The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

slender crabgrass

Asian crabgrass

Habit Plants annual, or short-lived perennials; cespitose, not rhizomatous. Plants of indefinite duration; sometimes stoloniferous.
Culms

(10)25-150 cm, erect or decumbent, branching, sometimes rooting at the lower nodes;

nodes 3-6.

with erect portion 10-85 cm, long-decumbent, rooting and branching at the lower nodes.

Sheaths

keeled, basal sheaths usually with papillose-based hairs, rarely glabrous;

ligules 0.3-1.5 mm;

blades 2-18 cm long, 1-6 mm wide, flat or involute, glabrous, scabrous, or pilose.

with papillose-based hairs or the upper sheaths glabrous;

ligules 1-4 mm;

blades 3-14 cm long, 2-9 mm wide, mostly glabrous but the adaxial surfaces with papillose-based hairs basally.

Panicles

with 2-7 spikelike primary branches, these digitate or the rachises to 1 cm;

longest primary branches 20-25 cm, axes triquetrous, not winged, with spikelets in unequally pedicellate groups of 3(-5) on the basal ½ (J.

with (2)3-6 spikelike primary branches, these digitate or a few solitary branches below;

lowest nodes glabrous or with hairs less than 0.4 mm;

primary branches 6.5-21 cm long, 0.6-1.3 mm wide, axes winged, wings at least 1/2 as wide as the midribs, lower and middle portions bearing spikelets in unequally pedicellate pairs, pedicels not adnate to the branches;

secondary branches absent;

shorter pedicels about 0.2 mm;

longer pedicels to 2 mm.

Spikelets

1.3-2.8 mm.

2.6-3.7 mm, spikelet pairs dimorphic in their pubescence and venation pattern of the lower lemmas.

Lower glumes

absent or to 0.1 mm;

upper glumes 1-2 mm long, from 3/4 to almost as long as the spikelets, almost glabrous or sparsely to densely pubescent with clavate to capitate hairs (use 20x magnification), glume apices rounded;

lower lemmas equaling the spikelets, glabrous or glandular-pubescent, 5-7-veined, veins unequally spaced, outer 3 veins on each side closer to each other than the midvein is to the inner lateral veins;

upper lemmas 1.3-2 mm, apiculate, dark brown at maturity;

anthers 0.3-0.6 mm.

absent or to 0.9 mm, deltoid or bifid;

upper glumes 1.7-2.8 mm, 1/2 - 3/4 as long as the spikelets, 3-veined;

lower lemmas 7-veined, veins smooth;

lower lemmas of shortly pedicellate spikelets with 3 equally spaced, glabrous or shortly pubescent central veins, lemma margins and the region between the 2 lateral veins with appressed or spreading, 0.5-1 mm hairs;

lower lemmas of long-pedicellate spikelets with unequally spaced veins, midvein well-separated from the 3 lateral veins, lateral veins crowded together near the margins, lemma margins and the region between the 2 inner lateral veins hairy with appressed or strongly divergent, 1-2 mm hairs, sometimes also with longer, glassy yellow hairs;

upper lemmas of all spikelets usually yellow or gray, sometimes light brown, at maturity;

anthers 0.5-0.6 mm.

Wipff

, pers.

Comm

.).

2n

= 36, 54.

= 54, 72.

Digitaria filiformis

Digitaria bicornis

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; IA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA; PR
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Digitaria filiformis grows throughout the warmer parts of the eastern United States, van filifomis the most widespread of its varieties, extending into Mexico.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Digitaria bicornis is a common species on the sandy coastal plain of the southeastern United States. Its range extends through Mexico to Costa Rica and northern South America, as well as to the West Indies. The Californian record reflects a 1926 collection; the species is not known to be established in the state.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Lower lemmas glabrous
var. laeviglumis
1. Lower lemmas pubescent.
→ 2
2. Basal leaf sheaths glabrous; cauline blades about 1 mm wide, folded or involute
var. dolichophylla
2. Basal leaf sheaths with papillose-based hairs; cauline blades 1-6 mm wide, flat.
→ 3
3. Spikelets 1.3-1.9 mm long; panicle branches 3-13 cm long; culms 10-80 cm tall
var. filiformis
3. Spikelets 2-2.8 mm long; panicle branches 10-25 cm long; plants 75-150 cm tall
var. villosa
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 364. FNA vol. 25, p. 380.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Digitaria Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Digitaria
Sibling taxa
D. abyssinica, D. arenicola, D. bakeri, D. bicornis, D. californica, D. ciliaris, D. cognata, D. didactyla, D. eriantha, D. floridana, D. gracillima, D. hitchcockii, D. horizontalis, D. insularis, D. ischaemum, D. leucocoma, D. longiflora, D. milanjiana, D. nuda, D. patens, D. pauciflora, D. pubiflora, D. sanguinalis, D. serotina, D. setigera, D. simpsonii, D. texana, D. tomentosa, D. velutina, D. violascens
D. abyssinica, D. arenicola, D. bakeri, D. californica, D. ciliaris, D. cognata, D. didactyla, D. eriantha, D. filiformis, D. floridana, D. gracillima, D. hitchcockii, D. horizontalis, D. insularis, D. ischaemum, D. leucocoma, D. longiflora, D. milanjiana, D. nuda, D. patens, D. pauciflora, D. pubiflora, D. sanguinalis, D. serotina, D. setigera, D. simpsonii, D. texana, D. tomentosa, D. velutina, D. violascens
Subordinate taxa
D. filiformis var. dolichophylla, D. filiformis var. filiformis, D. filiformis var. laeviglumis, D. filiformis var. villosa
Synonyms Syntherisma filiformis
Name authority (L.) Koeler (Lam.) Roem. & Schult.
Web links