Digitaria longiflora

Plants of indefinite duration; stoloniferous, stolons long and branching. Culms 10-60 cm, occasionally branching from the lower nodes. Leaves 3-4, clustered near the base; sheaths usually glabrous; ligules 0.5-1 mm; blades 1.5-4 cm long, 3-5 mm wide, mostly glabrous, bases subcordate and ciliate, with 0.6-1 mm papillose-based hairs. Panicles with 2(-4) spikelike primary branches, digitate; primary branches 2-5 cm, strongly divergent; branch axesabout 1 mm wide, wing-margined, wings wider than the central midribs, with spikelets in unequally pedicellate groups of 3; secondary branches rarely present; shortest pedicels about 0.3 mm; middle pedicels about 1 mm; longest pedicels 1.5-2 mm, adnate to the branch axes basally; axillary panicles not present. Spikelets 1.2-1.5 mm, elliptic or slightly obovate, acute. Lower glumes absent; upper glumes equaling or almost equaling the spikelets, 5-veined, minutely pubescent between the veins and on the margins; lower lemmas subequal to the upper glumes, 7-veined, usually pubescent on the margins and lateral veins, occasionally glabrous, hairs, if present, 0.2-0.4 mm; upper lemmas about 1.2 mm, pale brown or pale gray, becoming light brown at maturity, acute; anthers 0.8-0.8 mm. 2n = 18.

Digitaria longiflora is native to Africa and Asia. It is now established in disturbed areas of Florida, growing on railroad grades and in pastures and lawns.

The illustration of Digitaria longiflora was inadvertently based on a misidentified specimen of D. fulvescens (J. Presl) Henrard. The two species differ in little more than the pubescence of their lemmas, D. longiflora having pubescent lemmas and D. fulvescens glabrous lemmas (G. Davidse, pers. comm.). They should, perhaps, be considered a single species (J. Wipff, pers. comm.). If they are treated as a single species, the correct name for the species is D. longiflora. [Note added by M.E. Barkworth, June 18, 2005.]