等颖落芒草 deng ying luo mang cao

Perennial, loosely tufted from a short rhizome. Culms 60–130 cm tall, 3–5-noded. Leaf sheaths glabrous, scabrid; leaf blades linear, flat, up to 30 cm, 5–10 mm wide, abaxial surface scabrid, adaxial surface scaberulous; ligule rounded, 2–5(–13) mm. Panicle open at maturity, 10–25 cm; branches 3–5 per node, distant, ascending or widely spreading, longest up to 1/2 panicle length, scabrid, lower part bare. Spikelets gray-green; glumes narrowly lanceolate-oblong, (5–)5.5–9 mm, apex acute, occasionally mucronate; callus glabrous; lemma narrowly lanceolate, (4–)5.3–7.5 mm, equaling or slightly shorter than glumes, back pubescent with 0.15–0.3 mm hairs, glabrescent along midline at maturity, apex acute, smoothly extended into awn without constriction; awn tardily deciduous, 6–13 mm. Anthers 3–4 mm, bearded at apex. Fl. and fr. Jun–Sep.

Damp rocky places in montane forests; 1800–2900 m. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [E Afghanistan, Bhutan, NW India, Kashmir, Pakistan].

This species is close to Piptatherum munroi, but is rather more lush and grows in more mesophytic habitats. The difference in awn insertion, although a small difference, is reliable for separating the two species.