Oplismenus is a small genus of annual

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

 or perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

 grasses found in tropical Asia and extending down through South East Asia into Australia. Scholz, who studied the genus throughout the world, recognized nine species and 18 infraspecific taxa. An English translation of her work is available at http://www.herbarium.usu.edu/translate. The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 hoplismenos 'armed'.

Species include:

• Oplismenus compositus
• Oplismenus hirtellus
  • O. h. ssp. undulatifolius
    Oplismenus hirtellus subsp. undulatifolius
    Oplismenus hirtellus P. Beauv. subsp. undulatifolius U. Scholz is a foreign grass that has been accidentally introduced into Maryland and Virginia, USA and appears to have the potential of becoming extremely invasive.   This grass, native to southern Europe and southeastern Asia Oplismenus...