''Janochloa antidotalis'' ( Punjabi: ਘਮੂਰ ghamur, English: blue panicgrass,

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

''Panicum antidotale'') is a species of

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

. it is the sole species in genus ''Janochloa''. It is a tall (up to 3 metres), coarse, woody

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

grass strong spreading

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

s. It is native to southern Asia, ranging from the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

through the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Transcaucasia, the Indian Subcontinent, and Myanmar to Vietnam. In the Indian Subcontinent it is found in the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 pea ...

and the Upper

Gangetic Plain The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the Northern Plain or North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain spanning across the northern and north-eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. It encompasses northern and eastern India, eastern Pakist ...

and specifically in various regions of the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

and the

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

province of Punjab and the neighbouring areas of these regions. This grass is also listed (as ''Panicum antidotale'') by

William Coldstream Sir William Menzies Coldstream, CBE (28 February 1908 – 18 February 1987) was an English realist painter and a long-standing art teacher. Biography Coldstream was born at Belford, Northumberland, in northern England, the second son of co ...

in his ''Illustrations of Some of the Grasses of the Southern Punjab'' with the vernacular name ''ghirri'' (Punjabi ਘਿੱਰੀ) which he however explains is not known to those landowners that he had interviewed as a separate species of ''Panicum'' but rather as an unripe form of ''Panicum antidotale'' which is generally called in Punjabi ''ghamur'' (ਘਮੂਰ).

Habitat

''Janochloa antidotalis'' is found in rich soils that have often been improved with compost or dung be they originally of sand or clay. According to Coldstream, for some reason it seems to be found in the vicinity of

caper ''Capparis spinosa'', the caper bush, also called Flinders rose, is a perennial plant that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and large white to pinkish-white flowers. The taxonomic status of the species is controversial and unsettled. Species with ...

bushes.

Usage

This grass is not considered of much use beyond its early tender stages having a bitter or brackish taste when it matures. It is grown in the southwestern United States as a

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used m ...

, and can now be found there growing wild as an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

Pests and diseases

''Janochloa antidotalis'' is susceptible to yellow stripe disease which is usually found in

sugar-cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in suc ...

. The disease in this grass, in which the

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

persists for long periods, is capable not only of infecting sugar-canes in their vicinity, but also serves as new sources of infection when diseased canes have been removed.Ledeboer, F. 1922: Arch. Suikerind. Nederl.-Indie. 30: 21, 359-362

Names in various languages

Punjabi dialect forms

The following dialect forms are recorded in Punjabi for this grass: *

Firozpur Firozpur, (pronunciation: ɪroːzpʊr also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in the Firozpur District of Punjab, India. After the Partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan bor ...

: ਗਰ੍ਮ garham s.m. * Hisar: ਘਿੱਰੀ ghirri s.f. - Though see Coldstream's note above. *

Jhang Jhang ( Punjabi / ; ; ) is the capital city of Jhang District in central Punjab, Pakistan. Situated on the east bank of the Chenab river, it is the 13th most populous city of Pakistan. Etymology The historical name of the city and dis ...

: ਘਮੂਰ ghamūr s.m. - Where ''Panicum antidotale'' is not found on the prevalent

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...

-saturated

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

s of the district (called in Punjabi ਕਲੱਰ ''kallar''). *

Multan Multan is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fifth-most populous city in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. Located along the eastern bank of the Chenab River, it is the List of cities in Pakistan by populatio ...

: ਕੁਟਕੀ kuṭkī s.f., 1. A

gnat GNAT is a free-software compiler for the Ada programming language which forms part of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). It supports all versions of the language, i.e. Ada 2012, Ada 2005, Ada 95 and Ada 83. Originally its ...

; 2. The name of a plant ''Panicum miliare'' used medicinally; 3.

Hellebore Commonly known as hellebores (), the Eurasian genus ''Helleborus'' consists of approximately 20 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants in the family (biology), family Ranunculaceae, within which it gave i ...

. Which again seems to be a synonym for ''Panicum antidotale''. Compare the Punjabi form ਕੁਦਕੀ kudkī for ''Panicum miliare'' which is a synonym for ''Panicum antidotale''. *

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

: ਘਮੂਰ ghamūr s.m.; ਗਰ੍ਮ garham s.m.

Other Indian languages

Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east ...

