Gantegawta / Tangle Head Grass
Heteropogon contortus
Also known as Spear Grass
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Rajasthan, Telangana, Maharashtra & more
- Flowering
- July-December
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Heteropogon contortus
- Genus
- Heteropogon
- Family
- Poaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Habitat
- Open deciduous forests
- Habitat type
- Forest
- Native to
- Pantropical
- Distribution
- Tropical and warm Temperate regions
- Found in India
- Rajasthan, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland
- Flowering & fruiting
- July-December
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Typical of the Poaceae family — a field-mark hint, not measured for this exact species.
Flower & fruit characters
- Fruit surface
- Spiny/burr-likerecorded
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Spike
- Fruit
- Grain
Characters marked “recorded” are for Gantegawta itself; the rest are typical of the Poaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Nepali
- अर्थुङ्गे (वनस्पति), अर्थुङ्गे
- Kannada
- Kaarda hullu, Kariunugada hullu, Nanju hullu
- Marathi
- Gantegawta, Kantegawta
About Gantegawta
Tangle head Grass (Heteropogon contortus) belongs to the Poaceae family, where it grows as a herb. In India it has been recorded in Rajasthan, Telangana, Maharashtra and 19 other states. It grows in open deciduous forests. Flowering and fruiting run from July to December.
Poaceae
Grass family
Gantegawta belongs to the Poaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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