Common name
Swamp Rice Grass

Derivation
Leersia Sw., Prodr. 21 (1788); Named for Johan Daniel Leers, a German apothecary and botanist of the 18th century.

hexandra- from the Greek hexa (six) and aner (man). The florets possess six anthers.

Published in
Prodr. 21 (1788).

Habit
Annual or perennial. Rhizomes elongated. Basal leaf sheaths glabrous. Culms erect or geniculately ascending or decumbent or clambering or aquatic, 30–150 cm tall. Mid-culm nodes pubescent. Lateral branches simple. Ligule an eciliate membrane, 1–2 mm long, scarious, truncate. Leaf-blades 6–20 cm long, 2–16 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface scaberulous. Leaf-blade margins scabrous.

Inflorescence
Inflorescence compound, a panicle. Panicle open, elliptic or oblong, 5–13.5 cm long, 1–4 cm wide. Primary panicle branches bearing spikelets almost to the base.

Spikelets
Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets 1-flowered, comprising 1 fertile floret, without rhachilla extension, oblong, strongly laterally compressed, (3.2–)3.4–4.8(–5.2) mm long, (1–)1.2–1.4(–1.7) mm wide, falling entire.

Glumes
Both glumes absent or obscure.

Florets
Fertile lemma oblong in profile, (3.2–)3.4–4.8(–5.2) mm long, chartaceous, pallid or purple, 5-nerved. Lemma midnerve pectinately ciliate or hispid. Lemma surface scabrous. Lemma margins involute. Lemma apex acute or acuminate or caudate, muticous. Palea present, elliptic, 100% of length of lemma, chartaceous, 3-nerved, 1-keeled. Palea keels pectinate. Palea apex entire. Lodicules 2. Anthers 6. Stigmas 2.

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

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

Northern Territory: Darwin & Gulf. Queensland: Cook, North Kennedy, South Kennedy, Port Curtis, Leichhardt, Burnett, Wide Bay, Darling Downs, Moreton. New South Wales: North Coast, Central Coast.

Classification. (GPWG 2001):
Ehrhartoideae: Oryzeae

Notes
Native. Widely distributed throughout the tropics. Usually in swamps and creeks, waterholes, lakes; substrate sand, peat, clay. Flowers Mar.–Sept.