粽叶芦 zong ye lu

Melica latifolia Roxburgh ex Hornemann, Suppl. Hort. Bot. Hafn. 117. 1819; Agrostis maxima Roxburgh; Thysano-laena maxima (Roxburgh) O. Kuntze.

Culms 1–3 m tall, hard, unbranched, often arching. Leaf sheaths smooth; leaf blades broadly lanceolate-oblong, leathery, up to 40 × 3–7 cm; ligule truncate, 1–2 mm. Panicle up to 60 cm, open or contracted; main branches 1–3 per node, pilose in axils, bare of spikelets in lower part, lowest branch up to 30 cm; pedicels ca. 2 mm. Spikelets 1.5–1.8 mm; glumes 1/5–1/4 spikelet length, ovate-lanceolate; lower lemma as long as spikelet; upper lemma slightly shorter than lower lemma, marginal hairs rigid, to 1 mm, spreading at maturity, apex slightly recurved. Anthers brown, 0.5–1 mm. Caryopsis oblong, ca. 0.5 mm. Fl. and fr. summer to autumn. 2n = 24.

Hillsides and valleys, among rocks, in thickets, forest margins, open grasslands, river banks. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Indian Ocean Islands].

This tall, broad-leaved grass is easily recognized by its large, purplish brown panicle of tiny spikelets, which fall entire with the pedicel attached. It provides a source of fiber, the heads can be used as brooms, and it is also planted as an ornamental.