Eleusine is a genus of Asian, African, and South American plants in the grass family, sometimes referred to by the common name goosegrass.
Several species of Eleusine are useful, with Eleusine coracana in particular, also known as finger millet, being cultivated as a cereal grain in India and parts of Africa since the third millennium BCE. One species, Eleusine indica, is a widespread weed.
Species
Eleusine africana – Africa (from South Africa to Egypt + Senegal), Madagascar, Comoros, Sinai, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman
Eleusine coracana – tropical Africa; naturalized in parts of Asia (Arabia, India, China, Japan, Indonesia, etc.), Western Australia, Fiji, Micronesia, etc.
Eleusine floccifolia – Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen
Eleusine indica – Asia, Africa, Papuasia; naturalized in Mediterranean, Australia, Americas, various islands
Eleusine intermedia – Kenya, Ethiopia
Eleusine jaegeri – Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda
Eleusine kigeziensis – Ethiopia, Uganda, Zaïre, Rwanda, Burundi
Eleusine multiflora – Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Eritrea, Yemen, Saudi Arabia; naturalized in South Africa, Mexico, Lesotho
Eleusine semisterilis – Kenya
Eleusine tristachya – Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile incl Juan Fernández Islands
