Echinochloa crus-galli, is one of a variety of Enchinochloa genus collectively known as barnyard grass, or specifically known as cockspur grass, due to its fruiting body. E. crus-galli is an annual monocot C4 grass species native to Eurasia, but now is present and considered a noxious weed throughout most of the World. E. crus-galli is a robust grass standing up to 1.5m tall with a thick stem and long fibrous roots that can penetrate 116cm deep and spread out 106cm laterally. Only limited in distribution by a required 160 to 200 days free of frost, the grass is typically found between 50° North and 40° South E. crus-galli is present throughout much of the world. Thanks in part to its great adaptive abilities, E. crus-galli is able to withstand and thrive in a wide variety of environments, such as saline soils. Adaptation to different environments has morphological effects, making E. crus-galli difficult to identify in many regions; a distinguishing trait is the lack of ligules, on the leaf stem interface. E. crus-galli grows best in warmer temperatures, bellow 25.7° C it starts to loose its competitive edge on neighboring plants.



        Reproductive success of E. crus-galli is achieved by high yields of small distributable seeds and a variable flowering photoperiod, dependent on conditions. Each plant can produce 2,000 up to 40,000 seeds per season. Seeds lay dormant over the winters and germinate in the spring in temperatures ranging from 13° to 40° C. Germination rates are affected mostly by dormancy periods, and soil saturation, the longer the dormancy the better, and soil saturation around 75% is ideal.

        Within the U.S E. crus-galli is usually present along road sides, disturbed soils, present in many crops and can be commonly found around marshy areas, such as those around the Eastern side of the Great Salt Lake. The grass has the ability to take up high amounts of nitrogen, quickly depleting the soil up to 60-80% by midseason. This can drastically reducing the yield and increasing the mortality of other plants in its vicinity. Economically E. crus-galli is damaging too many agricultural crops, such as rice, tobacco and potato fields do to its ability to monopolize soil nutrients. E. crus-galli is even known for poisoning live stock with dangerous levels of nitrogen that that can occur in nitrogen rich soils.

        E. crus-galli was first seen in the U.S. in the early 19th century and rapidly spread; it has been marketed in the past as a feed grass, but proved to be to succulent for hay burners and was abandoned by farmers as a feed. Currently E. crus-galli is used for soil restoration in saline and alkaline soils. In some Eastern cultures it is used as a vegetable and in herbal remedies, the seeds are eaten in Africa, and in Australia it is used as feed for sheep in regions of drought. E. crus-galli is considered one of the world's worst weeds, affecting 36 crops within 61 countries