Botany
Balili is a grass, coarse, erect, aquatic or subaquatic in habit of growth, 1 to 1.5 m high, the lower parts decumbent and rooting at the nodes. Stems are 6 to 8 mm in diameter. Leaves are 20 to 40 cm long and 8 to 13 mm wide. Panicles are about 20 cm long. Spikes are green or purple, distinctly longer than the internodes, spreading or ascending, about 1. 5 cm long, nearly 1 cm thick. Spikelets are in pairs in two rows, nearly 5 mm long, the empty glumes hispid on the nerves, the third glume with a long or short awn.

Distribution
Distribution

Constituents
Contains saccharose, 10%; reducing sugar, 7%; and emulsin.

Properties
Considered styptic and tonic.

Parts used
Roots, shoots.

Uses
Edibility
Leaves and seeds.
Seeds are cooked. As millet, it can be cooked whole or ground as flour.
Young shoots, stem tips and heart of culm can be eaten, raw or cooked.
Roasted seed used as coffe substitute.
Folkloric
Decoction of pith used as diuretic.
Elsewhere, used as folk remedy for treating carbuncles, hemorrhages, sores, cancer and wounds.
Shoots and roots used as styptic to wounds.

Toxicity
Livestock: Plant reported to accumulate high nitrate levels in its tissues, especially when plants are exposed to inorganic fertilizers.

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Echinochloa crus-galli - (L.)P.Beauv. / Plants For A Future