Japanese name: トダシバ（戸田芝） Scientific name:Arundinella hirta
[Overview]
A perennial 0.3–1.2 m tall, found in sunny grassland.
It has creeping rhizomes, grows in colonies, and sometimes forms grassland together with Susuki.
The stem is erect, slender and hard.
The leaves are alternate and linear, 15–40 cm long and 0.5–1.5 cm wide, and hairy, though the amount of hair varies.
The ligule is short and has hairs on the margin.
A conical flower spike 10–30 cm long bears many spikelets.
The spikelets consist of 2 florets, are green sometimes tinged with purplish brown, and are stalked; the awns are absent or short.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or by division.
It is hardy and, if the environment suits it, grows well even when left alone.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained site.
[Notes]
The Japanese name comes from the fact that it grew abundantly at Todagahara (Toda, Saitama), which lay around the Arakawa.
