戈壁画眉草 ge bi hua mei cao

Aira arundinacea Linnaeus; Eragrostis arundinacea (Linnaeus) Roshevitz (1934), not Jedwabnick (1924).

Perennial with rhizomes. Culms glaucous, erect, caespitose, rigid, robust, glabrous, 30–100 cm tall. Leaf sheaths glabrous, with long soft hairs along summit; ligules a ring of hairs; blades linear, flat or involute, glabrous, margins scabrous, 2–6 mm broad. Panicle ca. 25 × 12 cm; branches ascending, loose, smooth, 1–2(–3) per node. Spikelets dark green, usually gathered at tip, 1.8–3.5 mm, 2–5-flowered; rachilla articulating at maturity. Glumes unequal, shorter than florets. Lemma ca. 2 mm, apex obtuse. Caryopsis nearly rounded, ca. 1 mm in diam. Fl. and fr. Jun–Sep.

Mountain slopes, streams; 500–1000 m. N Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Russia; SW Asia (Caucasus, Iran, Turkey)].