Hollow Lotus Grass, formerly known as Pleasant Drought Lotus Grass, alias: Hollow Amaranth, Water Spinach, Revolutionary Grass, Water Peanut, Amaranthaceae Lotus Grass genus, perennial herb; stem base creeping, the upper part of the ascending, tubular, inconspicuous four-angled, branched, young stems and leaf axils with white or rust-colored pilose, stems glabrous in old age, only retained in the longitudinal grooves of the two sides. Leaf blade rectangular-orbicular, rectangular-obovate, or obovate-lanceolate, base connate into a cup; staminodes rectangular-barred, ca. as long as stamens, apically cleft into narrow strips; ovary obovate, shortly stipitate, abaxially laterally compressed, apically rounded. Fruit not seen. Introduced into China in 1930, it is a very harmful invasive species and has been listed as one of the first invasive species in China. Its young stems and leaves can be used as vegetables to eat, spring and summer picking its young stems and leaves, washing, boiling water, water rinsing cut off, can be cold, fried food, crisp and delicious. It can also be used as cattle, rabbit and pig feed.

So what is the difference between mirror grass and copper grass?

Stem

Copperweed

Copperweed belongs to the perennial creeping herb, its stem nodes can easily grow fibrous roots after touching the soil, and its upright part is about eight centimeters to thirty-seven centimeters high.

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Mirrorwort

Mirrorwort is a perennial succulent herb, its stems are erect, long and stout, unbranched, and it is clumped and rhizomatous. The height of the stem is probably between two centimeters and thirteen centimeters, and the thickness is probably between five millimeters and ten millimeters. It has dense nodes with a greenish tinge, which turn brownish when dry.

Leaves

Copperweed

It has thin, rounded kidney-shaped leaves that are roughly between two and a half and seven centimeters in length, and roughly between three and eight centimeters in width, and the leaves are dark green on the surface and light green on the back, with five to seven palmate lobes.

Its lobes are broadly ovate or subtriangular, the margins of the leaves are somewhat irregularly serrated, and the bases of the leaves are heart-shaped.

Its petiole length is probably between four and twenty-three centimeters. The texture of the stipules is membranous and the shape is ovoid or broadly ovate.

Mirror Grass

Mirror Grass has fleshy leaves that turn papery as they dry. The leaves are suborbicular or ovoid in shape, between two and a half and nine centimeters in length, and between two and eight centimeters in width, and are borne on the petiole like a shield.

It has an obtuse or rounded apex, the base of the leaf is rounded or slightly emarginate, and its margin is entire or shallowly undulate. The leaves are green above and gray-green below.

When the leaves are dry, they take on the shape of a fine bee case or a stalactite thin rod, probably between zero point one millimeter and zero point two millimeters in length, which is more pronounced on top of the leaf.