Carrycillo

Olyra latifolia is a perennial, woody-based bamboo-like grass in the family Poaceae, widely distributed across the tropics of the Americas, Africa, and parts of Asia. It forms loose, scrambling clumps with slender, branching, cane-like culms reaching 1-3 m in height. The lanceolate to broadly ovate leaf blades are 5-20 cm long, distinctly petiolate, and contrast with the linear leaves typical of most grasses. Inflorescences are open panicles bearing unisexual spikelets; female spikelets are conspicuously large and beaked while male spikelets are small and clustered below. The species is shade-tolerant and occupies forest margins, clearings, and disturbed understory in lowland and lower-montane rainforest. It is one of the few truly woodland-adapted grasses and is sometimes regarded as a nuisance weed in tropical plantations.