• Family : POACEAE
  (Grass Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : GHAS FAMILY (घास फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : Poaceae
• Synonym(s) : Agrostis diandra Retz.; Sporobolus indicus var. diandrus (Retz.) Jovet & Guédès; Vilfa diandra (Retz.) Trin.; Vilfa retzii Steud.; Agrostis dianthera Schult. & Schult.f.; Agrostis elongata var. flaccida Roth; Spermachiton involutum Llanos; Sporobolus diandrus var. nanus Hook.f.; Sporobolus indicus var. flaccidus (Roth) Veldkamp; Sporobolus trimenii Senaratna; Vilfa erosa Trin.
• Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Sporobolus diandrus (Retz.) P.Beauv.
• Common name : Drop seed Grass
• Habit : Herb
• Habitat : Tropical moist deciduous forests and wasteland
• Comments / notes : Common along road-sides and in wastelands.
• Key identification features : A tufted grass. Leaves flat or involute; ligule a fringe of hairs. Panicle pyramidal; branches spreading, with many small spikelets arranged racemosely along the axis. Spikelets c. 1.5 mm. long. Stamens 2. Grain c. 0.6 mm. long, obovoid, coarsely pitted.
• Flower, Fruit : July-December
• Collector(s) Name : Raja K. Swamy; R.Raghavendra Rao; T.P.Ramamoorthy
• Collection Date : 21-11-2010, 15-11-2014, 08-02-1972, 10-07-1970
• Collection Nos : SKU 40344, HJCB-E-364, KFP 1733, HFP 363
• Collection Locality : Kalasamudram, Anantapur district; Batrepalli, Anantapur district; Base of M.M.hills, Mysuru district; Byrapura, Hassan district
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Anantapur district
  • Karnataka : Hassan district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Mysuru district, Udupi district, Shivamogga district, Dakshina Kannada district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : All districts of Maharashtra
  • Odisha : Odisha
  • Tamil Nadu : Tamil Nadu
  • Madhya Pradesh : Hoshangabad district
  • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
  • Sikkim : Sikkim
  • Himachal Pradesh : Himachal Pradesh
  • Arunachal Pradesh : Lohit, Siang
  • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
  • Assam : Assam
  • Nagaland : Nagaland
  • Delhi : Delhi
  • Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
  • Punjab : Punjab
  • Jammu and Kashmir : Jammu and Kashmir
  • Mizoram : Mizoram
  • Manipur : Manipur
  • Tripura : Tripura
• Native : Bangladesh, Bhutan, Borneo, China, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Madagascar, Malaya, Maluku, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Guinea, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Seychelles, Socotra, South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera,
• Exotic/Native : Native
• World Distribution : Bangladesh, Bhutan, Borneo, China, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Madagascar, Malaya, Maluku, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Guinea, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Seychelles, Socotra, South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature :
  • Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Flora of Hassan district, Karnataka
  • Balakrishna Gowda & A.N. Sringesh 2004 – Sringeri (checklist unpublished)
  • Rao & Razi, 1981 - Mysore
  • Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 - Flora of Coorg district, Karnataka state
  • Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 - Udupi
  • Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara
  • H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1996- Flora of Orissa Vol. 4
  • H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa
  • B. D. Sharma, S. Karthikeyan & N. P. Singh 1996 - Flora of Maharashtra state - Monocotyledons
  • Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.2. Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983
  • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
  • H J, Chowdhery, et al. Materials for Flora of Arunachal Pradesh. Volume 3, Botanical Survey of India, 2009. Pg.: 310
• Read more :
  • Plants of the World Online
  • World Flora Online
  • Global Plants on JSTOR
• Permalink : http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Sporobolus diander
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2026). India Flora Online. http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Sporobolus diander. Downloaded on 12 February 2026.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)

Distribution District wise

India Distribution

World Distribution