Digitaria ternata

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

Interesting Facts

Common Names

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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]

Taxonomy

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 record of plants collected in Southern Rhodesia; arramged on Engler's system. Compiled by Fred. Eyles. Cape Town, 1916 url p. 301.
• Bulletin of miscellaneous information /Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1910 London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1900-1941. url p. 142, p. 381.
• Catalogue of the African plants London, Printed by order of the Trustees, 1896-1901. url .
• Catalogue of the African plants collected by Dr. Friedrich Welwitsch in 1853-61. .. London, Printed by order of the Trustees, 1896-1901. url p. 162.
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 46 2003 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 169, p. 195, p. 209, p. 212, p. 315, p. 424, p. 517, p. 611, p. 612, p. 99.
• Farlowia: a journal of cryptogamic botany. 4 1950-1955 Cambridge, Mass., 1943-1955. url p. 323.
• Natal plants: descriptions and figures of Natal indigenous plants, with notes on their distribution economic value, native names, etc., etc. / By J. Medley Wood and Maurice S. Evans. Durban: Bennett & Davis, 1899 (i.e. 1898)-1912. url p. 113.
• Revision of the flora of the Bombay presidency. [S.l.: s.n.], 1927-1930. url p. 11.
• South African journal of science. [Marshalltown, Transvaal: South African Association for the Advancement of Science, url p. 225, p. 358.
• The agricultural and forest products of British West Africa, by Gerald C. Dudgeon. .. with a preface by Wyndham R. Dunstan. .. London, J. Murray, 1922. url p. 154, p. 167, p. 167.
• The flora of the presidency of Bombay / By Theodore Cooke. London: Taylor and Francis, 1903-08. url p. 940.
• The grasses and grasslands of South Africa, Pietermaritzburg, P. David & Sons, Ltd., Printers, 1918. url , .

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 December 01, 2007:

• Herbarium of the University of Aarhus, The AAU Herbarium Database
• International Plant Genetic Resources Institute(IPGRI), The System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 10752425
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15754292
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:146541-3
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 2769573

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.