Imperata cylindrica var. koenigii(lalang, "Chigaya")
Japanese name: チガヤ（茅、茅萱） Scientific name:Imperata cylindrica var. koenigii
[Overview]
A perennial 30–80 cm tall, growing in colonies in sunny seaside dunes, reclaimed land, riverbeds and similar places.
The rhizome is slender and creeps sideways.
The slender stems are erect.
The leaves are linear, 20–50 cm long and 7–12 mm wide, and turn red in autumn.
A cylindrical inflorescence 10–20 cm long forms at the stem tip.
The inflorescence is covered with long white hairs, and spikelets 4 mm long are densely borne in pairs.
The bases of the spikelets and the glumes have hairs.
The stigmas are large and a conspicuous blackish purple.
[History]
It appears in the Man'yoshu under the name 'Tsubana'.
[Uses]
The young inflorescences are sweet, so children eat them as play.
The rhizome is used as a crude drug.
It is believed to have the power to ward off evil, and there is an event called chi-no-wa kuguri, in which people pass through a large ring woven from chigaya at the Nagoshi purification ritual on the last day of June.
[Cultivation]
Propagate by division or from seed.
There is nothing special to watch for as long as the site is sunny and well drained.
