绿岛细柄草 lü dao xi bing cao

Andropogon kwashotensis Hayata, Icon. Pl. Formosan. 7: 80. 1918; Bothriochloa kwashotensis (Hayata) Ohwi.

Perennial, rhizomatous. Culms solitary or tufted, hard, 15–30 cm tall, ca. 1 mm in diam., much branched above base, nodes glabrous. Leaf sheaths glabrous; leaf blades linear-lanceolate, 6–11 × 0.3–0.5 cm, glabrous, long tubercle-based bristles above ligule, apex setaceously acuminate; ligule ca. 1 mm. Panicle small, elliptic in outline, 4–8 cm; branches simple or little branched; racemes composed of 3–4 spikelet pairs below the terminal triad, straw-colored; rachis internodes and pedicels long ciliate. Sessile spikelet 3–3.8 mm; lower glume narrowly lanceolate-oblong, back 5–7-veined, flat, not glossy, scaberulous on veins, margins keeled and scabrid above middle, apex acute or bidentate; upper glume scabrid on upper keel; awn of upper lemma 1–1.6 cm. Pedicelled spikelet resembling the sessile, staminate. Fl. and fr. autumn. 2n = 40*.

Cliffs and slopes near the sea. Taiwan [Japan (Iriomote Island in S Ryukyu Islands)].

This nearly endemic species is apparently confined to the eastern coast of Taiwan and a few offshore islands, where it is locally abundant and used for forage. It can withstand salt water.