FoI
Paddle Grass
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Paddle Grass
P Native Photo: Ashutosh Sharma
Common name: Paddle Grass
Botanical name: Ischaemum polystachyum    Family: Poaceae (Grass family)
Synonyms: Ischaemum chordatum, Andropogon chordatus, Ischaemum nilagiricum

Paddle Grass is a sprawling grass, with long prostrate stems finally rising up to a little more than a metre in height. Velvetiness of nodes, sheaths and blades is variable. Flower racemes are 4-7 (or more), about 8 cm long, spreading. Axis joints and flower-stalks are trigonous, the angle scabrous or short-fringed with hairs, about 4 mm long, bowed equally away from each other; fertile lemma of stalkless spikelet bearing a twisted geniculate awn. This grass tends to be gregarious. Paddle Grass is found in Western Himalayas, and other parts of India. It is also found in Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand; Africa, Mauritius, Pacific Islands.

Identification credit: Ashutosh Sharma Photographed in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh.

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