Digitaria serotina

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Genus Digitaria

Annual or perennial . Culms erect or decumbent , occasionally stoloniferous . Leaf blades linear or linear-lanceolate; ligule membranous. Inflorescence of digitately arranged racemes , sometimes on a short axis or with secondary branchlets , very rarely paniculate ; spikelets usually in groups of 2-3(-4), imbricate to effuse, the latter often on notably long and unequal pedicels. Spikelets puberulous to villous , typically in stripes between the well-defined veins, rarely glabrous ; lower glume absent or reduced to a little scale up to 1/4 spikelet length; upper glume variable; lower lemma usually ± equal to spikelet; upper floret pallid to black, apex subacute to acuminate, rarely apiculate . x = 9.

About 250 species:tropical and warm-temperate regions of the world; 22 species (three endemic) in China.

Digitaria has been traditionally divided on the nature of the spikelet hairs, which may be clavate , capitate, verrucose (warty, appearing beaded), or with crooked tips . As good magnification is required to see these features, the grouping of the spikelets on the raceme is a more practical aid to identification. Many species have regularly paired spikelets, which present no difficulty. In those species where the spikelets are grouped in clusters of 3 or more, care must be taken, as often the longest pedicel of a group is partially fused to the rachis so that the spikelets appear alternately paired and single, or sometimes one spikelet may be vestigial, or the spikelets may be paired toward the raceme tips.

Many species are very variable in spikelet pubescence and lemma nervation, even within a single raceme. Additionally, there are a number of complexes of intergrading species, so intermediates may occasionally be encountered. This has led to the publication of many superfluous names .[1]

Physical Description

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Annual

Growth

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Panicum sanguinale L. • Syntherisma sanguinalis (L.) Dulac

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

Members of the genus Digitaria

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 53 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

