毛臂形草 mao bi xing cao

Annual. Culms loosely tufted, slender, usually decumbent and branching below, 10–40(–50) cm tall. Leaf sheaths glabrous or pubescent, especially along margins and mouth; leaf blades broadly lanceolate, 1–4 × 0.3–1 cm, both surfaces glabrous to densely pubescent, base rounded or subcordate, margins cartilaginous, scabrous, apex acute; ligule ciliate. Inflorescence axis 3–7 cm; racemes 4–8, (1–)3–6 cm, secund, ascending; rachis triquetrous, ± villous; spikelets mostly single. Spikelets elliptic, 2–2.7 mm, without a stipe, glabrous or pubescent, sometimes transversely bearded below apex, acute or subacute; lower glume 1/3–1/2 spikelet length, clasping, 3-veined, acute; upper glume separated from lower by a slight internode, 5-veined; upper lemma striate and transversely rugulose, apex acute to minutely mucronate. Fl. and fr. Jul–Oct. 2n = 36.

Mountain or hill slopes, fields, roadsides, other weedy or grassy places. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; Africa].

This is a weedy species recognizable by its short, broad, usually softly hairy leaf blades and secund racemes of rather small spikelets.