Usage
Often used in times of food shortage as a famine food. In Chad (central) and Sudan (Kordofan, Darfur) the seeds of this plant are ground into flour from which porridge or bread can be prepared. In Rajasthan in India the seeds are used as rice - hence its English common name of 'jungle rice', from the Hindustani jangal, meaning wild.
While also being part of staple diet for some communities in India, these seeds are, in particular, (cooked and) eaten during religious fasting (willingly abstaining from some types of food / food ingredients). For this reason, these seeds are commonly also referred to as "vrat ke chawal" in Hindi (i.e. - rice for fasting, literally). Other (formal) names to identify these seeds include Samo seeds, Morio / Mario / Moraiaya seeds, Bhagar.
Indian barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea), a cultivated crop in India, was domesticated from E. colona.
Read more about this topic: Echinochloa Colona
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