Barnyardgrass
Echinochloa crus-galli · Aquatic plants
Whole plant · Photo: Alex Zorach / CC BY
Also called Watergrass, Cockspur grass, Barnyard grass
How to identify Barnyardgrass
- Coarse annual grass 1 to 4 feet tall, often reddish at the base
- No ligule (no collar flap) where the leaf meets the stem
- Seed head of thick, bristly branches, green to purple
- Flat leaves with a whitish midrib
Similar plants
Most other grasses have a ligule at the leaf base where barnyardgrass has none, but native rough barnyardgrass also lacks one and takes a close look at the seeds to tell apart; crabgrass has slender, fingerlike branches in its head.
Growth profile
| Growing season | Sprouts in late spring once soils are warm, heads out July to September and is killed by frost. |
|---|---|
| Starts growing | Warm soils in late spring |
| Light | Full sun |
| Depth | Moist mud to shallow water |
| How it spreads | Seeds |
| Habitat | Drawdown mudflats, pond margins, ditch banks and the edges of irrigated fields. |
Why it matters in a lake
A fast growing annual that quickly covers pond bottoms exposed in summer. The seeds are a good food for waterfowl.
Where it is found
- Idaho: Common
- Oregon: Common
- Wyoming: Occasional
Classification
| Kingdom | Plantae |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Tracheophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Poales |
| Family | Poaceae |
| Scientific name | Echinochloa crus-galli |
Canada thistle
Foxtail barley
Pale smartweed
Curly dock
Nodding beggarticks
Wild mint
Toad rush
Perennial pepperweed
Poison hemlock
Inland saltgrassNeed a hand?
Is it taking over your lake?
We identify what is growing, map how much of it there is and build a control plan that targets it without harming the rest of the lake.
Idaho / Wyoming (208) 501-4531Oregon (541) 280-0596