Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica)

Alang-alang or cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica) is a plant species in Poaceae, annual grass, sharp leaf, long buds and scaly, creeping under the ground, very adaptive and grows in all climates which often become weeds on agricultural land.

I. cylindrica has a sharp pointed tip of the bud and emerges from the ground, height of 0.2-1.5 m but in other places it may be more, short stems, rising up to the ground and flowering white or purplish, often with wreath of hair under the segment.

Leaf strands in the form of long ribbons, lancet-tipped with a narrow base and gutter-shaped, 12-80 cm long, very coarse edge and jagged sharply, long hair at the base with broad, pale leaf bones in the middle.

The flowers are panicles, 6-28 cm long with long-haired and white-colored ears for 1 cm which are used as a tool to blow off the fruit when ripe. Cogon grass breeds quickly with seeds that spread quickly with the wind or through rhizomes that quickly penetrate the soil.

Alang-alang does not like to grow in poor, arid and rocky soil, submerged or permanently shaded. This grass is happy with fertile soils, lots of sun or rather shady, damp or dry.

This weed soon gained control of former degraded and open forest land, former fields, dry rice fields, roadside and others. They will grow dominantly and cover large areas. The shoots that grow after a fire are favored by grass-eating animals.

I. cylindrica is used to protect open areas that are easily eroded. Growth speed, underground rhizomes and close leaf cover will provide the needed protection benefits. cogon grass leaves are also often used as mulch to protect the soil on agricultural land.

The leaves which are dried and scraped in bundles are used as roofing material for houses and other buildings. Fine fibers from the panicles of flowers are sometimes used to fill pillows. Rhizomes and roots are used to treat diuretics, fever and others.

Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Imperata
Species: I. cylindrica

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