粟草 su cao

Perennial, shortly rhizomatous. Culms loosely tufted, erect, slender, 0.9–1.5 m tall, smooth, glabrous, 3–5-noded. Leaf sheaths loose, slightly inflated, glabrous; leaf blades broadly linear to linear-lanceolate, thin, soft, 10–30 cm, 5–15 mm wide, glabrous, abaxial surface gray-green, adaxial surface green, margins scaberulous, apex acute; ligule lanceolate, 2–10 mm. Panicle ovate or pyramidal in outline, very lax, 10–30 cm; branches in clusters of up to 6, slender, flexuous, spreading or deflexed, smooth or scabrid, lower part bare. Spikelets 3–4 mm, gray-green or tinged with purple; glumes elliptic-ovate, scaberulous, margins white, apex acute; lemma glossy, milky-white when young, brown at maturity. Anthers 2–3 mm. Fl. and fr. May–Jul. 2n = 14, 28.

Forests, moist shady places; 700–3500 m. Anhui, Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Afghanistan, Bhutan, Japan, E Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan; SW Asia, Europe, North America].

This is a good forage grass. The culms are used for weaving.