Japanese name: カモノハシ（鴨の嘴） Scientific name:Ischaemum aristatum var. crassipes
[Overview]
A perennial 30–90 cm tall, found in wetlands, grasslands and coastal sandy beaches.
It often grows in colonies.
The base of the stem sometimes creeps along the ground and branches.
The whole plant is hairless, and the stem nodes are also hairless.
Leaves are simple and alternate, linear-lanceolate, 15–30 cm long.
The ligule is truncate with a hairy margin, and long hairs grow on the margin of the leaf sheath.
An erect flower spike 4–7 cm long is borne at the stem tip.
The spike is cylindrical and looks like a single one, but it is actually two racemes pressed tightly together.
Each raceme bears spikelets in pairs, two stalked and two stalkless.
The spikelets are 5–6 mm long, and the awns hardly protrude from the spikelets.
The first glume has a broad wing.
[Notes]
The Japanese name comes from the appearance of the flower spike, which bears two racemes.
