Echinochloa crus-galli
Echinochloa oryzicola
awn barnyard grass, barnyard grass, common barnyard grass, echinochloa pied-de-coq, large barnyard-grass, or large barnyard grass
late barnyard grass, rice barnyardgrass
30-200 cm, spreading, decumbent or stiffly erect;
nodes usually glabrous or the lower nodes puberulent.
40-150 cm, erect or nearly so, densely tufted;
lower nodes usually antrorsely scabrous or villous;
upper nodes glabrous.
glabrous;
ligules absent, ligule region sometimes pubescent;
blades to 65 cm long, 5-30 mm wide, usually glabrous, occasionally sparsely hirsute.
5-25 cm, with few-many papillose-based hairs at or below the nodes of the primary axes, hairs sometimes longer than the spikelets;
primary branches 1.5-10 cm, erect to spreading, longer branches with short, inconspicuous secondary branches, axes scabrous, sometimes also sparsely hispid, hairs to 5 mm, papillose-based.
8-20 cm, erect to slightly drooping, rachis nodes hispid,with papillose-based hairs to 5.6 mm, internodes usually scabrous, sometimes also with a few papillose-based hairs;
primary branches to 4 cm.
2.5-4 mm long, 1.1-2.3 mm wide, disarticulating at maturity.
4-6 mm, ovoid to ellipsoid, disarticulating at maturity.
usually at least 1/2 as long as the spikelets;
upper glumes equaling or exceeding the upper florets;
lower florets sterile;
lower lemmas often thickened and somewhat coriaceous, unawned or awned, awns to 1.5 mm;
lower paleas well-developed;
upper lemmas broadly ovate to elliptical, coriaceous portion rounded distally, passing abruptly into an early-withering, acuminate, membranus tip that is further demarcated from the coriaceous portion by minute hairs (use 25x magnification);
anthers 0.9-1.2 mm.
about as long as the spikelets;
lower florets sterile;
lower lemmas unawned to awned, sometimes varying within a branch, awns to 50 mm;
lower paleas subequal to the lemmas;
upper lemmas broadly ovate to elliptical, coriaceous portion rounded distally, passing abruptly into an early-withering, acuminate, membranous tip that is further demarcated from the coriaceous portion by a line of minute hairs (use 25x magnification);
anthers 0.5-1 mm.
1.3-2.2 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide, ovoid or oblong, brownish;
embryos 59-86% as long as the caryopses.
1.7-2.6 mm, brownish;
embryos 89-98% as long as the caryopses.
sheaths densely pubescent;
upper sheaths glabrous or pubescent at the throat, and sometimes on the collar;
ligules absent;
blades stiff, ascending, lower blades pubescent, upper blades usually glabrous.
= 54.
= 36.
Echinochloa crus-galli
Echinochloa oryzicola
Echinochloa crus-galli is a Eurasian species that is now widely established in the Flora region, where it grows in moist, disturbed sites, including rice fields. Some North American taxonomists have interpreted E. crus-galli much more widely; others treat it as here, but recognize several infraspecific taxa based on such characters as trichome length and abundance, and awn length. There are several ecological and physiological ecotypes within the species, but the correlation between these and the species' morphological variation has not been established, so no infraspecific taxa are recognized here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Like Echinochloa oryzoides, E. oryzicola is an introduced weed of rice fields, where it grows in the flooded portion, with the rice. The two are quite distinct, with E. oryzicola flowering after Oryza and having a longer embryo and an erect panicle. It is also more likely to have evidently pubescent cauline nodes, leaf sheaths, and collars than E. oryzoides and is never conspicuously awned.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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