虮子草 ji zi cao

Poa panicea Retzius, Observ. Bot. 3: 11. 1783; Cynosurus tenerrimus Hornemann; Eleusine tenerrima (Hornemann) Hornemann; Leptochloa tenerrima (Hornemann) Roemer & Schultes.

Annual. Culms tufted, slender, ascending, 30–80 cm tall. Leaf sheaths papillate-pilose with spreading hairs; leaf blades thin, flat, 4–18 × 0.3–0.6 cm, glabrous or pilose, attenuate; ligule membranous, 1–2 mm, usually lacerate. Inflorescence 10–30(–50) cm, brushlike; racemes 5–35, unilateral, 2–11 cm, very slender, straight, ascending, rachis scabrid, spikelets imbricate. Spikelets glaucous-green or purplish green, elliptic, lightly laterally compressed, 1.4–2 mm, florets 2–4; glumes scabrid along keel; lower glume lanceolate, 0.7–1.5 mm, apex acuminate; upper glume narrowly oblong, 0.9–1.6 mm, cuspidate or obtuse and mucronate; lemmas elliptic-oblong, keeled, lowest 0.8–1.3 mm, veins puberulous, usually also a few appressed hairs between veins, obtuse; palea keels scaberulous. Anthers ca. 0.2 mm. Caryopsis broadly elliptic, 0.7–0.8 mm, obtusely trigonous, apex obtuse. Fl. and fr. Jul–Oct.

Roadsides, rice fields, damp weedy places. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Africa, America].

All Old World material of this species belongs to the typical race, subsp. panicea. Two further subspecies occur in America.

This species is an excellent forage grass.