Homalostachys sinensis Boeckeler.

Rhizome stoloniferous, woody. Culms 20-50 × 0.3-0.4 cm, stiff, trigonous, base with persistent brown sheaths. Leaves longer or shorter than culms, flat, 3-5 mm wide, pubescent and glabrescent later, papillose abaxially, scabrid adaxially, long sheathed, sheath mouth villous. Involucral bracts same as leaves, shorter than inflorescence, much longer than inflorescence branches. Panicle compound, 10-20 cm, 4-10-branched; inflorescence branches corymbose, simple, 5-12-spiked, 2-3 × 1.5-2 cm; peduncles of inflorescence branches tenuous, 6-8 cm, trigonous, loosely pubescent; inflorescence axes sharply trigonous, loosely pubescent; bractlets brown, glumelike, lanceolate, 3-4 mm, loosely pubescent. Spikes unisexual, male ones at upper part of inflorescence branches, female at lower part, arising from flowerless utriculiform cladoprophylls; male spikes oblong, 6-10 mm, many flowered, sometimes with few female flowers at base; female spikes oblong, 7-10 mm, densely many flowered, sometimes with few male flowers at top; male glumes brown, lanceolate, 2.5-3.5 mm, membranous, with 1 midrib, apex acuminate; female glumes brownish white with dense brown spots, lanceolate, 2.5-3.5 mm, with 1 midrib, margins narrowly hyaline, apex acuminate. Utricles brownish white with brown spots, obliquely patent, shorter than glumes, obovate, sometimes obliquely obovate, slightly inflated, trigonous, ca. 2 mm, papery, glabrous, 2-veined abaxially, apex contracted abruptly into short beak, orifice obliquely truncate. Nutlets yellowish white at maturity, obovate, trigonous, ca. 1.2 mm; style base thickened; stigmas 3.

● Shady slopes, roadsides. Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan.