Vascular Plants of the Gila Wilderness

Presented in Association with the
Western New Mexico University Department of Natural Sciences

Echinochloa crus-galli (Linnaeus) Beauvois
(Barnyard Grass)


Family: Poaceae

Status: Exotic

Synonyms:
Echinochloa crus-galli (Linnaeus) Beauvois var. mitis (Pursh) Peterm.
Echinochloa crus-galli (Linnaeus) Beauvois var. zelayensis (Kunth) Hitchcock
Echinochloa zelayensis (Kunth) Schultes

Echinochloa crus-galli is a rather distinctive grass with a spreading habit and large spikelets in two rows on the branches of the panicle. It does not have a ligule. The hairs on the branches look like parking lot lights, with a hair arising from a bulbous base. This annual grass is commonly found in wet areas, and growing from between the slabs of sidewalks.
Please click on an image for a larger file.



Echinochloa crus-galli, photo Russ Kleinman, Burro Mtns., Mangas Springs, July 8, 2007



Echinochloa crus-galli, detail of spikelets, photo Russ Kleinman, Burro Mtns., Mangas Springs, Oct. 16, 2007


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Echinochloa crus-galli, detail of bulbous base of branch hairs, photo Russ Kleinman, Burro Mtns., Mangas Springs, Oct. 16, 2007



Echinochloa crus-galli, absence of ligule, photo Russ Kleinman & Bill Norris, Burro Mtns., Mangas Springs, Nov. 7, 2007


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