Echinochloa esculenta (A. Braun) H. Scholz, Poaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 8 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Echinochloa crus-galli subsp. utilis (Ohwi & Yabuno) T. Koyama; Echinochloa utilis Ohwi & Yabuno; Panicum esculentum A. Braun

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: zi sui bai

English: Japanese barnyard millet, Japanese millet, white millet

French: millet Japanais

Japanese: hie

Spanish: mijo japonés

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Robust, erect, light green annuals. Leaf-sheath light green to pale creamy brown, chartaceous, glabrous, rather loosely enfolding culm, slightly keeled above, finely striate. Ligule 0; ligular area glabrous. Leaf-blade (13)-17-30 cm x 10-16 mm, chartaceous, flat, linear, smooth, or adaxially rarely slightly scabrid on primary lateral ribs, midrib whitish, very distinct; margins whitish, slightly thickened, finely scabrid, tapering to subacute tip. Culm (35)-40-60 cm, stout, internodes glabrous. Panicle 6.5-12 cm, erect, very dense, usually with numerous close-set, sessile, often subverticillate racemes; rachis angular, ridged, scabrid, with a dense ring of bristle-like hairs at base and at nodes. Racemes 1.5-3-(4) cm, of many small dense clusters of spikelets; pedicels finely scabrid, < 1 mm. Spikelets 3-4 mm, purplish, sometimes whitish green, broadly ovate to subglobose, subacute. Glumes quite unequal, firmly membranous, 5-nerved, nerves scabrid, internerves usually finely scabrid-pubescent; lower 1-1.5 mm, enwrapping base of spikelet, upper 2.5-3.5 mm, ≈ spikelet, reflexed at maturity exposing upper part of ripening ☿ floret. Lower floret: lemma similar to upper glume,. 3 mm, 7-nerved, rotund-ovate, shortly acuminate or shortly cuspidate, nerves scabrid to hispid, internerves minutely scabrid-pubescent; palea < lemma, hyaline, keels minutely scabrid near apex. Upper floret: lemma. 3 mm, broadly elliptic to rotundate, very convex, crustaceous, obscurely 5-nerved, glabrous, shining, with a minute herbaceous cusp; palea. 2.5 mm; anthers 0.8-1 mm, yellowish brown to blackish; caryopsis. 1.5 x 1.5 mm, orbicular, very turgid, yellowish or brownish"  (Edgar & Connor, 2000; p. 548).

Description from GrassBase.

Habitat/ecology:  In New Zealand and the Kermadec Islands, "Stony waste land, coastal sands, roadsides (mostly from seed spillages), crops"  (Edgar & Connor, 2000; p. 548).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Eastern Asia and Japan (Edgar & Connor, 2000; p. 548).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Herbst, Derral R./Clayton, W. D. (1998) (p. 24) East Maui. Voucher cited: Hosaka 1799 (BISH)
New Zealand (offshore islands) Kermadec Islands	Kermadec Islands	introduced invasive	Edgar, E./Connor, H. (2000) (p. 548)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	probably native cultivated	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013)
Japan Japan	Japan	probably native	Edgar, E./Connor, H. (2000) (p. 548)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Edgar, E./Connor, H. (2000) (p. 548)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2013)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2013)

Control:  If you know of control methods for Echinochloa esculenta, please let us know.