''Urochloa panicoides'' is a

fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agriculture, agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, domestic rabbit, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food ...

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 ...

originating in

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

Description

This annual grass has decumbent or upright stems up to a meter long. It may root where its lower nodes contact the substrate. The leaves have linear or lance-shaped blades up to 25 centimeters long. They are hairless to somewhat hairy, and they may have hairs lining the edges. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is composed of up to 10

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

s, each up to 7 centimeters long. The spikelets are solitary or paired. ''Urochloa panicoides'' can be confused with '' Urochloa setigera'', but the morphology of the spikelet is slightly different.

Distribution

This grass is native to southern Africa. It has

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

elsewhere, including Australia, Argentina, India and the United States.

Ecology

It is most common on moist

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

s and lakesides up to an

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

of 2200 meters.

Usage

This grass is often used as a

for

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

and

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

s. It is now known as a

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. Pla ...

and a potential seed contaminant.

Diseases and pests

This grass is susceptible to the

maize streak virus Maize streak virus (MSV) is a virus primarily known for causing maize streak disease (MSD) in its major host, and which also infects over 80 wild and domesticated grasses. It is an insect-transmitted pathogen of maize in the genus ''Mastrevirus' ...

(MSV), which is transmitted by '' Cicadulina'' leafhoppers such as '' Cicadulina mbila'', '' C. arachidis'', '' C. triangula'', '' C. bimaculata'', '' C. similis'', '' C. latens'', '' C ghaurii'', and '' C. parazeae''. It is also susceptible to cereal chlorotic mottle virus, which is transmitted by several insects, including '' Nesoclutha pallida'' and '' Cicadula bimaculata''.

Common names

Common names for the grass include ''barajalgauti'', ''basaunta'' ( Punjabi), ''tuinheesgras'', ''heesgras'', ''kurimanna'' (

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

), sharp-flowered signal-grass, annual signal grass, garden signal grass, panic liverseed grass, herringbone grass ( English), kuri millet (in

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

), ''pasto africano'' (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

), ''farsho'' ( Somali), ''kgolane'', and ''bore-ba-ntjia'' ( Sotho).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7900800 Panicoideae Grasses of Africa Flora of the Arabian Peninsula Flora of Iran Flora of the Indian subcontinent Taxa named by Palisot de Beauvois