Eragrostis nigra Nees ex Steud.

Perennial. Culms tufted, erect or slightly geniculate at base, 30–90 × 0.15–0.25 cm, slightly compressed at base, 2–3-noded. Leaf sheaths along margins long ciliate, white pilose along the summit; ligules 0.1–0.5 mm; leaf blades filiform, flat, 2–25 × 0.3–0.5 cm, glabrous. Panicle open, 10–24 × 3–16 cm; branches solitary or verticillate, slender and twisted, glabrous in axils. Spikelets black or black green, 3–6 × 1–1.5 mm, 3–8-flowered, with pedicel 2–10 mm. Glumes membranous, lanceolate, apex acuminate, lower glume 1-veined, 1.5–2.5 mm; upper glume 1–3-veined, 1.8–2.5 mm. Lemmas ovate-oblong, apex membranous, lower lemma 2–2.2 mm. Palea persistent, slightly shorter than lemma, along 2 keels ciliolate, apex obtuse. Stamens 3; anthers ca. 0.6 mm. Caryopsis elliptical, 0.5–1 mm. Fl. and fr. Apr–Sep.

Nepal, India, Ceylon, Burma to China.

900-3000 m

Mountain slopes. Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Jiangxi, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka; SE Asia].

Eragrostis atropurpurea Hochstetter ex Steudel; E. de-qenensis B. S. Sun & S. Wang.