Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.

 
  • Family : POACEAE
    (Grass Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : GHAS FAMILY (घास फैमिली)
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : Poaceae
  • Synonym(s) : Cynodon coracanus (L.) Raspail; Cynosurus coracanus L.; Eleusine cerealis Salisb.; Eleusine indica subsp. coracana (L.) Lye; Eleusine indica var. coracana (L.) Fiori; Eleusine sphaerosperma Stokes
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.
  • Common name : Ragi, Finger millet, African millet, Ragi Cereal
  • Vernacular name :
    • Nrtyakundalah, Madhulika (Sanskrit)
    • Mandva, Maruva (Hindi)
    • Ragi (Kannada)
    • Raagi Hullu (Kannada)
    • Raahi, Kaezh Varagu (Tamil)
    • Nachni, Nagi, Nagli (Marathi)
    • Keppa, Kora, Koovaragu, Kuravu, Mutthari, Panjapullu, Ragipullu (Malayalam)
  • Habit : Herb
  • Habitat : Widely cultivated in Paleotropics
  • Comments / notes : Cultivated throughout. The millet is rich in protein and is used in local cuisines.
  • Flower, Fruit : March-November
  • Collector(s) Name : Cecil J. Saldanha
  • Collection Date : 23/08/1969
  • Collection Nos : CJS 14666
  • Collection Locality : Belur, Hassan district
  • Distribution :
    • Karnataka : Cultivated
    • Kerala : Kozhikode district, Palakkad district, Idukki district, Alappuzha district, Kollam district
    • Maharashtra : Amravati district, Mumbai-City district, Mumbai Suburban district, Kolhapur district, Pune district, Raigad district, Ratnagiri district, Satara district, Sindhudurg district, Thane district
    • Tamil Nadu : Cultivated
    • Arunachal Pradesh : Changlang, Lohit, Subansiri, Tirap
  • Native : Angola, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Chad, Comoros, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Free State, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinc
  • Exotic/Native : Exotic
  • World Distribution : Old World tropics
  • Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
  • Literature :
    • Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Flora of Hassan district, Karnataka
    • Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 – Flora of Bangalore district
    • Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 – Flora of Coorg district
    • Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 – Flora of Udupi district
    • Manjunath et al., 2003 –Flora of Davanagere
    • Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara
    • Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983.
    • B. D. Sharma, S. Karthikeyan & N. P. Singh 1996 - Flora of Maharashtra state - Monocotyledons
    • Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (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.: 287-288
  • Read more :
  • Permalink : http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Eleusine coracana
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2026). India Flora Online. http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Eleusine coracana. Downloaded on 30 January 2026.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)

Distribution District wise

India Distribution

World Distribution

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