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Indian Muraina Grass
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Indian Muraina Grass
P Native Photo: Sushant More
Common name: Indian Muraina Grass, Batiki bluegrass, Smut grass
Botanical name: Ischaemum ciliare    Family: Poaceae (Grass family)
Synonyms: Ischaemum indicum var. wallichii, Ischaemum tenellum

Indian Muraina Grass is a perennial, spreading or clustered runner-forming grass rooting at the nodes, with erect or geniculate stems up to 60 cm tall, often branching and hairy at the nodes. Leaf-sheath are 3-6 cm long, often tight, hairless or sparsely hairy; ligule membranous, flat, 1-2 mm long, entire or lacerate; leaf-blade narrowly lanceshaped, up to 20 cm x 1 cm, tapering at tip, usually sparsely to densely hairy. Inflorescence is composed of two closely opposed or somewhat divergent racemes 2-10 cm long; spikelets paired, bisexual, one stalkless, one stalked, alternately on one side of the triangular axis; axis and flower-stalk hairy along angles; lower glume winged at tip, forming 2 large blunt lobes; upper lemma deeply notched, excurving into a long kneed and twisted awn 8-15 mm long. Indian Muraina Grass is native to the Indian Subcontinent to S. China and W. Malesia.

Identification credit: Manoj Chandran, Sushant More Photographed in Badlapur, Maharashtra.

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