Description
A low, spreading annual grass with finger-like seed heads radiating from the stem tip, common on cultivated and disturbed ground.
Medicinal Uses
Leaves and whole-plant preparations are used in traditional medicine as a cooling remedy for mild fevers and as a poultice for skin irritation.
Food Uses
Grazed as pasture and cut for hay; the seeds have occasionally been used as a famine food.
Cultivation
A fast-growing, drought-tolerant weed of farmland, roadsides, and sandy soils, spreading readily by seed.
