Poaceae FAMILY

Eleusine coracana

Edibility

4/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

Eleusine coracana is a robust, free-tillering, tufted annual grass that can grow up to 170cm tall[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. ]. Finger millet was first cultivated as a food crop in east Africa around 3,000 BC. Cultivation has gradually spread from there and the plant is now grown, mainly on a small scale, in warm temperate to tropical countries around the world[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. ]. The plant also has local medicinal uses and is used as a soil stabilizer. The seed is sod in local markets, but there is little or no international trade[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. ].

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate; tropical

Native RangeOriginating in Africa, but widely spread through the tropics and subtropics. It probably arose through cultivation from Eleusine indica.

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