Plants annual or perennial; rhizomatous, stoloniferous, or cespitose. Culms 5-150 cm, not woody, branched above the base; internodes hollow. Leavescauline; auricles sometimes present; ligules membranous, sometimes ciliate; blades flat or rolled, with or without cross venation. Inflorescencesterminal, usually contracted, dense panicles, distal 1/2 of the rachises concealed by the spikelets; branches fused to the rachises or free and appressed to ascending; pedicels with discoid apices; disarticulation below the glumes and below the upper florets. Spikelets bisexual, with 2 florets, rounded to acute; rachilla internodes not swollen. Glumes unequal, prominently veined, unawned; lower glumes 3-7-veined; upper glumes as long as or exceeding the upper florets, distinctly saccate or gibbous, 5-13-veined; lower florets 0.8-1.9 mm, sterile or staminate, less than 1/2 as long as the spikelets; lower lemmas resembling the upper glumes but not saccate, sometimes with a transverse row of hairs, 5-9-veined, unawned; lower paleaspresent or absent, 0-2-veined; upper lemmas subcoriaceous to subindurate, dorsally compressed, glabrous, smooth, margins inrolled or flat, never hyaline, faintly 3-5-veined; upper paleas similar to the lemmas, 2-veined; lodicules 2, fleshy, glabrous. x = 9. Name from the Greek sakkion, small bag, and lepis, scale, alluding to the saccate upper glumes.
Sacciolepis is a genus of 30 species. It is represented throughout the tropics and subtropics, primarily in Africa. Two species grow in the Flora region. One is native; the other is an introduction that has become established. Most species grow along and in ponds, lakes, streams, ditches, and other moist areas. The prominently multi-veined, saccate upper glumes and contracted panicles distinguish Sacciolepis from all other grasses in the Flora region.
SELECTED REFERENCESJudziewicz, E.J. 1990.A new South American species of Sacciolepis (Poaceae: Panicoideae: Paniceae), with a summary of the genus in the New World. Syst. Bot. 15:415-420; Simon, B.K. 1972. A revision to the genus Sacciolepis (Gramineae) in the "Flora Zambesiaca" area. Kew Bull. 27:387-406.