画眉草 hua mei cao

Poa pilosa Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 68. 1753.

Annual. Culms tufted, erect or geniculate at base, 15–60 cm tall, 1.5–2.5 mm in diam., 4-noded, smooth. Leaf sheaths pilose at summit, compressed, margin submembranous; ligules a line of hairs; leaf blades flat or involute, 6–20 × 0.2–0.3 cm, glabrous. Panicle 10–25 × 3.5–14 cm; branches solitary to verticillate, pilose in axils, usually ascending, pedicels as long or longer than spikelets. Spikelets 3–10 × 1–1.5 mm, 4–14-flowered. Glumes membranous, lanceolate, apex acuminate, lower glume without vein, 0.4–0.9 mm, upper glume 1-veined, 0.7–1.3 mm. Lemmas ovate, apex acute, lower lemma ca. 1.8 mm. Palea ca. 1.5 mm, along keels persistent or tardily deciduous ciliate. Stamens 3; anthers 0.1–0.3 mm. Caryopsis oblong, ca. 0.8 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug–Nov. 2n = 40, 60.

Open grasslands. Anhui, Beijing, Fujian, Guizhou, Hainan, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [SE Asia; Africa, Australia, S Europe; introduced in America].

This species is very widely distributed in tropical and warm regions of the Old World. It is a forage grass with medicinal uses.