硬草 ying cao

Cynosurus durus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 72. 1753.

Annual forming small dense tuft. Culms ascending or decumbent, 5–15 cm tall. Leaf sheaths smooth, glabrous, lower papery, whitish; leaf blades flat, 1.5–7 cm × 2–4 mm, glabrous, adaxial surface scabrid; ligule 1–3 mm, acute. Panicle elliptic-oblong in outline, dense, stiff, 1–5 cm, scarcely exserted from uppermost leaf sheath; branches bearing a single spikelet or shortly racemose near middle. Spikelets narrowly oblong, 6–10 mm, florets 3–5, lower 2–3 fertile, upper male or sterile; glumes ovate-oblong, lower glume 2–3 mm, upper glume 3.5–5 mm; lemmas ovate-oblong, lowest 4.8–6 mm, the upper much shorter, all veins prominent, apex obtuse to emarginate. Anthers 0.8–1.3 mm. Caryopsis 2.5–3.5 mm, brown. 2n = 14.

Hill slopes; 500–1000 m. Xinjiang (Tian Shan) [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia, C and S Europe; introduced in Australia and the United States].