African finger millet, African millet, coracan, dagussa, finger millet, gagussa, garindi, Indian millet, korakan, kurakkan, millet, poko grass, ragi, ragi millet, rapoko grass

Eleusine coracana is a cultivated cereal crop. (African or Finger Millet) is sometimes cultivated in the plains and lower hills (usually below 300m) and used to make a kind of porridge or alcoholic beverage. The species may occasionally escape and can be recognised by the broad spikes of closely packed, non-shattering spikelets and the almost globular grains. It is widely distributed in Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Ningxia, Shandong, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang.

Floral Description:

According to Flora of China

Annual. Culms tufted, robust, erect or ascending, usually branched, 50–120 cm tall. Leaf sheaths glabrous; leaf blades flat, 30–60 × 0.6–1.2 cm, pilose or glabrous; ligule 1–2 mm. Inflorescence subdigitate, racemes 5–20, stout, often incurved at maturity, 5–10 × 0.8–1.5 cm, hairy at base. Spikelets very closely imbricate, ovate, 5–9 mm, florets 6–9, not disarticulating at maturity; glumes lanceolate-oblong, scabrid along the winged keel; lower glume 3-veined, 1.5–3 mm; upper glume with additional veins in keel, 1.8–5 mm; lemmas triangular-ovate, 2.2–4.7 mm, keel 3-veined, scabrid and narrowly winged, subacute; palea narrowly ovate, keels scabrid, winged. Grain yellowish brown, globose, finely striate-punctate.

According to Flora of Taiwan:

Culm tufted. Blade linear; sheath overlapping; ligule 1-2 mm long, a fringe of hairs. Inflorescence of digitate one-sided spikes. Spikelets 2-4-flowered, about 5 mm long; glumes chartaceous, folded, conspicuously keeled on back, acute; the lower 2/3 as long as the upper; lemma deltoid-ovate, acute, keeled on back, about 3.5 mm long, 5-nerved, lateral nerves close to the midrib; palea narrowly ovate, 2-keeled, siliceous along keels, as long as the lemma. Seed about 1 mm long, black and wrinkled; embryo 1/2-3/4 the length of the seed. Fruit an utricle. 

Common Names:

in English: African finger millet, African millet, coracan, dagussa, finger millet, gagussa, garindi, Indian millet, korakan, kurakkan, millet, poko grass, ragi, ragi millet, rapoko grass
in Bhutan: kodo, kompa, kong pu, maung zo, memja, menja
in Cambodia: chë:ng kra:hs, chëng krahs, si:ng söng
in China: can zi

in India: ambali raagi, ariyam, bahupathraka, bahupatraka, bavto, bhuchara, chalodra, chollu, cholu, dunkia, gonddo, guchha, hinche, iracikai, iracikam, iragi, iraki, irattaraci, kadhina, kaezh varagu, kal varagu, kalumarikam, kanisha, kapai, kayur, kel varaku, kelvaragu, kelvaraku, kelvaregu, keppa, keppai, kevar, kevaru, kevu, kevura, kevuru, kezhvaragu, koda, kode, kodo, kodon, kodra, kora, korakan, kram-alau, krishna, kulvaraku, kurakhan, kurakkan, kuravu, kurukkan, kutra, labra koda, lagli, lanchhana, madhulika, madua, maduo, madwa, makra, malicha, maliyasa, mandal, mandia, mandua, mandva, mandwa, mandwah, marna, marooa, marua, maruva, maud, merua, munrwee, murha, murooa, muthaari, muthari, muttari, naachani, naachni, naccini, nachiri, nachni, nachno, nachoni, nagli, nanchano, nancini, nangkli, nangli, narttaka, narttakah, natchanee, navto,
nrityakunda, nrityakundala, nrtyakundaka, nrtyakundala, nrtyakundalah, pachmi, pancantanki, pedda, peddaraagulu, ponassa, puncappullu, raagi, raagi hittu, raagi huttu, raagulu, raahi, raaji, raajika, ragi, ragulu, raji, rajika, raki, rotka, sodee, sodi, soma, tamidalu, tamidelu, tangum, thamidalu, thamidelu, thaviddu, tsjetti pulli, tsjetti-pullu, ukantavaraku
in Indonesia: jaba, jampamg carulang, suket lulangan
in Laos: pha:k kh’wa:y
in Malaysia: ragi, rumput sambau
in Nepal: kodo, maruvaa 

in South Laos: (people Nya Hön) teneraa
in Sri Lanka: belatana, korakan, kurakkan, walmal kurakkan
in Thailand: khao pang sam ngam, khao-pang-samngam, khaao paang saam ngaam
in Tibet: bras ma dhu li ga, bras ma du lun ga
in Vietnam: ke chan vit
in Angola: luca, luco, luku, oluku
in Congo: uburo
in Kenya: akima, boro, bulo, kal, kipsongik, matagh, mataighio, mugimbi, mwimbi, obori, obul, obule, obure, oloikimbi, ugimbi, uimbi, voro, vule, wimbi
in Malawi: khakwe, lipoko, lupoko, malesi, mawe, mawere, mulimbi, usanje
in Niger: hèèni
in Nigeria: chargari, interrkoum, interrkum, kpana, kpana hos, kpanàà hos, kpanàà zeng, kuttung, oka tamba, sarga, tamba, tambà, tambaa, tomba, wanda
in Rwanda: uburo
in Somalia: uemba, uembe, wemba
in South Africa: korakan, pokograss, vingermanna
in S. Rhodesia: uluPoko, nDundu, chiKwai, chiNyamande
in Tanzania: bege, bulo

in Uganda: bulo

Scientific Names:

• Eleusine coracana subsp. africana (Kenn.-O'Byrne) Hilu & de Wet
• Eleusine coracana var. alba Körn. 
• Eleusine coracana var. atra Körn. 
• Eleusine coracana subsp. coracana  
  Eleusine coracana var. fusca Körn.
• Eleusine coracana var. stricta (Roxb.) Nees 
• Eleusine coracana var. tocussa (Fresen.) Franch.

Medicinal Uses: 

Grains acrid, astringent and tonic, cooling, reported to be diaphoretic, diuretic and vermifuge, recommended for diabetes, blood disease and biliousness; a cake made of leaves of Andrographis paniculata and grains of Eleusine coracana taken as a treatment for gastrointestinal disorders, inflammation and microbial infection. Seeds burnt and the smoke spread in house to eradicate insects.