莩草 fu cao

Panicum chondrachne Steudel, Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1: 51. 1853; Chaetochloa chondrachne (Steudel) Honda; C. matsumu-rae (Matsumura) Keng; Panicum matsumurae Hackel; Setaria matsumurae Hackel ex Matsumura.

Perennial with slender rhizomes clothed in imbricate, ovate, appressed-pubescent scales. Culms slender, ascending, 60–170 cm tall, glabrous. Leaf sheaths glabrous, long ciliate along margins and at mouth; leaf blades linear-lanceolate, thin, 5–38 × 0.5–2 cm, glabrous or rarely papillose-pilose, base rounded, margins scabrous, apex attenuate; ligule ca. 0.5 mm, densely ciliate. Panicle open, linear to narrowly pyramidal, 12–30 cm, slightly nodding, branches spaced, stiffly spreading, lowest 1–2.5(–5) cm, most spikelets subtended by a single bristle; axis scabrous, sometimes also hispid; bristles 4–10 mm. Spikelets plumply elliptic, ca. 3 mm, acute; lower glume ovate, 1/3–1/2 as long as spikelet, acute; upper glume 3/4 as long as spikelet, 5(–7)-veined; lower floret neuter, as long as upper floret; lower lemma 5-veined; lower palea narrowly lanceolate, shorter than its lemma; upper lemma finally light brown, smooth, shiny, acute. Fl. and fr. Aug–Oct. 2n = 36.

Woodlands, moist mountain slopes, roadsides. Anhui, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].

This is a distinctive species on account of its long, scaly rhizomes, elongate, narrow panicle, and smooth, shiny fertile floret.