锥穗钝叶草 zhui sui dun ye cao

Ophiurinella micrantha Desvaux, Mém. Soc. Agric. Angers 1: 179. 1831; Stenotaphrum diplotaphrum Pilger; S. lepturoides Henslow; S. subulatum Trinius.

Annual. Culms decumbent at base, up to 35 cm tall. Leaf sheaths rounded, ciliate along one margin; leaf blades lanceolate, 4–8 × 0.5–1 cm, glabrous or pubescent, apex sharply acuminate; ligule ca. 1 mm. Inflorescence 6–14 cm, slender, cylindrical; axis 1.5–2.5 mm wide; racemes 5–10 mm, sunk in depressions on opposite sides of the axis, bearing (1–)3–6 spikelets; raceme rachis stoutly triquetrous, ciliolate along margins. Spikelets oblong-lanceolate, 2.5–3.5 mm, obtuse to subacute, falling entire; glumes membranous, 1/5–1/4 as long as spikelet or upper glume slightly longer, truncate; lower floret neuter, lemma cartilaginous, flat, enclosing fertile floret in inflorescence axis, 3-veined, grooved on either side of midvein, margins inflexed at lateral veins, lower palea absent; upper lemma papery, subequal to spikelet, smooth, acute. Fl. and fr. spring.

Coral islands on coastal sands, understory of littoral woodlands. South China Sea Islands (Xisha Qundao) [small islands around New Guinea; Australia (Great Barrier Reef Islands), Coral Sea Islands, Indian Ocean Islands, Pacific Islands (Polynesia); probably introduced to E Africa (Tanzania)].