''Eragrostis ciliaris'', the gophertail lovegrass, is a species of grass (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 native to the Old World Tropics; nearly all of Africa, Madagascar, other Indian Ocean islands, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Subcontinent, Myanmar, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines and a number of Pacific islands, and has been introduced to the New World Tropics and Subtropics, from the southern United States to Argentina, the Caribbean, and other Pacific islands. Its seeds are edible and nutritious, but quite small and difficult to harvest and handle, so it is usually regarded as a

famine food A famine food or poverty food is any inexpensive or readily available food used to nourish people in times of hunger and starvation, whether caused by extreme poverty, such as during economic depression or war, or by natural disasters such as ...

References

ciliaris Flora of Africa Flora of the Western Indian Ocean Flora of the Arabian Peninsula Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of Myanmar Flora of Vietnam Flora of the Philippines Flora of Taiwan Flora of the Northwestern Pacific Plants described in 1818 {{Chloridoideae-stub