大距花黍 da ju hua shu

Panicum pallens Swartz var. majus Nees, Fl. Bras. Enum. Pl. 2: 138. 1829; Ichnanthus vicinus (F. M. Bailey) Merrill; Panicum vicinum F. M. Bailey.

Rambling perennial. Culms long, slender, decumbent and rooting at the lower nodes, ascending to 15–50 cm. Leaf sheaths pubescent or only margins ciliate; leaf blades ovate-lanceolate to ovate, tessellate, 3–8 × 1–2.5 cm, glabrous or puberulous on both surfaces, apex sharply acuminate; ligule ca. 1 mm, a ciliate membrane. Panicles terminal and axillary from upper nodes, 5–10 cm, usually with soft hairs in the axils, the branches spaced, loosely ascending, subracemose with laxly arranged spikelets. Spikelets 4–5 mm; glumes with obvious veins, lower glume 3–3.5 mm, 3-veined, apex usually long attenuate; upper glume 5-veined, acuminate; lower lemma herbaceous, 5-veined; upper floret much shorter than lower lemma, 2–2.5 mm, shiny white to light brown, oblong, obtuse, scars at base ca. 1 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug–Nov. 2n = 40.

Damp places in forests, along shady streamsides. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; W Africa, Australia (Queensland), Pacific Islands (Polynesia), South America].

Ichnanthus pallens var. pallens is distinguished by its smaller (2.5–4 mm), plumper spikelets, lower glume without a long attenuate apex, and more compact panicle. It mostly occurs in America, from Mexico to Argentina, and in the Caribbean, but a few specimens with these spikelet dimensions are known from W Africa and Malaysia.