Japanese name: メリケンカルカヤ Scientific name:Andropogon virginicus
[Overview]
A perennial 50–80 cm tall, found in sunny vacant lots, roadsides and similar places.
The stem is erect and hard, and somewhat flattened at the base.
The leaves are linear, about 10–30 cm long, and folded in two along the midrib.
The margins of the leaf sheaths are densely hairy.
In the upper part of the stem it produces involucral leaves with reduced blades, and within them bears an inflorescence made up of 2–4 racemes.
Each raceme bears paired stalked and sessile spikelets; the stalked spikelet is reduced to the stalk alone.
The sessile spikelet consists of 2 florets, but the first floret is reduced.
The second floret has an awn 1–2 cm long.
The stalks of the stalked spikelets and the axis of the raceme are densely covered with long white hairs, by which the seeds are dispersed by wind.
[Notes]
It is designated as an alien species of concern under the Invasive Alien Species Act.
