硬秆子草 ying gan zi cao

Andropogon assimilis Steudel, Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1: 397. 1854; A. glaucopsis Steudel; A. subrepens Steudel; Bothrio-chloa assimilis (Steudel) Ohwi; B. picta Ohwi; Capillipedium glaucopsis (Steudel) Stapf; Dichanthium assimile (Steudel) Deshpande.

Perennial, often straggling. Culms decumbent and rooting at base, woody, 1.5–3.5 m tall, 1.5–5 mm in diam., fastigiately branched, nodes glabrous or pubescent. Leaf sheaths glabrous, bearded at mouth; leaf blades linear-lanceolate, 6–15 × 0.3–0.6 cm, glabrous or hispidulous, base tapering, apex setaceously acuminate; ligule ca. 0.7 mm. Panicle pyramidal, 5–12 × ca. 4 cm; branches pilose in axils; racemes composed of triads, sometimes with 1 or 2 additional spikelet pairs, greenish or pinkish; rachis internodes and pedicels long ciliate. Sessile spikelet 2.1–2.9 mm; lower glume elliptic-oblong or lanceolate, back 2–5-veined, slightly convex, glossy, glabrous or hispidulous, upper margins keeled, ciliate-hispid; upper glume ciliate along margins; awn of upper lemma 0.6–1.5 cm. Pedicelled spikelet linear-lanceolate, up to twice length of sessile spikelet. Fl. and fr. Aug–Dec. 2n = 40.

Streams, forests, or mountain slopes. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].

This grass is said to have the appearance of a small bamboo. It differs from the other common species, Capillipedium parviflorum, by its taller, woody, fasciculately branching culms, shorter leaf blades with narrowed base, smaller sessile spikelets, and pedicels ciliate along the length of both margins.