EcoFlora - Digitaria filiformis

Digitaria filiformis (L.) Koeler
Family: Poaceae Slender Crab Grass, more...Slender Crabgrass [Paspalum furcatum var. filiforme (L.) Döll] Scott Namestnik	FNA vPlants Gleason & Cronquist Indiana Flora Resources J.K. Wipff. Flora of North America Plants annual, or short-lived perennials; cespitose, not rhizomatous. Culms (10)25-150 cm, erect or decumbent, branching, sometimes rooting at the lower nodes; nodes 3-6. 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. Panicles with 2-7 spikelike primary branches, these digitate or the rachises to 1 cm; longest primary branches 3-25 cm long, 0.2-0.4 mm wide, axes triquetrous, not wing-margined, with spikelets in groups of 2-5 on the lower and middle portions. Spikelets 1.3-2.8 mm. 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 20× 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. 2n = 36, 54. Digitaria filiformis grows throughout the warmer parts of the eastern United States. Digitaria filiformis var. filiformis, the most widespread of its varieties, extending into Mexico. The Morton Arboretum Annual herb, tufted 10 cm - 1.5 m tall Leaves: alternate, two-ranked. Sheaths open, keeled. Basal sheaths with bumpy-based hairs. Ligules to 1.5 mm long, membranous. Blades 2 - 18 cm long, 1 - 6 mm wide, flat or with rolled-up margins, parallel-veined, sometimes softly or roughly hairy. Inflorescence: a terminal arrangement of spikelet-bearing branches (panicle). Primary branches two to seven, palmate (or the axis to 1 cm), 3 - 25 cm long, to 0.5 mm wide, spike-like, bearing spikelets in groups of two to five along the middle and lower regions. Fruit: a caryopsis, indehiscent, enclosed within the persistent lemma and palea, flat on one side and convex on the other (plano-convex). Culm: decumbent or upright, branched, 10 cm - 1.5 m long, round in cross-section, occasionally rooting at the lower nodes. Nodes three to six. Spikelets: 1.5 - 2.5 mm long. Florets: two per spikelet. Lower florets sterile. Upper florets bisexual. Anthers three, about 0.5 mm long. Stigmas red. Glumes:: Lower glumes absent or to 0.1 mm long. Upper glumes 1 - 2 mm long, three fourths to nearly as long as spikelet, rounded at the apex, nearly hairless to densely hairy. Lemmas:: Lower lemmas equal to spikelets, five- to seven-veined (unequally spaced), membranous, sometimes glandular-hairy. Upper lemmas brown, 1.5 - 2 mm long, short-pointed at the apex, obscurely veined, with margins that embrace the upper paleas. Paleas:: Lower paleas absent. Upper paleas similar in size and texture to upper lemmas. Similar species: No information at this time. Flowering: August to September Habitat and ecology: Found in the sandy soil of woodlands and prairies. Occurence in the Chicago region: native Etymology: Digitaria comes from the Latin word digitus, meaning finger, referring to the digitate inflorescence of some species. Filiformis means thread-like. Author: The Morton Arboretum Vascular plants of NE US and adjacent Canada Branched from the base, erect or ascending; blades 2-6 mm wide, flat, at least the lower commonly pilose; racemes 2-6, erect or ascending, often distinctly separated at base; rachis triquetrous, scarcely winged; spikelets in pairs or threes, well separated and scarcely overlapping; first glume lacking; the second three-fifths to three-fourths as long as the spikelet, usually pubescent and erose-ciliate with capitellate hairs; fertile lemma dark brown or purple; 2n=36. Fields and open ground, often a troublesome weed southward. Forms with glabrous spikelets occur in both vars. (D. laeviglumis) Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp. ©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission. From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 10 Wetland Indicator Status: N/A
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