Digitaria ciliaris |
Digitaria ischaemum |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
fingergrass, Henry's crabgrass, kukaepua'a, saulangi, smooth crabgrass, southern crab grass, tropical crabgrass |
digitaire astringente, smooth crab grass |
|||||
Habit | Plants annual or of indefinite duration. | Plants annual or of indefinite duration. | ||||
Culms | 10-100 cm long, erect portion 30-60 cm, long-decumbent, rooting and branching at the decumbent nodes, sparingly branched or unbranched from the upper nodes; nodes 2-5, glabrous. |
20-55(70) cm, decumbent, branching and rooting at the lower nodes; nodes 3-4. |
||||
Sheaths | with papillose-based hairs; ligules 2-3.5 mm, erose; blades 1.5-14.4(18.9) cm long, 3-9 mm wide, flat, glabrous, a few scattered papillose-based hairs at the base of the adaxial surfaces (occasionally over the whole adaxial surface), usually also scabrous on both surfaces. |
glabrous or sparsely pubescent; ligules 0.6-2.5 mm; blades 1.5-9 cm long, 3-5 mm wide, glabrous, with a few papillose-based hairs basally. |
||||
Panicles | with 2-10 spikelike primary branches, these digitate or in 1-3 whorls on rachises to 2 cm; lowest panicle nodes with hairs more than 0.4 mm; primary branches 3-24 cm long, 0.6-1.2(2) mm wide, glabrous or with less than 1 mm hairs, axes wing-margined, wings at least 1/2 as wide as the midribs, lower and middle portions of the branches bearing spikelets in unequally pedicellate pairs; secondary branches absent; shorter pedicels 0.5-1 mm; longer pedicels 1.5-4 mm. |
terminal and axillary; terminal panicles with 2-7 spikelike primary branches, subdigitate or on 0.5-2 cm rachises; primary branches 6-15.5 cm, axes wing-margined, wings at least 1/2 as wide as the midribs, bearing spikelets in groups of 3, lower portions of the longer pedicels adnate to the axes; secondary branches rarely present; axillary inflorescences always present in some of the lower sheaths, entirely or partially concealed. |
||||
Spikelets | (2.7)2.8-4.1 mm long, homomorphic. |
1.7-2.3 mm, homomorphic, narrowly elliptic. |
||||
Lower | glumes 0.2-0.8 mm, acute; upper glumes (1.2)1.5-2.7 mm, about 2/3 to almost as long as the spikelet, 3-veined, margins and apices pilose; lower lemmas 2.7-4.1 mm, 7-veined, veins unequally spaced, outer 3 veins crowded together near each margin, well-separated from the midvein, usually smooth, occasionally the lateral veins scabridulous on the distal 1/3 margins and regions between the 2 inner lateral veins hairy, hairs 0.5-1 mm (rarely glabrous), sometimes also with glassy yellow hairs between the 2 inner lateral veins, these more common on the upper spikelets; upper lemmas 2.5-4 mm, glabrous, yellow, tan, or gray when immature, becoming brown, often purple-tinged (occasionally completely purple) at maturity; anthers 0.6-1 mm. |
glumes absent or a veinless, membranous rim; upper glumes 1.3-2.3 mm, from 3/4 as long as to equaling the upper lemmas, appressed-pubescent; lower lemmas 1.7-2.3 mm, 7-veined, veins unequally spaced, smooth, pubescent; upper lemmas dark brown at maturity; anthers 0.4-0.6 mm. |
||||
2n | = 54. |
= 36. |
||||
Digitaria ciliaris |
Digitaria ischaemum |
|||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CT; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
|
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; PR; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Virgin Islands
|
||||
Discussion | Digitaria ciliaris is a weedy species, found in open, disturbed areas in most warm-temperate to tropical regions, primarily in the eastern United States. It is particularly abundant in the Southeast. So far as is known, the two varieties distinguished in the following key do not differ in any other characters. They are recognized here pending further study. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Digitaria ischaemum is a Eurasian weed that is now common in lawns, gardens, fields, and waste ground in warm-temperate regions throughout the world, including much of the Flora region. Larger plants with 5-7 inflorescence branches 8-15 cm long have been called var. mississippiensis (Gatt.) Fernald, but they intergrade with more typical plants, and so do not merit taxonomic recognition. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||
Key |
|
|||||
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 382. | FNA vol. 25, p. 372. | ||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Digitaria | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Digitaria | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Syntherisma linearis, Syntherisma ischaemum | |||||
Name authority | (Retz.) Koeler | (Schreb.) Muhl. | ||||
Web links |
|