露籽草 lu zi cao

Perennial. Culms slender, decumbent, rooting and branching at the nodes, ascending up to 60 cm. Leaf sheaths conspicuously ciliate along one margin; leaf blades narrowly lanceolate, 4–11 × 0.5–1 cm, smooth, glabrous, base rounded or cordate, margins scabrous, apex acuminate; ligule ca. 0.3 mm. Panicle 10–15 cm, branches 3–8 cm, stiffly spreading, subverticillate in the lower part, the spikelets grouped in clusters or short racemelets, or sometimes loosely spaced. Spikelets elliptic to elliptic-oblong, 2–3.2 mm, acute; glumes lanceolate, lower glume 1/2 spikelet length, 3–5-veined; upper glume 1/2–2/3 spikelet length, 5–7-veined; lower lemma 7-veined; upper lemma smooth, apex laterally compressed to a very small crest. Fl. and fr. Jul–Sep. 2n = 18. Fl. and fr. Jul–Sep. 2n = 18.

Forests (not in deep shade), forest margins, clearings, often scrambling over other plants; 100–1700 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Africa, NE Australia, Pacific Islands (Polynesia)].

The name Ottochloa malabarica (Linnaeus) Dandy (based on Poa malabarica Linnaeus) has been applied to this grass. The identity of P. malabarica is unclear from the protologue, which probably includes more than one species, but the name has more frequently been applied to the completely different species Leptochloa fusca. Poa malabarica, a name of uncertain application, has been formally rejected.