Gen info
- Bothriochloa is a common and widespread genus of plants in the grass family native to many countries on all inhabited continents and islands. They are often called beadgrass, bluegrass or bluestem. Some are invasive where they have been introduced. (3)
- Etymology: The genus name Bothriochloa derives from two ancient Greek words: bothrion, meaning "small pit or trench", and khloa, meaning "new green shoot or blade of grass". (3) The specific epithet bladhii honors the Finnish botanist Peter Johan Bladh. (4)

Botany
•  Perennial, tufted. Culms erect or decumbent at base, fairly robust, up to 130 cm tall, many-noded, nodes glabrous or appressed bearded. Leaf sheaths glabrous; leaf blades linear, 10– 40 × 0.2–1 cm, hairy with tubercle-based hairs on both surfaces or abaxial surface glabrous, apex finely acuminate; ligule 0.5– 1.5 mm. Inflorescence 9–20 cm, composed of many racemes borne in loose whorls along an elongate central axis, axis usually longer than lowest raceme, sometimes paniculate with branched peduncles; racemes 2–5 cm, often purplish, not obviously hairy; rachis internodes and pedicels thinly ciliate, shortly bearded at apex. Sessile spikelet 3–4 mm; lower glume narrowly oblong-lanceolate, herbaceous or cartilaginous and glossy, 5–7-veined, back slightly concave, glabrous or pubescent below middle, sometimes with a pit, margins keeled and scabrid near apex; awn of upper lemma 1–2.5 cm. Pedicelled spikelet barren or rarely staminate, narrower than sessile spikelet, sometimes pitted. (Flora of China)

• Growth form: Tall grass that grows up to 1-1.5 m tall. Foliage:  Smooth or hairy leaves are linear to lanceolate (typically 0.2-0.3 m tall, but sometimes up to 0.5 m tall). Leaves emit a strong aroma when crushed. Flowers: Green to purple, tiny flowers known as spikelets are arranged in a panicle composed of 20 racemes (spike-like inflorescences with stalked flowers). The inflorescence emits a strong aroma when crushed. (Flora & Fauna Web)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines. (1) (2)
- In open grasslands at low and medium elevation. (2)
- Also native to Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Borneo, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Chad, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, DR Congo, East Himalaya, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Hainan, India, Iran, Ivory Coast, Jawa, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kirgizstan, KwaZulu-Natal, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Madagascar, Malawi, Malaya, Mali, Maluku, Mauritius, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Guinea, New South Wales, Nigeria, North Caucasus, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Oman, Pakistan, Queensland, Rodrigues, Réunion, Senegal, South Australia, South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sudan-South Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Transcaucasus, Türkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Wallis-Futuna Is., West Himalaya, Western Australia, Xinjiang, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe. (1)

Constituents
- GC and GC/MS analysis of B. bladhi for essential oil composition  yielded major constituents of isoamyl hexanoate (33.2%), isovaleric acid (7.2%), propyl hexanoate (3.5%) and camphor (2.1%). Oil was devoid of acorenone-B.  Major categories were long chain esters (1.6%) and oxygenated monoterpenes (10.9%). (5)
- Capillary GC-FID and GC-MS studies of essential oil composition of aerial parts of B. bladhii identified 60 constituents forming 89.6% of total oil compositions dominated by monoterpenoids (46.0%) and sesquiterpenoids (35.6%). Major constituents identified were acorenone-B (20.9%), camphene (20.8%), isobornyl acetate (7.4%), acorenone (3.8%), limonene (3.6%), and α-pinene (3.5%).  Other constituents were borneol (2.8%), neointermedeol (2.1%), tricyclene (2.3%), and intermedeol (1.6). (8)

Properties
- Inflorescence emits a strong aroma when crushed.
- Studies suggested phytoremediation properties.

Parts used
Whole plant, aerial parts.

