Steyermark (1963) included only M. floridulus (Labill.) Warb. ex K. Schum. & Lauterb. for Missouri, but he noted that the material had originally been determined as M. sinensis. He suggested that these taxa differed in leaf width and degree of exsertion of the inflorescences from the leaf sheaths. Mühlenbach (1979), however, cited the same collections as M. sinensis. Gereau (1987) included both taxa in his list of the state’s grass flora. However, the characters used by Steyermark (1963) to differentiate these species do not work well, and instead the relative length of the main axis of the panicle and spikelet size are more reliable features to separate the two. The collections are fairly homogeneous for these features. None of them has the main axis of the panicle as long as or longer than the side branches, which is a critical feature of M. floridulus. Thus, the Missouri plants with short rhizomes and awned spikelets are all treated here as M. sinensis, and M. floridulus is reluctantly excluded from the flora. It should be noted, however, that spikelets in most of the specimens from midwestern states are slightly shorter than the values listed in treatments of the species in Asia (Lee, 1964a, b; Meyer and Walker, 1965). Plants of M. sinensis with variegated (white cross‑banded) leaves from Warren County may be called f. zebrina (G. Nicholson) Nakai.