Botany
Agusais is a perennial grass that grows to a height of 1 to 3 meters. Leaf blades are broad-lanceolate and longitudinally corrugated. Seeds are about 3 millimeters long and borne in large numbers in terminal shoots. Inflorescence is a loose panicle with minute spikelets.

Distribution
- Common in thickets, old clearings and waste places.
- Also found in China, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indo-China.

Constituents
- Study for content and compounds in the lilin vegetable (Setaria palmifolia) yielded hencicosane (1.95%), tricosane (19.05%), tetracosane (2.03%), docasane (8.54%), z-12 pentacosane (6.04%), nonadecane (7.31%), nonadecyl (30.76%), trifluoroacetate (2.51%), celidoniol deoxy (12.26%), triacontyl acetate (6.74%), (see study below) (10)

Parts used
Leaves, seeds.

Uses
Edibility
- Grain of the grass sometimes used as rice substitute.
- In Malaya, tender shoots are eaten as vegetable, raw, steamed, or cooked with rice.
Folkloric
- The Mangyans of Mindoro drink decoction of inflorescence for treatment of measles. (12)
- A compound decoction taken for irregular menses.
- In the Tao Dam forest, Wangkrajae Village in Thailand, rhizome used by natives as ingredient in herbal mix to treat freckle and blemish. (9)
- In Bougainville, used for toothache/
Others
- Fodder: Feed for cattle.
- In Papua, New Guinea, the species is used for good fortune when playing cards and for hunting birds. According to the Maibang people, a myth from Tut.
- Rituals: In New Guinea, leaves used to counter magic spells. Used by ritual specialists on people possessed by bush demon spirits: leaves of kura (Setaria palmifolia), qui (Syzigium pteropodum), bandjii (Ficus adenosperma), and koke (Piper wichmannii) are bound together at the stems by vine or rope, and cooked over glowing embers, and rubbed on the skin of sick patients while incantations are recited. (6)

Studies
• Antioxidant / DPPH Radical Scavenging Activity: 23 Taiwan forest plants were studies for polyphenol content and antioxidant activity by DPPH assay. Setaria palmifolia was 10th in polyphenol content, with total polyphenols 6.9 ± 1.2 (mg/g) (chlorogenic acid equivalent). Free radical scavenging activity was > 250 µg/mL (3361.4 ± 26.9). (1)
• Study on Nutritive Value: Study evaluated the nutritive value of Dhutesaro grass in a metabolism trial in goats. The grass yielded 47.63% TDN, 8.16% DCP and 28.05% SE, with a nutritive ratio of 1:4.84. Intakes of the grass in terms of DM, TDN and minerals were inadequate to meet the maintenance requirements of goats. (7)
• Tricosane / Reduction of Uric Acid in Gouty Arthritis: Study suggests consuming lilin vegetable (Setaria palmifolia) routinely could reduce uric acid in gouty arthritis sufferers. Lilin vegetable yields senyawa Tricosane which plays a role in reducing uric acid. (see constituents above) (10)

Availability
- Wild-crafted. 
- Seeds in the cybermarket.