The Paspalum orbiculare is the large swamp grass with which the natives covered their houses.
Species of Paspalum, Eleusine and Milium, are also cultivated as millets.
The coffee and cotton plants are indigenous; of grasses there are various kinds of millet, including Paspalum exile, the so-called hungry rice or Sierra Leone millet.
In the spicate forms, with sessile spikelets on the main axis, the latter is often dilated and flattened (Paspalum), or is more or less thickened and hollowed out (Stenotaphrum, Rottboellia, Tripsacum), when the spikelets are sunk and buried within the cavities.
Paspalum, is a large tropical genus, most abundant in America, especially on the pampas and campos; many species are good forage plants, and the grain is sometimes used for food.