Woollybutt grass

Description

Eragrostis eriopoda, the woollybutt grass, is a species of love grass in the family Poaceae, native to most of Australia. It is a major grass species of the mulga savanna. In the same genus as teff, its seeds are edible, but very small. Eragrostis is commonly known as lovegrass or canegrass. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek words (eros), meaning "love", and (agrostis), meaning "grass". Lovegrass is commonly used as livestock fodder. The seeds appear to be of high nutritional value for some animals, but they are also very tiny and collecting them for human food is cumbersome and hence uncommon. A notable exception is teff (E. tef), which is used to make traditional breads on the Horn of Africa, such as Ethiopian injera and Somalian laxoox. It is a crop of commercial importance. E. clelandii and E. tremula are recorded as famine foods in Australia and Chad, respectively. Other species, such as E. amabilis, are used as ornamental plants. E. cynosuroides is used in the pūjā rites in the Hindu temple at Karighatta. Bahia lovegrass (E. bahiensis) is known as a hyperaccumulator of caesium-137 and can be grown to remove the highly toxic radioactive atoms from the environment. Weeping lovegrass (E. curvula) has been planted extensively to prevent soil erosion.