Plants cespitose, forming large clumps, with short,
thick rhizomes. Culms 60-200 cm tall, 3-7 mm thick below. Leaves
predominantly basal; sheaths mostly glabrous, throats pilose; ligules
1-2 mm; blades 20-70 cm long, 6-20 mm wide, midveins conspicuous abaxially,
1-2 mm wide, whitish. Panicles 15-25 cm long, 8-28 cm wide, dense to
loose, usually with more than 15 branches; rachises 6-15 cm, 1/3- 2/3
as long as the inflorescences; branches 8-15(30) cm long, about 10 mm
wide, sometimes branched at the base; internodes 4-8 mm, glabrous. Shorter
pedicels 1.5-2.5 mm; longer pedicels 3.5-6 mm, slightly recurved
at maturity. Spikelets 3.5-7 mm, lanceolate to lance-ovate; callus
hairs 6-12 mm, to twice as long as the spikelets, white, stramineous to
reddish. Glumes subequal; lower glumes 3-veined, ciliolate on
the margins; upper glumes 1-veined; awns of upper lemmas 6-12
mm, geniculate below. 2n = 38, 40, and dysploids from 35-42.
Miscanthus sinensis is native to southeastern Asia. It is frequently
cultivated in the United States and southern Canada, and is now established
in some parts of the United States. Approximately 40 forms and cultivars are
available, some having white-striped leaves, others differently colored callus
hairs and, consequently, differently colored panicles.
Robust, 2-3 m, in large tufts; lvs elongate, to 1 m, ca 1 cm wide, scabrous-margined; racemes simple, rather closely approximate, forming a fan-shaped panicle; glumes narrow, 3-4 mm, subtended and equaled or shortly exceeded by a ring of long silky hairs; lemmas 2-3 mm, the fertile one with an awn 6 mm; 2n=35-57. Native of China, cult. for ornament and occasionally escaped. Autumn.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.