''Dichanthium annulatum'' is a species of grass in the family

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

. It is commonly used as a

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used m ...

for

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

. Common names include marvel grass, Diaz bluestem, Kleberg bluestem, Hindi grass, ringed dichanthium, sheda grass, medio bluestem (var. ''papillosum''), jargu grass, Delhi grass, vuda bluegrass, two-flowered golden-beard,Cook, B. G., et al
''Dichanthium annulatum''.
Tropical Forages. CSIRO, DPI&F (Qld), CIAT and ILRI, Brisbane, Australia. Santa Barbara grass. It is native to tropical Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa. In India, it is very important in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

.Quattrocchi, U. ''CRC World Dictionary of Grasses: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology, Volume 1.'' CRC Press. 2006. pg. 633. It has been introduced to many other parts of the world for cultivation, and it has become

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

in some places, such as Australia.

Description

This species is quite variable.''Dichanthium annulatum'' (Forsk.) Stapf.
The Center for New Crops & Plant Products. Purdue University. In general, it is a perennial grass often with

stolon In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external s ...

s. The stems spread outwards, then grow erect at the ends. A stem may be a meter long and reach about 60 centimeters in erect height.''Dichanthium annulatum''.
Grass Manual. Flora of North America. Each node on the stem is encircled with a ring of hairs. The rough-haired leaf blades are up to 30 centimeters long. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is an array of purplish or green branches each up to 7 centimeters long. There are generally 2 to 9 branches, but sometimes up to 15. The spikelet may be well over 2 centimeters long, including its long

awn AWN may stand for: * Awn Access to Justice Network in Gaza Strip, Legal Aid Network operate in Gaza Strip, Palestine * Animation World Network, an online organization for animators * Avant Window Navigator, a dock-like bar that tracks open windows ...

. The awn is twisted and has two bends in it. The root system goes no deeper than one meter.''Dichanthium annulatum'' (Forsk.) Stapf.
Grassland Species Profiles. FAO. This grass often reproduces by

apomixis In botany, apomixis is asexual reproduction without fertilization. Its etymology is Greek for "away from" + "mixing". This definition notably does not mention meiosis. Thus "normal asexual reproduction" of plants, such as propagation from cuttin ...

, producing seeds without

fertilization Fertilisation or fertilization (see spelling differences), also known as generative fertilisation, syngamy and impregnation, is the fusion of gametes to give rise to a new individual organism or offspring and initiate its development. Proce ...

. It does reproduce sexually at times. Plants can be diploid, tetraploid, or hexaploid.

In cultivation

This is a popular

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

grass in many areas. It can be used in fields for grazing livestock, and cut for hay and silage. It is tolerant of varied soil conditions, including soils high in clay and sand, poorly drained soils, and soils that are somewhat alkaline and saline. It forms a turf that can stand up to grazing pressure. It can recover from fire and drought, but it is less tolerant of frost and shade. It does not require fertilizer but it does respond well to a small amount of supplemental nitrogen. Horses and cattle find it very palatable. While it can aggressively outcompete many other plants, it thrives with some types of companion species, such as the grasses ''

Bothriochloa insculpta ''Bothriochloa'' is a common and widespread genus of plants in the grass family native to many countries on all inhabited continents and many islands. They are often called beardgrass, bluegrass or bluestem. The etymology of the genus name ''Bot ...

'', ''

Dichanthium aristatum ''Dichanthium aristatum'' is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is commonly used as a forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only pl ...

'', and '' D. caricosum'', and the

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

s '' Medicago sativa'', ''

Stylosanthes hamata ''Stylosanthes hamata'', the Caribbean stylo, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is native to the islands of the Caribbean, and nearby areas on the mainland; Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela, and it ...

'', and '' S. seabrana''. The grass can also be used to revegetate degraded grasslands. It is a very effective binding plant for erosion control.Heuzé V., Tran G., Archimède H., 2015. Marvel grass (Dichanthium annulatum). Feedipedia, a programme by INRA, CIRAD, AFZ and FAO. https://www.feedipedia.org/node/463 Last updated on May 11, 2015, 14:30 This is an especially favored pasture grass species in India. There it is familiar, widely planted, and successful.

Cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s include 'Marvel 8'.

Ecology

This grass is host to a number of fungus species, such as ''

Balansia sclerotica ''Balansia'' is a genus of fungi in the family Clavicipitaceae. Species from this genus have been found to produce an ergopeptine Ergoline is a chemical compound whose structural skeleton is contained in a variety of alkaloids, referred to as ...

'', ''

Cerebella andropogonis The cerebellum (Latin for "little brain") is a major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. Although usually smaller than the cerebrum, in some animals such as the mormyrid fishes it may be as large as or even larger. In humans, the cerebel ...

'', '' Chaetostroma atrum'', ''

Cochliobolus cymbopogonis ''Cochliobolus cymbopogonis'' is a fungal plant pathogen. Those fungi that do not need a partner to mate are termed homothallic Homothallic refers to the possession, within a single organism, of the resources to reproduce sexually; i.e., having ...

'', '' Curvularia andropogonis'', '' C. lunata'', '' C. robusta'', '' Ellisiella caudata'', '' Jamesdicksonia obesa'', '' Phyllachora ischaemi'', '' Physoderma dichanthicola'', '' Pithomyces graminicola'', '' Puccinia cesatii'', '' P. duthiae'', '' P. propinqua'', '' Sclerospora dichanthicola'', '' Sphacelotheca annulata'', '' S. andropogonis-annulati'', '' Tolyposporella obesa'', '' Uredo susica'', ''

Uromyces andropogonis-annulati ''Uromyces'' is a genus of rust fungi in the family Pucciniaceae. The genus was described by Franz Unger in his 1833 work ''Die Exantheme der Pflanzen''. They have a worldwide distribution but large occurrences happen in North America and Europe. ...

'', '' U. clignyi'', and '' Ustilago duthiei''. Most are not very destructive to the grass, but it is susceptible to

ergot Ergot ( ) or ergot fungi refers to a group of fungi of the genus ''Claviceps''. The most prominent member of this group is ''Claviceps purpurea'' ("rye ergot fungus"). This fungus grows on rye and related plants, and produces alkaloids that ca ...

(''Claviceps'' spp.). It is also a host for the

parasitic plant A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the ...

'' Striga lutea''. This grass can escape cultivation and take hold in the wild. It is able to grow in harsh and disturbed habitat types, such as roadsides. It can become a weed. It is an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, and

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

and has displaced native grasses in large areas of south

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

.''Dichanthium annulatum''.
Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER). It is cited as a factor in the decline of the slender rushpea (''Hoffmannseggia tenella'') a federally listed endangered plant of the United States.USFWS
Slender Rushpea Five-year Review.
July 2008.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10912515 Panicoideae Grasses of Africa Flora of tropical Asia Grasses of India Forages