Barnyard Grass

Barnyard Grass 

(Echinochloa crusgalli), also known as barn grass and barnyard millet, an annual plant of the family Gramineae. The culm, which measures 15–100 cm tall and branches from the base, has erect or decumbent thickened branches. The leaves, measuring up to 2.5 cm wide, are hairless and rough along the edges. The inflorescence is paniculate, dense, and often secund; it is up to 20 cm long. The spikelets have one floret and are oval, arranged in groups of two to four on short pedicels on one side of the branchlets. There are generally three lemmas, two of which are upper lemmas, often long-awned. The time of flowering is from July to September. Barnyard grass is found almost everywhere. In the USSR it grows everywhere except in the arctic as a weed in fields, gardens, orchards, and damp meadows, as well as along roads, dwellings, and bodies of water. Barnyard grass is grown in pastures and is used for making hay. It also serves as feed for poultry.