五节芒 wu jie mang

Saccharum floridulum Labillardière, Sert. Austro-Caledon. 13: t. 18. 1824; Eulalia japonica Trinius; Miscanthus japonicus (Trinius) Andersson.

Plant tufted, robust. Culms erect, 1.5–4 m tall, 6–15 mm in diam., unbranched, nodes usually glabrous, or uppermost sometimes bearded. Leaves cauline, congested; leaf sheaths longer than internodes, overlapping, glabrous, pilose at throat; leaf blades linear, flat, tough, 20–85 × 0.5–4 cm, glabrous, midrib prominent, margins scabrid, base rounded, apex acuminate; ligule 1–3 mm, densely pilose on back. Panicle oblong or elliptic, dense, 20–50 cm; axis 25–45 cm. Racemes numerous, 10–30 cm, appressed or ascending, glabrous, scaberulous; rachis internodes puberulous, nodes glabrous; lower pedicel 1–3.5 mm, upper pedicel 2.5–8 mm. Spikelets 2.5–4(–6) mm, awned; callus hairs 4–6 mm, white, spreading, as long as the spikelet; glumes subequal, membranous, golden brown, 2.5–4(–6) mm, margins pilose near apex, veins obscure, apex acuminate; lower lemma lanceolate, hyaline, 3–3.5 mm, veinless, pilose; upper lemma similar to lower, 2–2.5 mm; awn geniculate, 5–6(–10) mm; upper palea a small hyaline scale. Anthers 3, 1–1.5 mm. Caryopsis oblong, ca. 1.5 mm.

Slopes, valleys, grassy places. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [SE Asia].

The plants are cultivated for hedges and as ornamentals, the rhizomes are used for medicine, the culms are used for papermaking, and the young leaves are used for forage.