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Sporobolus indicus

Common name:	Smut Grass	Family:	Gramineae
Author:	(L.)R.Br.	Botanical references:	50, 154
Synonyms:	Sporobolus pyramidalis (P.Beauv.), Sporobolus poiretii (auct.), Sporobolus jacquemontii (Kunth.), Sporobolus diandrus ((Retz.)P.Beauv.), Sporobolus capensis ((P.Beauv.)Kunth.), Sporobolus africanus ((Poir.)Robyns.& Tournay.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	S. Europe.
Habitat:	Found in poor dry soils in Australia[154]. Is it native or naturalized there?
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Agrostis capensis[G] Agrostis indica[B,G,P] S. angustus[B,P] S. berteroanus[B,G,P] S. elongatus[B] S. elongatus auct. non[P] S. indicus var. capensis[B,G] S. indicus var. flaccidus[G] S. indicus var. indicus[B,G] S. indicus var. pyramidalis[B,G] S. tenacissimus[G] Vilfa berteroana[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Rattailgrass [P], Smut Grass [P,B], West Indian Dropseed [P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	indicus = Indian
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Cyperales. Renamed to Poaceae -- Grass family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Paraguay
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: USA Invasive.

Physical Characteristics

Perennial. . The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Wind. We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Seed.

Seed - raw or cooked. It can be ground into a flour[46].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antiinflammatory Blood tonic Contraceptive VD.

The plant is used to enrich the blood, reduce swellings and correct gonorrhoea[218]. It is considered to be an antifertility drug in some countries[218].

Other Uses

Fibre.

A fibre is obtained from the leaves[156].

Cultivation details

Succeeds in any well drained soil in a sunny position[200].
There is some confusion over the naming of this plant, some sources say S. indicus is an annual grass found in Asia and naturalized in S. Europe[50], others say it is a perennial native to S. Europe[1, 46]. Botanists have divided this species into a number of subspecies as detailed below:-
S. indicus capensis Engl. (Syn S. africanus (Poir.)Robyns.& Tournay. S. capensis (P.Beauv.)Kunth. Native to Africa.
S. indicus flaccidus (Roem.& Schult.)Veldkamp. (Syn S. diandrus (Retz.)P.Beauv.) Native to western Asia and Australia.
S. indicus indicus. (Syn S. poiretii auct.) Native to North and South America.
S. indicus pyramidalis (P.Beauv.)Veldkamp. (Syn S. jacquemontii Kunth., S. pyramidalis P.Beauv.) Native to Africa, the Arabian Peninsular, North and South America.

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a greenhouse and only just cover the seed. Germination should take place within 2 weeks. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and plant them out in the summer if they have grown sufficiently. Otherwise, grow them on in a greenhouse for their first winter and plant them out in late spring of the following year.
Division in spring. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found it best to pot up the smaller divisions and grow them on in a lightly shaded position in a cold frame, planting them out once they are well established in the summer.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Sporobolus africanus (a possible synonym).

[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

References for Sporobolus indicus var. capensis (a possible synonym).

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.

References for Sporobolus indicus var. flaccidus (a possible synonym).

[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.

References for Sporobolus indicus var. indicus (a possible synonym).

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.

References for Sporobolus indicus var. pyramidalis (a possible synonym).

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.

References for Sporobolus jacquemontii (a possible synonym).

[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[50] ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964
An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.

[154] Ewart. A. J. Flora of Victoria.
A flora of eastern Australia, it is rather short on information that is useful to the plant project.

[156] Cribb. A. B. and J. W. Useful Wild Plants in Australia. William Collins Pty Ltd. Sidney 1981 ISBN 0-00-216441-8
A very readable book.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[218] Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publications, Inc. 1985 ISBN 0-917256-20-4
Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Sporobolus+indicus
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