D. abyssinica (African Couchgrass) · D. arenicola (Fall Witchgrass) · D. argillacea (Tropical Crabgrass) · D. bicornis (Asia Crabgrass) · D. californica (Arizona Cottontop) · D. ciliaris (Fingergrass) · D. cognata (Carolina Cottontop) · D. cognata var. cognata (Carolina Crabgrass) · D. cognata var. pubiflora (Carolina Crabgrass) · D. cruciata (Crabgrass) · D. diagonalis (Brown-Seeded Finger Grass) · D. didactyla (Crabgrass) · D. dolichophylla (Caribbean Crabgrass) · D. eggersii (Eggers' Crabgrass) · D. eriantha (Pangola Grass) · D. eriantha subsp. eriantha (Crabgrass) · D. eriantha subsp. pentzii (Woolly Fingergrass) · D. exilis (Fonio) · D. filiformis (Slender Crabgrass) · D. floridana (Florida Crabgrass) · D. fuscescens (Yellow Crabgrass) · D. gracillima (Long-Leaf Crabgrass) · D. henryi (Henry´s Crabgrass) · D. hitchcockii (Short-Leaf Crabgrass) · D. horizontalis (Jamaica Crabgrass) · D. iburua (Black Fonio) · D. insularis (Sourgrass) · D. ischaemum (Small Crabgrass) · D. ischaemum var. ischaemum (Small Crabgrass) · D. longiflora (India Crabgrass) · D. milanjiana (Madagascar Crabgrass) · D. natalensis (Natal Crabgrass) · D. nuda (Naked Crabgrass) · D. panicea (Millet Crabgrass) · D. patens (Texas Cottontop) · D. pauciflora (Florida Pineland Crabgrass) · D. pubiflora (Carolina Crabgrass) · D. radicosa (Trailing Crabgrass) · D. sanguinalis (Crabgrass) · D. seriata (Crabgrass) · D. serotina (Blanket Crabgrass) · D. setigera (East Indian Crabgrass) · D. setivalva (Crabgrass) · D. similis (Roadside Crabgrass) · D. simpsonii (Isle-Of-Pines Crabgrass) · D. swalleniana (Swallen's Crabgrass) · D. ternata (Black-Seeded Crabgrass) · D. texana (Texas Crabgrass) · D. tomentosa (Woolly Crabgrass) · D. umfolozi (Crabgrass) · D. velutina (Annual Couchgrass) · D. villosa (Shaggy Crabgrass) · D. violascens (Violet Crabgrass)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A botanical survey of the Galapagos Islands, by Alban Stewart. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences, 1911. url p. 37.
• A descriptive catalogue of the grasses of the United States, including especially the grass collections at the New Orleans exposition made by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Washington, Gibson Bros., 1885. url .
• American grasses / Washington: Gov. Print. Off., 1897-1901. url p. 327, p. 56.
• American grasses / by F. Lamson-Scribner. Washington: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Agrontology, 1897- url p. 327, p. 327, p. 56, p. 56.
• American grasses. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1900. url p. 44.
• Botany of the northern and middle states, or, A description of the plants found in the United States, north of Virginia arranged according to the natural system, with a synopsis of the genera according to the Linnaean system--a sketch of the rudiments of botany, and a glossary of terms / by Lewis C. Beck. Albany: Webster and Skinners, 1833. url p. 398.
• Bulletin / United States Department of Agriculture, Division of Agrostology. Washington, D.C.: The Division, 1895-1901. url p. 327.
• Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 25 1898 New York: Torrey Botanical Club, 1870-1996 url p. 298.
• Bulletin, Gulf Biologic Station, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State Board of Agriculture and Immigration., 1902-1910. url p. 14.
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 12 1908-1909 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 146, p. 210, p. 25, p. 294, p. 344, p. 512, p. 612.
• Flora of the Galápagos Islands; papers from the Hopkins-Stanford Expedition to the Galapagos Islands, by B. L. Robinson, with the collaboration of specialists. Boston, Mass., 1902 url p. 123.
• Grasses of the West Indies. By A. S. Hitchcock and Agnes Chase. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1917. url p. 294.
• Grasses of the West Indies. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1917. url p. 294.
• Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis; or, An account of the results of experiments on the produce and nutritive qualities of different grasses and other plants used as the food of the more valuable domestic animals; instituted by John, Du London, J. Ridgway, 1824. url p. 62.
• Hortus gramineus woburnensis; or, An account of the results of experiments on the produce and nutritive qualities of different grasses and other plants used as the food of the more valuable domestic animals: instituted by John, du By George Sinclair. London: J. Ridgway, 1826. url p. 54.
• Manual of the grasses of the United States / by A.S. Hitchcock. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1935. url p. 553, p. 558, p. 837.
• Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club. 16 1921 Durham, N.C.: Published for the Club by the Seeman Printery, 1889- url p. 211, p. 214.
• National list of scientific plant names. [Washington, D.C.]: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, 1982- url p. 403.
• Plant life of Alabama, an account of the distribution, modes of association, and adaptations of the flora of Alabama, together with a systematic catalogue of the plants growing in the state. By Charles Mohr. .. Montgomery, Ala., Brown printing co., 1901. url p. 344.
• Plants of Mississippi: a list of flowering plants and ferns / by E.N. Lowe. [Jackson, Miss.]: Mississippi State Geological Survey, 1921. url p. 74.
• Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Boston: Metcalf and Co., 1846-1958 url p. 123, p. 123.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. url p. 37.
• Types of American grasses: a study of the American species of grasses described by Linnæus, Gronovius, Sloane, Swartz, and Michaux. Washington, Govt. print. off., 1908. url p. 146.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 21, 2007:

• University of Alabama Biodiversity and Systematics, Herbarium

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2660875
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-40612
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13753387
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:399130-1
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 40612
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: PMPOA270T0
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: DISE3
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 35603

Footnotes

1. Shou-liang Chen & Sylvia M. Phillips "Digitaria". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 1, 500, 539. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.