阿尔泰草 qia cao

Aira macrantha Ledebour, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint Pétersbourg, Sér. 7, 5: 515. 1815; Koeleria cristata Persoon var. poiformis (Domin) Tzvelev; K. cristata subsp. pseudocristata (Domin) Domin; K. cristata var. pseudocristata (Domin) P. C. Kuo & Z. L. Wu; K. gracilis Persoon, nom. illeg. superfl.; K. poiformis Domin; K. pseudocristata Domin; K. tokiensis Domin.

Perennial, densely tufted; old basal sheaths papery, persistent around each culm base. Culms stiffly erect, 5–60 cm tall, woolly especially below panicle, 2–3-noded. Leaf sheaths glabrous or pubescent; leaf blades grayish green, usually rolled, sometimes flat, up to 30 cm, 1–2 mm wide, pubescent or adaxial surface glabrous; ligule 0.2–2 mm. Panicle linear-oblong in outline, 1.5–13 cm, lower part often interrupted and lobed, silvery green or tinged purple; axis and branches woolly. Spikelets 3–7 mm, florets 2–3(–4); rachilla hairs less than 0.4 mm or glabrous; glumes slightly unequal, punctate-scaberulous, keel scabrid, lower glume narrowly lanceolate, 1.5–4 mm, upper glume elliptic-oblong, 2.5–5.5 mm, apex acute; lemmas lanceolate, 2.6–5.5 mm, punctate-scaberulous, apex acute, cuspidate, or rarely keel extended up to 0.3 mm into apical mucro; palea keels ciliolate. Anthers 1.2–2.3 mm. Fl. and fr. May–Sep.

Mountain slopes, grassland, roadsides; sea level to 3900 m. Anhui, Fujian, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Zhejiang [Afghanistan, NW India, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; North America, SW Asia, Europe; introduced to Australia and elsewhere].

This species has usually been known in the past as Koeleria cristata Persoon, an illegitimate, superfluous name that included the types of two earlier names in its circumscription. It is a highly polymorphic species, widespread in temperate parts of the N hemisphere, to which many infraspecific names have been applied. Variable characters include hairiness, stiffness, rolling and color of the leaf blades, panicle color, and spikelet size and hairiness. These variants are mostly ill-defined, intergrading, and of negligible practical value.