This grass is also known as buffalo grass, water grass, Angola grass and Mauritius grass. The crop responds well to sewage irrigation and is usually grown near large sewage disposal farms. It is a coarse, trailing perennial that spreads by surface runners which root profusely at the nodes with flowering stems 1 to 2 m high. The culms are erect, leafy, hollow, succulent and glabrous with hairy nodes. The leaf blades are dark green in colour, 25 to 30 cm long and 1 to 2 cm broad. Inflorescence is a panicle. Flowering is hastened in shorter photoperiods.