170. Axonopus P. Beauvois, Ess. Agrostogr. 12. 1812.
地毯草属 di tan cao shu
Authors: Shou-liang Chen & Sylvia M. Phillips
Perennials, rarely annuals. Culms tufted or stoloniferous. Leaf blades flat or involute, often obtuse; ligule short, membranous-ciliolate. Inflorescence composed of 2 to many slender racemes, mostly subdigitate but sometimes along a short central axis; spikelets borne singly, subsessile, alternating in 2 rows along the narrow triquetrous rachis, lower lemma adaxial. Spikelets lanceolate to oblong, flatly biconvex, florets 2 (but apparently 1); lower glume absent; upper glume membranous, as long as spikelet, obscurely 4- or 5-veined; lower floret neuter, reduced to an empty lemma similar to upper glume, its palea absent; upper floret crustaceous, lemma margins inrolled, apex obtuse. x = 9, 10.
About 110 species: tropical and subtropical America, one species in Africa; two species (both introduced) in China.
Many species of Axonopus are good forage or lawn grasses. The two species found in China have been widely introduced in the humid tropics of the world.
