Merakan (Themeda arguens)

Rumput merak or Christmas grass or merakan (Themeda arguens) is a species of plant in Poaceae, annual grass, growing upright with a stem height of 20-120 cm, a single leaf shaped like a ribbon, flat and elongated with a pointed tip, 5-30 cm long, 4-7 mm wide and green.

T. arguens has white fibrous roots. Stems upright or somewhat lying, cylindrical, slippery, small, long, segmented, dense reed, reddish purple or sometimes yellowish or green and brown when dry.

Compound flowers are arranged in clusters at the ends or in the armpits, grains are protected by a lancet-shaped sheath, 2.5-3.5 cm long and purplish green. Androgynous flowers have 4 ears, 3 stamens and 2 pistil heads.

Elliptical fruit, almost round piston, solid hair, 8-10 mm, green and deciduous with a stalk. Seeds are round, small and black. This species has two varieties, Themeda arguens var. arguens and Themeda arguens var. balinensis.

Merakan feels fertile in open places, lots of sun and dry. Group in savanna forests, teak forests, secondary forests, road sides and dykes. Grows on various types of soil including clay and lime at altitudes up to 1,200 m.

T. arguens sometimes becomes weeds in fields and gardens. Often used for animal feed, treating back pain, roots for fertilizing hair or tonics and cleaning the blood.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Panicoideae
Tribe: Andropogoneae
Genus: Themeda
Species: Themeda arguens
Varieties: Themeda arguens var. arguens, Themeda arguens var. balinensis

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