Gantegawta / Tangle Head Grass
Heteropogon contortus
Also known as Spear Grass
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Rajasthan, Telangana, Maharashtra & more
- Flowering
- July-December
How to identify Gantegawta
Identify Gantegawta by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Confirm fruit surface: Spiny/burr-like.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: July-December.
- In India, compare location records such as Rajasthan, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Poaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Gantegawta.
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.
Explore the Poaceae familySnap it. Know it.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
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