Digitaria compacta

{{Short description|Species of grass also known as raishan}}

{{Speciesbox

|genus = Digitaria

|species = compacta

|authority = (Roth ex Roem. & Schult.) Veldkamp

|synonyms =

{{Plainlist | style = margin-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em; |

• Axonopus corymbosus (Roxb.) Schult.
• Digitaria bifasciculata (Trin.) Henrard
• Digitaria corymbosa (Roxb.) Merr.
• Digitaria cruciata var. esculenta Bor{{cite web |title=Digitaria cruciata var. esculenta Bor {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77273593-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=20 January 2025 |language=en}}
• Digitaria fascicularis Link nom. illeg.
• Digitaria villosa Trin. nom. inval.
• Panicum bifasciculatum Trin.
• Panicum corymbosum Roxb.
• Panicum fasciculare (Link) Trin. nom. illeg.
• Panicum fasciculatum Trin. nom. inval.
• Panicum imperfectum Roxb. ex Kunth nom. inval.
• Panicum schraderi Kunth nom. illeg.
• Paspalum compactum Roth
• Paspalum corymbosum (Roxb.) Kunth
• Paspalum porrigens Arn. ex Hook.f. nom. inval.
• Reimaria fascicularis (Link) Link nom. illeg.
• Syntherisma corymbosa (Roxb.) Hosok.
• Syntherisma corymbosum (Roxb.) Sasaki

}}

|synonyms_ref = {{cite web

|url=http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-408876

|title=The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species

|accessdate=6 February 2015}}

}}

Digitaria compacta is a grass species native to India and Indochina.{{cite web |url=https://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db/www/imp02936.htm |title=Digitaria compacta | website=GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora |author1=W.D. Clayton |author2=M. Vorontsova|author2-link=Maria Vorontsova (botanist) |author3=K.T. Harman |author4=H. Williamson |date=2016-02-03|accessdate=20 January 2025}}{{cite web |title=Digitaria compacta (Roth) Veldkamp |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:398718-1/general-information |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Kew Science |access-date=20 January 2025 |language=en}}

It is cultivated in the Khasi Hills of northeast India, used as a glutinous flour for making bread or porridge, and known as raishan.{{cite book |author1=Prance, G. |author2=Nesbitt, M. |year=2012 |title=The Cultural History of Plants |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781135958114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=niwsBgAAQBAJ |page=55}} It is cultivated in maize fields by sowing in April-May and harvesting the grain in September-October; the straw is harvested later after the other crops in the field have been harvested. It is often cooked like rice or even with rice (1 part raishan to two parts rice). The straw is used for winter fodder for cattle.{{cite journal |last1=Singh |first1=H. B. |last2=Arora |first2=R. K. |title=Raishan (Digitaria sp.)—a minor millet of the Khasi Hills, India |journal=Economic Botany |date=1 October 1972 |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=376–380 |doi=10.1007/BF02860709 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02860709 |access-date=20 January 2025 |language=en |issn=1874-9364|url-access=subscription }} Uses the synonym Digitaria cruciata var. esculenta