麦穗茅根 mai sui mao gen

Perotis chinensis Gandoger.

Annual or short-lived perennial. Culms loosely tufted, erect or decumbent at base, 25–40 cm tall. Leaf sheaths glabrous; leaf blades lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 2–4 cm, 4–7 mm wide, glabrous, margins spiny-scabrous or loosely ciliate near base; ligule ca. 0.5 mm. Inflorescence up to 20 cm; spikelets usually densely arranged, ascending or horizontally spreading; rachis scabrous. Spikelets 1.5–2.5 mm (excluding awns); basal callus 0.1–0.2 mm, obtuse; glumes narrowly lanceolate, back scaberulous-hirtellous in rather indistinct close rows (most obvious toward lemma base), midvein pectinate-ciliolate, apex abruptly acute, clearly demarcated from awn; awn 0.5–1.5 cm. Anthers ca. 0.3 mm. Caryopsis terete, narrowly ellipsoid, ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. and fr. summer and autumn. 2n = 40.

Sandy places, along seashores. Guangdong, Hebei, Jiangsu, Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand].

This species is very close to Perotis indica and is sometimes included within it. No single character by itself is reliable for separating the two, but the combination of characters given in the key will usually suffice.