Japanese name: ルビーガヤ Scientific name:Melinis repens
[Overview]
A short-lived perennial or annual 25–100 cm tall, found in open grasslands and similar places.
The stems grow in clumps; the lower part creeps along the ground and roots at the nodes, and the upper part rises upright.
The nodes are densely hairy, and the internodes in the lower part of the stem bear hairs with swollen bases.
The leaf blades are linear, 4–20 cm long and 0.2–1.1 cm wide, almost hairless on both sides; the mouth of the leaf sheath is not closed, and the leaf sheaths in the lower part of the stem bear hairs with swollen bases.
A sparse panicle 10–15 cm long and 4–8 cm wide is borne at the stem tip, and the branches of the inflorescence are slender.
The spikelets are covered with long crimson hairs and, excluding the hairs, are about 0.2–0.5 cm long.
[History]
It was recorded in Okinawa in 1966 and at Yokkaichi Port in Mie in 1994, and it has become naturalized in Mie and Okayama on Honshu and in the Ryukyu Islands.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
It is easy to grow in a sunny, well-drained place.
