An erect, perennial herb, strongly tillering, monoecious grass, often cultivated as an annual, up to 3 m tall. Culm filled with pith, glabrous, sometimes pruinose, branched in the upper part. Leaves large and sheathed; sheath short, glabrous or with long hairs at the apex; ligule short and membranous; auricles absent; blade linear to ovate-lanceolate, 8- 100 cm x 1.5-5 cm, base rounded to almost cordate, apex acute, midrib prominent, margins rough, smooth or scabrid above. Inflorescence in axil of upper leaves, solitary or 2-7-fascicled, on peduncle 3-6 cm long; at the end of the peduncle a hollow, bony, globular to ovoid-elliptical cupule (a modified leaf-sheath), 5-15 mm long, shiny, white or blueish, comprising 2 racemes; female raceme enclosed by the cupule and consisting of a sessile spikelet accompanied by 2 barren pedicels; spikelet with 1 pistillate floret of which the 2 stigmas exsert from the mouth of the cupule; male raceme 3-5 cm long, exserted from the mouth of the cupule, with about 10 imbricate spikelets borne in pairs or threes, one pedicelled, the other(s) sessile; spikelet lanceolate to ellipsoid, 7-8 mm long, falling at maturity, containing 1-2 staminate florets, each with a lemma, a smaller palea and 3 stamens. False fruit (the cupule) variable in size, shape, colour and hardness, usually 8-12 mm long, grey, yellow-brown or purplish, soft or hard, containing the caryopsis. Caryopsis dark red in hard- shelled forms, pale brown in soft-shelled edible forms.

Anodyne, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, hypoglycaemic, hypotensive, sedative and vermifuge (fruits); antitumor (plant); antirheumatic, diuretic, pectoral, refrigerant and tonic (seed without husk); anthelmintic (decoction of the roots).

Plants For A Future
PROSEA (Plant Resources of South-East Asia) Foundation

Ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, campesterol, coixenolide, linoleic acid, niacin, riboflavin, stigmasterol, thiamin (seed); beta-sitosterol, coixol, palmitic acid, stearic acid (root).

Used for abdominal tumours, oesophageal, gastrointestinal, and lung cancers, various tumours, as well as excrescences, warts, and whitlows (fruits); for the treatment to cure warts and in the treatment of lung abscess, lobar pneumonia, appendicitis, rheumatoid arthritis, beriberi, diarrhoea, oedema and difficult urination (tea from the boiled seeds); in the treatment of menstrual disorders and gonorrhoea (roots).