Botanical Name - Heteropogon contortus

----- Heteropogon contortus, Linn.; Roem. (Syn. Andropogon contortus, Linn). Vern. Yayray gaddi, Eddi gaddi, Kaseri gaddi, Dubba kaseri gaddi, Yerragoyi Tel. Surwala, (Hind) Yedi (Mar). The spear grass.

----- A perennial grass; culms densely tufted, reaching up to 4 1/2 ft., tall erect or decumbent below leafty chiefly at the base. Leaves about 2 ft. long, firm, flat, linear, rather rough, often hairy from bulbous base; sheath compressed and keeled, glabrous. Racemes terminal, erect or curved, very conspitcuous from the dark brown awna which form a straigh-bundle when young, becoming strongly geniculate and twisted when mature.

----- Found in dry localities and in open scrubby forests usually on poor, eroded soils in a gregarious form. A very troublesome grass owing to the sharp, barbed callus and hygroscopic awns which cause the fruit to adhere and penetrate into the cloathing of man and the hairs of animal. A good fodder grass and suitable for hay-making, but when in fruit, the latter should first be separated. It is possible to get severla cuttings of this grass during the rains in areas of high rainfall.