Barnyard Grass

Barnyard Grass - Echinochloa crus-galli

Grass up to a metre tall with strong, smooth culm, bent like a knee near the base, then erect.

The flat, five to fifteen millimetres wide, dark grey-green leaves are rough to the touch at the bottom. The leaf sheaths are blade-edged and without ligules. 

The pyramidal panicle, erect or slightly drooping, reaches up to twenty centimetres in length and consists of alternates racemes.

The awn of the greenish or violet spikelets varies in length even within the same population, as this species is extremely polymorphous in its inflorescence.

Echinochloa crus-galli is a common weed in paddy fields and irrigated fields, and is very common and widespread throughout Italy. At the Fucecchio Marshes it grows along the banks of ditches and canals and at the edges of the pools. Water birds love to eat its seeds.