土沙雀麦 tu sha que mai

Zerna tyttholepis Nevski, Trudy Sredne-Aziatsk. Gosud. Univ., Ser. 8b, Bot. 17: 16. 1934; Bromopsis tyttholepis (Nevski) Holub.

Perennial, base enclosed in old withered leaf sheaths. Culms densely tufted with many tillers, 50–90 cm tall, 4–6-noded, uppermost node ca. 1/2 way up culm, pubescent below nodes. Leaf sheaths glabrous or pubescent; leaf blades narrowly linear, flat, 15–20 cm × 3–5 mm, densely pubescent or glabrous, margins scabrid; ligule ca. 1.5 mm. Panicle narrow, contracted, 7–15 cm, axis scabrid; branches 2–6 per node, each bearing 1 or 2 spikelets. Spikelets linear-lanceolate, 20–25 mm, pale green or slightly yellow or tinged with purple, florets 5–11; lower glume 5–6 mm, 1-veined, upper glume 7–8 mm, 3-veined; lemmas 5–7-veined, 8–9 mm, glabrous, scabrid, awned from apex; awn 2–3 mm, scabrid. Fl. and fr. Jun–Jul.

Dry rocky slopes. Xinjiang [E Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan].