Sacciolepis indica (L.) Chase

The name Aira indica was originally given as "Aira spicata," but this was corrected by Linnaeus in the errata on the final page [1231] of Species Plantarum.

The combination "Sacciolepis indica var. angusta (Trinius) Keng" (Fl. Ill. Pl. Prim. Sin. Gram. 662. 1959) was not validly published because a full and direct reference to the basionym was not provided.

Clum tufted, ca. 60 mm tall, slender or spongy. Blade flat to loosely involute, less than 12 cm long, 2-4 mm wide; sheath slightly keeled, shorter than internode; ligule membranaceous, 0.2-0.5 mm long. Panicle contracted, cylindric, 1-6 cm long; pedicels discoid-tipped. Spikelets ca. 2.5 mm long, more or less papillose-hispid; lower glume ovate, 1/3-2/3 as long as spikelet, 3-7-veined; upper glume narrowly ovate, 9-11-veined; lower lemma equal to upper glume, enclosing a small hyaline lower palea; upper lemma narrowly ovate, acute, pale yellow, ca. 1/2 as long as spikelet; ather ca. 0.7 mm long. Caryopsis ellipsoid, ca. 0.8 mm long, 0.45 mm wide.

Annual. Culms slender, weakly ascending from a branching, decumbent base, 20–100 cm tall. Leaf sheaths slightly keeled; leaf blades linear, flat to loosely involute, 5–20 × 0.2–0.5 cm, apex acute; ligule 0.2–0.5 mm. Panicle spikelike, 11–16 × 0.3–0.5 cm, axis glabrous. Spikelets green or purplish green, lanceolate, laterally compressed, 2–2.8 mm, glabrous or papillose-hispid, obtuse; glumes ovate, herbaceous with broad hyaline margins and apex, lower glume 1/3–1/2 spikelet length, 3–7-veined; upper glume 7–11-veined; lower lemma as long as upper glume; palea small and hyaline; upper lemma yellowish, narrowly ovate, 1/2 spikelet length. Fl. and fr. Jul–Nov. 2n = 18.

Himalaya (Garhwal, Nepal), south to tropical Asia, Polynesia, Australia. Introduced in Africa & America.

Tropical Asia and Australia. Taiwan, in swampy places.

200-2100 m

Moist places, valleys, streams. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam; Africa, Australia, Pacific Islands].

Aira indica L., Sp. Pl. 63. 1753. Panicum indicum (L.) L. var. oryzetorum Makino, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 27: 28. 1913. Sacciolepis indica var. oryzetorum (Makino) Ohwi, Bull. Tokyo Sci. Mus. 18: 3. 1947; Hsu, Fl. Taiwan 5: 598. 1978.

Aira indica Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 63 ["spicata"], errata [1231, "indicum"]. 1753; Panicum angustum Trinius; Saccio-lepis angusta (Trinius) Stapf; S. spicata Honda ex Masamune, nom. illeg. superfl.