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Small Carpetgrass
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Small Carpetgrass
P Native Photo: Ashutosh Sharma
Common name: Small Carpetgrass, Hairy jointgrass
Botanical name: Arthraxon hispidus    Family: Poaceae (Grass family)
Synonyms: Andropogon amplexifolius, Arthraxon ciliaris, Arthraxon gracilis

Small Carpetgrass is a perennial or annual sprawling grass, rooting at the nodes with flowering stems up to 30 cm high; nodes hairy. Leaves are relatively short and broad, narrowly ovate up to 5 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, eared at the base and pointedly tipped, variably hairless or hairy on the margins. Ligule 0.5-3 mm. Inflorescence is a set of up to 10 or more racemes, up to 5 cm long, pale green or purple, variously hairless to shortly hairy. Stalkless spikelet up to 7 mm long; lower glume lanceshaped, convex, 6-9-nerved with rough veins. Upper glume slightly longer with awn up to 11 mm long in typical forms but may be much shorter and hardly protruding. Stalked spikelet occasionally present at the tip of the raceme, but usually absent with flower-stalk a stump up to 2 mm long. Anthers 2, about 1 mm long. Small Carpetgrass is native to Tropical Africa, W. Indian Ocean, Asia to E. Australia.

Identification credit: Ashutosh Sharma Photographed in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh.

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