Japanese name: メガルカヤ（雌刈茅、雌刈萱） Scientific name:Themeda triandra var. japonica
[Overview]
A perennial 0.7–1 m tall, growing in sunny grasslands and on embankments in hilly areas.
The culms (stems) stand erect in clumps.
The leaves are linear, 30–50 cm long and 0.3–0.8 cm wide, with sparse long hairs near the base and on the leaf sheaths.
Inflorescences enclosed in boat-shaped bract sheaths appear at the stem tip.
Each inflorescence bears two flattened racemes that open out.
Each raceme consists of 6 spikelets: the two lower pairs of spikelets are all sessile and male, and above them sessile and stalked spikelets are borne in pairs; the sessile spikelet is bisexual and has a thick awn about 5 cm long, while the stalked spikelet is male and awnless.
