中华结缕草 zhong hua jie lü cao

Zoysia matrella (Linnaeus) Merrill var. macrantha Nakai ex Honda; Z. sinica var. macrantha (Nakai ex Honda) Ohwi; Z. sinica subsp. nipponica (Ohwi) T. Koyama; Z. sinica var. nipponica Ohwi.

Perennial, forming dense spreading mats from slender underground rhizomes. Culms erect from nodes of rhizome, stiff, 10–30 cm tall, branched at base. Leaf sheaths glabrous, usually persistent at base, pilose at mouth; leaf blades broadly linear, flat or margins involute, stiff, suberect to patent, 2–10 cm, 2–3 mm wide, green or gray-green, glabrous, apex pungent. Inflorescence linear-elliptic, 2–4(–8) × 0.4–0.5 cm, usually shortly exserted from uppermost leaf sheath; spikelets many, closely overlapping; pedicels shorter than spikelet, ca. 3 mm, widened at apex. Spikelets 4–8 × 1–1.5 mm, yellowish brown or purplish brown; lower glume absent; upper glume lanceolate-oblong to narrowly oblong with slightly falcate apex, obscurely 7–11-veined, midvein usually shortly excurrent; lemma lanceolate-oblong, 3–4 mm, 1-veined; palea absent. Anthers 1.5–2.5 mm. Fl. and fr. May–Oct.

Coastal sands, extending to grazed and trodden places inland. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hebei, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Shandong, Taiwan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].

This species can be recognized by its long, straight-sided spikelets with falcate tips. Specimens with spikelets at the upper end of the size range (5–8 mm) have been separated as var. nipponica, but variation is continuous and spikelet size can be variable even on a single specimen.

This species is a good lawn grass.