昆仑马唐 kun lun ma tang

Digitaria ischaemum (Schreber) Muhlenberg subsp. ste-wartiana (Bor) Tzvelev.

Annual. Culms tufted, slender, decumbent at base, ascending, 15–30 cm tall. Leaf sheaths glabrous; leaf blades up to 6 × 0.5 cm, glabrous, base subrounded, margins scabrous, apex acuminate; ligule 1–1.5 mm. Inflorescence subdigitate; racemes 2–3, 4–5 cm; spikelets ternate; rachis ribbonlike, broadly winged, midrib triquetrous; pedicels terete, scabrous, tips cupuliform. Spikelets elliptic, 1.8–2 mm, glabrous; lower glume usually absent; upper glume ca. 4/5 as long as spikelet, hyaline, translucent, glabrous, 3-veined, broadly obtuse; lower lemma purplish, as long as spikelet, 5-veined with 3 central veins close together and outer 2 marginal, veins connected at tip; upper lemma purplish brown at maturity. Anthers ca. 0.5 mm. Fl. and fr. summer–autumn.

Mountains; 2000–3000 m. Xinjiang, Xizang [Kashmir].

This seldom collected species is allied to Digitaria ischaemum, but differs in its glabrous spikelets and delicate, rounded upper glume. It may prove to be a high-altitude variant of D. ischaemum when better known.

This species is used for forage.