Miscanthus nepalensis (Trin.) Hack.

Tufted perennial with very short rhizomes; culms up to 1.5 m high. Leaf-blades flat, 30-50 cm long, 6-10 mm wide, narrowed at the base. Panicle 10-15 (-20) cm long, spreading, the axis much shorter than the racemes. Spikelets 2-2.5 (-2.8) mm long, the callus bearded with golden-brown hairs 3-4 times as long as the spikelet; lower glume brown, emarginate, hairy on the margins in the lower half with hairs of unequal length, the longest 2-3 times as long as the glume; upper lemma bidentate, with a straight or flexuous awn 9-13 mm long.

Plant tufted. Culms erect, 20–200 cm tall, 2–7 mm in diam., glabrous or pilose immediately below inflorescence, nodes glabrous. Leaves basal and cauline; leaf sheaths glabrous, striate, pilose at throat; leaf blades linear, flat or folded, 15–60 × 0.3–2.5 cm, glabrous or pilose, margins scabrid, base tapering, straight or rounded, apex acuminate; ligule 1–3 mm, ciliolate, dorsally pilose. Panicle oblong or equidimensional, 8–24 cm; axis 1.5–16 cm, glabrous. Racemes 7–80, flexuous, 8–18 cm; rachis glabrous; lower pedicel 1–2 mm, upper pedicel 2.5–5.5 mm. Spikelets 2–3 mm, golden brown, awned; callus hairs 5–11 mm, much longer than spikelet, pale to golden brown; glumes subequal or upper slightly longer, membranous, 1–5-veined; lower glume glabrous or margins sparsely pilose with 4–6 mm hairs, apex emarginate; upper glume glabrous, margins and apex hyaline, apex acute; lower lemma ovate, hyaline, 1.5–2 mm, veinless; upper lemma lanceolate, hyaline, 1.5–2 mm; awn straight or flexuous, 5–17 mm; upper palea a ca. 1 mm scale. Anthers 2, 1–1.5 mm. Caryopsis ellipsoid, ca. 1.5 mm.

Himalaya (Garhwal to Bhutan), Assam, Burma, W. China.

Distribution: Pakistan (N.W.F.P. & Kashmir); Himalayas; Khasi and Naga Hills; Burma.

Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal; introduced in Malaysia].

1100-3000 m

Mountain slopes; 1900–2800 m.

Eulalia nepalensis Trinius, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St.-Pétersbourg, Sér. 6, Sci. Math. 2: 333. 1833; Diandranthus nepalensis (Trinius) L. Liu.

Miscanthus nepalensis, Himalayan fairy grass, is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, native to mountain slopes in China (Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan), Bhutan, India, Myanmar and Nepal, and introduced in Malaysia. It is found at elevations of 1,900–2,800 m (6,200–9,200 ft).

This decorative, deciduous grass grows 1 m (3.3 ft) tall, with arching green blades, often turning bronze in winter. Terminal clusters of yellow spikelets appear in summer, forming seed-heads in autumn.

It is grown as an ornamental for temperate gardens, where it requires a sunny position.