Common name
Indian Cupscale Grass

Derivation
Sacciolepis Nash, in N.L.Britton, Man. Fl. N. States 89 (1901). From the Greek sakkion (a small bag) and lepis (scale), alluding to the saccate upper glume.

indica- from India.

Published in
Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 21: 8 (1908).

Habit
Annual. Culms geniculately ascending or decumbent, slender, 10–100 cm tall, with aerial roots from the nodes. Leaf-sheath auricles absent or present. Leaf-sheath auricles erect. Leaf-sheath auricles 0–2 mm long. Ligule a fringed membrane, 0.2–0.5 mm long. Leaf-blades 2–25 cm long, 1–7 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface ungrooved, scaberulous.

Inflorescence
Inflorescence solid, a panicle. Panicle spiciform, linear or oblong, 1–13 cm long. Primary panicle branches accrescent to a central axis, with lateral stumps on axis. Panicle axis with rounded ribs.

Spikelets
Spikelets solitary. Pedicels smooth. Fertile spikelets 2-flowered, comprising 1 fertile floret, lower floret sterile or male, upper fertile, without rhachilla extension, lanceolate or ovate, laterally compressed, gibbous, 2–3.5 mm long, 0.8–1.2 mm wide, falling entire.

Glumes
Glumes thinner than fertile lemma. Lower glume ovate, 1–1.6 mm long, 33–66% of length of spikelet, hyaline, 3–7-nerved. Lower glume apex acute. Upper glume elliptic, gibbous, 2.2–3.5 mm long, 130–200% of length of adjacent fertile lemma, 100% of length of spikelet, membranous, 5–9-nerved. Upper glume lateral nerves ribbed. Upper glume surface glabrous or pubescent. Upper glume apex acute.

Florets
Basal sterile floret 1, with palea. Lemma of lower sterile floret similar to upper glume, elliptic, 2.2–3.5 mm long, 100% of length of spikelet, membranous, 5–7-nerved, ribbed, glabrous or pubescent, acute. Palea of lower sterile floret 10–20% of length of lemma. Fertile lemma elliptic, dorsally compressed, 1–2 mm long, coriaceous, glossy, 5-nerved. Lemma margins involute. Lemma apex obtuse. Palea involute, coriaceous.

Continental Distribution:
Africa, Temperate Asia, Tropical Asia, Australasia, Pacific, South America.

Australian Distribution:
Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales.

Western Australia: Gardner, Fitzgerald, Hall, Dampier. Northern Territory: Darwin & Gulf, Barkly Tableland. Queensland: Cook, Burke, North Kennedy, South Kennedy, Port Curtis, Leichhardt, Wide Bay, Darling Downs, Moreton. New South Wales: North Coast, Central Coast, South Coast, Northern Tablelands.

Classification. (GPWG 2001):
Panicoideae: Paniceae

Notes
Native. In tropical and subtropical rain forests, tropical and subtropical sub-humid woodlands, and coastal grasslands. Widely distributed. Flowers sporadically throughout the year. Highly variable in size, spikelet length and pubescence.