Echinochloa esculenta
Echinochloa esculenta, the Japanese barnyard millet or Japanese millet, is a species of Echinochloa that is cultivated on a small scale in India, Japan, China and Korea, both as a food and for animal fodder. It is grown in areas where the land is unsuitable or the climate too cool for paddy rice cultivation. However, the development of rice varieties that can withstand cold has led to a sharp decline in the cultivation of Japanese barnyard millet, in favor of rice. The earliest records of the domesticated form date to 2000 BC from the Jōmon period of Japan.
Japanese barnyard millet is believed to have been domesticated from Echinochloa crus-galli.Etymology
Echinochloa is derived from Greek and means 'hedgehog-grass'.
Esculenta means ‘fit to eat’, ‘edible ’, or ‘full of food'.
