Echinochloa polystachya | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Poales |
Family: | Poaceae |
Subfamily: | Panicoideae |
Genus: | Echinochloa |
Species: | E. polystachya
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Binomial name | |
Echinochloa polystachya | |
Synonyms[2] | |
List
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Echinochloa polystachya, the German grass, is a species of grass (family Poaceae), native to the New World Tropics and Subtropics, from Texas and Florida down to Argentina.[2] It is an aquatic or semi-aquatic perennial that can grow in water as deep as 2 m (7 ft).[3] It is a useful fodder for water buffaloes, and to a lesser extent, cattle.[3] In the Amazon floodplain it can reach productivity levels of 99.6 t/ha (39.7 long ton/acre; 44.4 short ton/acre) in dry mass, one of the highest levels ever measured in natural vegetation and belongs to the C4 plants .[4][5] Given that it occupies about 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi) of territory during the rainy season, it contributes on the order of 1% of the primary productivity of the planet.[6]