Tsukiige - Tsukiige

Japanese: ツキイゲ - つきいげ

A thorny perennial grass of an unusual shape that grows in colonies on coastal sand dunes from Southeast Asia to Yakushima Island in Japan (illustration). The stem is long and slightly woody at the bottom, and erect at the top, reaching a height of 30-50 cm. The leaves are attached to the nodes of the stem, are needle-like, curved, 5-20 cm long and about 3 mm wide, whitish green along with the stem, and end in sharp needles. The plant is dioecious, and blooms in summer in Japan. The male inflorescence is a bunch of several inflorescences that grow at the top of the stem, each branch is 4-8 cm long and has a thorn at the tip, and bears spikelets about 1 cm long rather densely at the top center.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

東南アジアから日本の屋久島までの海岸の砂丘に群生するとげのある変わった形のイネ科の多年草（イラスト）。茎は下部が長くはってやや木質化し，上部が立ち上がって，高さ30～50cmになる。葉は茎の節につき，刺針状で，反り，長さ5～20cm，幅3mmくらいで，茎とともに白っぽい緑色で，先は鋭い針に終わる。雌雄異株で，日本では夏に開花する。雄花序は茎の頂に束生した数個の総（ふさ）で，各枝は4～8cm，先端にとげがあり，中央上部に長さ1cmくらいの小穂をやや密につける。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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