红毛草 hong mao cao

Saccharum repens Willdenow, Sp. Pl., ed. 4, 1: 322. 1797; Rhynchelytrum repens (Willdenow) C. E. Hubbard; R. roseum (Nees) Stapf & C. E. Hubbard; Tricholaena rosea Nees.

Annual or loosely tufted short-lived perennial. Culms geniculately ascending, often rooting at lower nodes, up to 150 cm tall. Leaf sheaths loose, usually with tubercle-based hairs; leaf blades linear, up to 20 × 0.2–1.4 cm. Panicle silvery-pink or purple, ovate to oblong, 8–20 cm, fluffy; branches capillary; pedicels with a few long hairs. Spikelets ovate, 2–4.5 mm, densely villous, hairs up to 6 mm; lower glume narrowly oblong, 0.3–1.5 mm, 1-veined, with stiff short hairs, separated from the upper by a short internode; upper glume 5-veined, gibbous below middle, tapering upward into a glabrous membranous beak 1/4–1/2 its length, emarginate, mucronate or with short awn up to 1 mm; lower floret staminate, lemma similar to upper glume but narrower and less gibbous, palea keels ciliate; upper floret whitish, thinly cartilaginous, smooth, shining, ca. 2 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun–Nov. 2n = 36.

Grasslands, open or disturbed places, naturalized. Fujian, Guangdong, Taiwan [native to Africa].

This is a polymorphic, pantropical weed, recognizable by its pink, fluffy panicles.