Munja, Sentha.
Growth Habit: It is a perrennial wild grass
growing to a height of over 2m. Flower
panicles are 20-75 cm long, silky and
greenish brown. Leaf sheath shortly silky at
extreme base, otherwise quite smooth,
straight, pale straw colored, villous on
margins at apex with long white hairs
usually much longer than proper internodes,
uppermost sheath sometimes extending
beyond the base of panicle. Its white flowers
are of ornamental value.
It forms extensive root network that binds
the soil/pebbles and forms tall thick clumps
with high biomass tufts.
Habitat: Found in arid areas and along river
banks
Uses: Extensively used for thatching roofs,
and making ropes , baskets, brooms and
matting.

47. Saccharum spontaneum
Family: Poaceae
Common name: Kans grass, Wild
sugarcane, Tiger grass
Growth Habit: It is a perennial grass,
with a creeping rootstock, free-tillering,
growing up to three meters in height, with
spreading rhizomatous roots. Leaves are
long, harsh and linear, 0.5 to 1 m long.
Nodes waxy. Inflorescence are plumose
panicles, which are densely silky white
and erect, measuring 15-30 cm long, with
slender and whorled branches, the joints
covered with soft white hair.
Habitat: Riverbank, Swamps, deserts,
jungles, bunds of light soils.
Uses: The reeds are made into mats,
screens, and thatch roofs. Used to treat
Kidney stone, dyspepsia, piles,
gynecological disorders, respiratory
problems, burning sensation, etc.

48. Setaria glauca L.
Syn: S. lutescens, Pennisetum glaucum
Family : Poaceae
Common Name: Yellow foxtail, golden
foxtail, wild millet
Growth Habit: It is a tufted annual grass
grows to more than 100 cm high. Culms
upright, usually flat, hairless, tiller to form
clump, frequently with red base. Leaves
blades flat, frequently twisted,
conspicuous midrib, long fine hairs above
at base, youngest leaf is rolled; auricles
absent; ligule fringe of hairs; sheaths open
and overlapped, hairless, flattened. Erect
spike-like panicle, cylindrical, dense,
upright; spikelet with 5 or more bristles,
typically yellowish.
Habitat: Grassland, disturbed ground,
roadsides and crop fields.
Medicinal uses: The grain may be cooked
and eaten like rice. It is considered as
nutritious food. It is credited with diuretic,
astringent and emollient properties and is
used to treat rheumatism.

49. Sorghum halepense L.
Family : Poaceae
Common Name: Johnson grass, Baru, Chinna,
Jangli-Jowar
Growth Habit: Perennial, reproducing by seed
and thick, fleshy rhizomes. Stems are upright,
stout, hairless and may reach 3 m in height,
round to sometimes flattened. Plants form
dense patches by purplish, scaly rhizomes.
Bright green leaves are hairless with a
prominent, white mid vein. Leaves are rolled in
the bud and may be up to 24 inches long. Leaf
sheaths are also hairless. Ligule is very
prominent and membranous. The seed head is
a purple, very large, open and spreading,
pyramid-shaped panicle that consists of
numerous whorled branches. Seeds are oval,
shiny and reddish brown.
Habitat: It prefers dry or moist soil. Weed of
maize, cotton, sugarcane and other crops.
Uses: It can be cooked and eaten whole in a
similar manner to rice or millet, or it can be
ground into a flour and used as a cereal in
making bread. Biomass is used as forage for

50. Themeda triandra
Family: Poaceae
Common Name: Red oat grass, Kangaroo grass
Growth Habit: It is a slow growing tufted
perennial grass 45-180 cm high. Stem is angular,
ribbed, thickened above the node,more or less
densely hairy. Leaves are extremely variable,
from hairy to non-hairy and green to bluish-
green in colour. The basal leaf sheaths are
flattened and this tendency continues through the
leaf blades which are often folded, especially
when young. Older leaves have red or brown
tinge. Inflorescence is an open panicle with
groups of spikelets situated on long thin
subsidiary branches. Each unit is normally
supported by a leaf-Iike structure, the spathe,
which is often tinged with purple, brown or
reddish brown. Black awn which is attached to
the seed. Seed shiny black.
Habitat: Grasslands and wastelands.
Uses: Small and fiddly grain is basically a food
for times when better foods are not available.
Wilted culms contains HCN which is dangerous
for cattle.

51. Typha angustifolia L.
Syn: T.latifolia
Family : Typhaceae
Common Name: Common cattaills, Indian
reed-mace, Patera, Pota, Gundramula
Growth Habit: It is a robust herbaceous
perennial, reproducing by seed and rhizomes
that forming large clump. Stems is upright,
1.5-3 m tall, stout, round, with a creeping,
branched rhizome. Leaves linear and long,
strap-like, bluish-green to grayish-green,
spongy, sometimes longer than the flowering
stalk. Clusters of minute flowers arranged in a
dense, cylindrical spike, green becoming
brown with age.
Habitat: Grow along drainage channels, lake
margins, ditches, canal command area,
submerged land.
Uses:Most parts (rhizomes, tender stem and
flowering spike) are edible and nutritious and
used as food. It has various medicinal
applications. The leaves have been woven into
mats, the pulp and fibers made into string and
paper.It can be used to make ethanol.

52. -:Thanks:-
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The presentation is intended for academic purpose only. Information in this presentation has been collected
and compiled from various sources like personal field surveys, interviews with local peoples, studies of
research publications as well as literature available on internet. Some of the images of weeds/grasses have
been taken from Google photos and institutional publications. Author is thankful to all publishers and
Google. The food and medicinal uses of weeds/grasses have been given just for the sake of information and
knowledge. Therefore, Author can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants.
Always seek advice from a health care professionals before using a plant medicinally or as a food.