刺毛头黍属 ci mao tou shu shu

Authors: Shou-liang Chen & Sylvia M. Phillips

Perennials. Culms decumbent at the base, usually rooting at the nodes. Leaf blades flat, linear-lanceolate. Inflorescence a terminal panicle, spikelets solitary or paired near the base. Spikelets dorsally compressed, florets 2; glumes herbaceous; lower glume shorter than spikelet, 5–7-veined; upper glume subequaling spikelet, 9–11-veined, its apex never thickened; lower lemma similar to upper glume, 11-veined; lower palea oblong, keels ciliate; upper lemma slightly convex on back, cartilaginous, apex obtuse, slightly thickened with several hairs; upper palea cartilaginous, apex pubescent. Caryopsis ellipsoid.

* One species: S China (Hainan).

This genus is similar to Acroceras and Lasiacis (Grisebach) Hitchcock, but differs in the upper glume apex lacking a thickened crest or woolly hairs, the ciliate keels of the lower palea, and the cartilaginous upper floret bearing several hairs at its apex. The leaf epidermis has similar long cells on both surfaces, dumb-bell-shaped or nodular silica bodies, and parallel-sided stomatal subsidiary cells, confirming the separation of this genus from Acroceras.

Lower Taxon

• Setiacis diffusa (L. C. Chia) S. L. Chen & Y. X. Jin