Uses
Edibility
- No report found on edibility.
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
- Used for digestive problems and skin diseases.
- Paste of aerial parts used to improve digestion. (7)
Others
- Fodder: The plant is used as stored food for livestock, and as grazing plant for both livestock and wild ruminants. (3) Nutritive value: Crude protein levels of 7-1% and IVDMD () of up to 58% have been recorded. Higher levels decline rapidly with age of regrowth and with onset of flowering. (10) Widely sed as permanent pasture on lower fertility soils. (•)
- Agroforestry: Sometimes planted as revegetator, to restore disturbed land. (3) Used for revegetating overgrazed pasture land.

Studies
• Phytoremediation of Used Motor Oil: Study evaluated the ability of six plants including B. bladhi to clean up various levels of used motor oil (UMO) contaminated soils. Phytoremediation ability was assessed by measuring uptake of hydrocarbons in terms of total hydrocarbon content (THC) as well as percentage degradation values. Phytoremediation potential of test plants was highest in soils contaminated with 5% UMO. Results showed B. bladhii and T. odoratum proved most effective in uptake and degradation of UMO. (6)
• Acorenone-B / Essential Oil / Aerial parts: Capillary GC-FID and GC-MS studies of essential oil composition of aerial parts of B. bladhii identified 60 constituents forming 89.6% of total oil. A major constituent was acorenone-B (20.9%) (see constituents above) (8)
• Acorenone-B / Acetycholinesterase and Butyrylcholinesterase Inhibitory: In a study of essential oil distilled from Niphogeton dissecta, pure acorenone B showed inhibitory activity against both acetyl-cholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase. (9)

Availability
- Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Bothriochlora bladhii / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(2)
Poaceae: Bothriochloa bladhii / Co's digital flora database
(3)
Bothriochloa / Wikipedia
(4)
Bothriochloa bladhii / Wikipedia
(5)
Essential Oil Composition of Bothriochloa bladhi / Garikapati D Kiran Babu, VHK Verma, Bikram Singh / Journal of Essential Oil Research, 2012 / DOI: 10.1080/1012905.2008.969921
(6)
Phytoremediation potential of indigenous Ghanaian grass and grass-like species grown on used motor oil contaminated soils  / Abednego Akutam, Alexander Nii Moi Pappoe, Frederick Ato Armah, Lewis Enu-Kwesi / Journal of Ecology and Environment,  2014; 37(2) / DOI: 10.511/ecoenv.201.006 /
eISSN: 2288-1220
(7)
Sustainable use of local fodder grasses: a case study from Mayurbhanj district of Odisha / Akshaya Kumar Sahoo, Kamal Lochan Barik / Ethnobotany Research & Applications, 2025; 31:31 /
DOI: 10.32859/era/31/31/1-36
(8)
Essential Oil Composition of Bothriochloa bladhii (Retz.) S.T. Blake: An Introduction from Tropical Region of Western Ghats of India / JR Bahl, RC Padalia, RS Verma, RP Bansal / Journal of Essential Oil Bearing Plants, 2014; 17(1): pp 136-141 / DOI: 10.1080/0972060X.2014.88481
(9)
Acorenone B: AChE and BChE Inhibitor as a Major Compound of the Essential Oil Distilled from the Ecuadorian Species Niphogeton dissecta (Benth.) J.F. Macbr / James Calva, Jose Vinicio Montesinos et al / Pharmaceuticals, 2017; 10, 84 / DOI: 10.3390/ph10040084
(10)
Bothriochloa bladhii subsp. glabra / Tropical Forages
(11)
Anti-bacterial activities of Bothriochloa bladhii and B.woodrovii. / Tarbej Shaikh, Girish Potdar, Rohit Kale /
Conference: Recent Advance in Traditional Medicine, Medicinal Plant and Phytochemistry, 2019

DOI: It is not uncommon for links on studies/sources to change. Copying and pasting the information on the search window or using the DOI (if available) will often redirect to the new link page. (Citing and Using a (DOI) Digital Object Identifier)