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Echinochloa colonum

Jungle-Rice

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Image:	Plant and detail of flower spike	87KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Jungle-Rice, Barnyard-grass

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Vayavaya (PK)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Africa - Asia; EXOTIC EXOTIC circumtropical

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; S.Group - widespread; N.Group - Pukapuka only; Land, lowlands, wetlands

KEY FEATURES: Annual grass, prostrate to erect, to 60cm. LEAVES ascending then arching, slender, to 20x0.8cm, green ± purplish bands, without a collar (=ligule). FLOWER stalk to ~10cm, with thick, ascending branches (=racemes) to 2cm packed with ovoid spikelets. SPIKELETS sessile in ~4 rows, ovoid, 2-3mmL, inconspicuously hairs, without terminal spine (=awn).

SIMILAR SPECIES: Barnyard Grass (Echinochloa crus-galli) to 100cm (vs. to 60cm); leaves to 40x1.2cm (vs. 20x0.8cm); racemes 2-4cm (vs. 1-3cm); spikelets very hairy (vs. slightly hairy); spikelets with long awn (vs. without awn).

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P	P		+	P	P	-	-	-

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	+++	-	-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Echinochloa colonum (Linnaeus)
SYNONYMS: Panicum colonum Linnaeus; Echinochloa glabrescens [sensu]

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); LILIOPSIDA (=Monocotyledones); COMMELINIDAE; Cyperales; POACEAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Pukapuka: fieldspecimen, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Echinochloa colonum.

References:
p.1535 Wagner et al.- Flowering Plants of Hawaii
p.74 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.1/341 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.19 ? Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM05a

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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