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

: कुटकी kuṭkī ompare Prakrit कुटुकिआ kuṭukīā< from Sanskrit">Prakrit.html" ;"title="ompare Prakrit">ompare Prakrit कुटुकिआ kuṭukīā< from Sanskrit कटुक kuṭuk + इका -ikā], s.f. 1. A medicinal plant, Black Hellebore, ''Helleborus niger''; wolf's bane; aconitum, aconite; 2. A kind of grain, ''Panicum miliare''. See above where as in dialectal Punjabi forms the reference here is to ''Panicum antidotale''. The meaning is found in Hindi कुटकी kuṭkī . कुट्टक (rt. कुट्ट्)+इका s.f. 1. Cutting, dividing; 2. A nip; 3. An incision (made with the teeth, &c., on thread, &c.;4. A gnat (cf. S. kaṭu-kīṭa);5. Estrangement, separation (from), desertion (of):--kuṭkī denā, or kuṭkī lagānā (-meṅ), 1. To nip; 2. To make an incision (in), to cut (the string of a kite, &c.).

Dravidian languages The Dravidian languages are a language family, family of languages spoken by 250 million people, primarily in South India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan, with pockets elsewhere in South Asia. The most commonly spoken Dravidian l ...

* Gondi: kōhalā, (W. Ph.) kohalā, (S.) kohala s.m. *

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

: koṟale, korle s.m., A kind of millet, '' Panicum italicum''

Linn Linn may refer to: People * Linn (surname) * Linn (given name) * Carl Linnaeus, abbreviated as Linn. * Linn da Quebrada, stage name of Brazilian singer, actress, screenwriter and television personality Lina Pereira dos Santos (born 1990) Place ...

. * Konḍa: koṟeŋ (pl.) s.m., A grain. * Kota: koyḷ s.m.,

Foxtail millet Foxtail millet, scientific name ''Setaria italica'' (synonym ''Panicum italicum'' L.), is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. The oldest evidenc ...

'' Setaria italica''; korly id. (< Badaga); korra manḍeya s.m.,

Finger millet Finger millet (''Eleusine coracana'') is an Annual plant, annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and Semi-arid climate, semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and Self-pollination, self-pollinating speci ...

Eleusine coracana Finger millet (''Eleusine coracana'') is an annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and self-pollinating species probably evolved from its wild relative ''Ele ...

''. * Kui: kueri s.m., Millet, ''Panicum italicum'' Linn. *

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

: koʼla s.m., ''Panicum miliare'', gor̥a (pl. -ŋ). * Parji: koyla s.m., ''Panicum italicum''. *

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

: சாமை cāmai (சாமி), s.m., A kind of grain, millet. < From

Old Indo-Aryan The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east of the Indus river in Ba ...

šyāmā s.m., 1. Poor-man's millet, sown in Āvaṇi and maturing in six weeks to four months, ''

Echinochloa crus-galli ''Echinochloa crus-galli'' is a type of wild grass originating from tropical Asia that was formerly classified as a type of panicum grass. It is commonly known as cockspur (or cockspur grass), barnyard millet, Japanese millet, water grass, commo ...

''. Compare: சிறுசாமை ciṟu-cāmai, n. < id. + சாமை, a kind of little millet, ''Panicum miliare''; சாமைவகை. (சங். அக.); புற்சாமை puṟ-cāmai, n. < id. + a species of little millet, Panicum; சாமைவகை.; பனிச்சாமை paṉi-c-cāmai, n. < பனி + a kind of little millet, Panicum; சாமைவகை. (யாழ். அக.). Though as noted above ''Panicum miliare'' is a synonym: in northern India it seems to refer to ''Panicum antidotale'', whilst in southern India it seems to refer to ''Echinochloa crus-galli''. ** kural s.m., Italian millet. * Telugu: samalu (pl.) id.; The cereal yielding samalu.

Other languages

* English: Blue panic grass ** Australia: Giant panic grass ** California: Blue panicgrass, switch grass ** Hawaii: Giant panic grass; little millet. * French: panic bleu *

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: Pánico azul

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q131698584, from2=Q134507711, from3=Q3634860 Panicoideae Monotypic Poaceae genera Flora of the Arabian Peninsula Flora of Iran Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of Myanmar Flora of Sinai Flora of the Transcaucasus Flora of Vietnam Grasses of Punjab Grasses of India Grasses of Pakistan Millets Crops originating from India Taxa described in 2023