扭鞘香茅 niu qiao xiang mao

Anthistiria tortilis J. Presl in C. Presl, Reliq. Haenk. 1: 347. 1830; Andropogon hamatulus Hooker & Arnott; A. nardus Linnaeus subsp. hamatulus (Hooker & Arnott) Hackel; Cymbopogon hamatulus (Hooker & Arnott) A. Camus; C. jinshaensis R. Zhang & C. H. Li; C. nardus (Linnaeus) Rendle subsp. hamatulus (Hooker & Arnott) Rendle.

Perennial from a short rootstock; basal sheaths reddish brown inside, lax, curling when dry. Culms tufted, slender, 50–150 cm tall, 2–4 mm in diam., nodes glabrous or pubescent, often farinose. Leaf sheaths smooth, glabrous, leaf blades linear, 25–60 × 0.2–0.7 cm, glabrous, margins scabrid, base gradually narrowed, apex finely acuminate; ligule 2–3(–6) mm. Spathate compound panicle narrow or somewhat spreading, 20–35 cm, 2–3 tiers of branching; spatheoles reddish brown, 1.2–1.5 cm; racemes 1–1.5 cm; rachis internodes and pedicels 1.5–2 mm, margins ciliate; pedicel of homogamous pair not swollen. Sessile spikelet narrowly lanceolate-oblong, 3.5–4.5 × 0.9–1.2 mm; lower glume flat, smooth or slightly wrinkled, sharply 2-keeled throughout, keels narrowly winged above middle, wings 0.15–0.25 mm wide, (2–)3(–5)-veined between keels; upper lemma 2-lobed; awn 0.7–1 cm. Pedicelled spikelet 3–3.5 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul–Oct. 2n = 20.

Grassy places on light dry soils; below 600 m. S Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Philippines, Vietnam].