Digitaria ciliaris is a species of grass known by the common names southern crabgrass,[2] tropical finger-grass,[3] tropical crabgrass or summer grass.[4]
| Digitaria ciliaris | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Subfamily: | Panicoideae |
| Genus: | Digitaria |
| Species: | D. ciliaris
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| Binomial name | |
| Digitaria ciliaris (Retz.) Koeler
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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The grass is known as "ගුරු තණ - guru thana" in Sri Lanka.
Distribution
editDigitaria ciliaris is a tough plant, believed to have originated in Asia but now found all over the tropical belt of the planet, as well as in many temperate regions of both hemispheres.[5] This grass is an invasive species considered an aggressive weed in certain countries, including China, Mexico and the United States.[5]
Together with Portulaca oleracea, Ipomoea pes-caprae and Melanthera biflora, Digitaria ciliaris is usually one of the first species colonizing degraded or altered environments in tropical zones of the planet.[6]
Description
editThis grass is an annual plant that can grow up to 1 m tall but is usually much shorter. The roots are at the nodes and the stems produce runners that allow the plant to grow fast forming scruffy-looking patches about 1 m across and half a metre in height. The leaves are linear to linear-ovate narrowing at the tip to 15 centimeters long. The inflorescence is at the top of a long stem, usually much taller than the leaves, with two to nine 5–10 cm long sub-digitate racemes.[5]
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Forage Crop
editSouthern crabgrass, and the related large crabgrass, especially the cultivars 'Red River Crabgrass', 'Impact', and 'Quick-n-Big', have been utilized as a forage crop for livestock, as it is a highly nutritious warm season grass.[7][8] Red river crabgrass responds well to nitrogen fertilizer, growing up to 3 feet tall, and needs to be in rotation with cool-season forage.
References
edit- ^ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ Digitaria ciliaris. USDA Plants Profile.
- ^ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
- ^ Digitaria ciliaris - Common Australian Garden Weeds Archived 2012-05-02 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b c Digitaria ciliaris - CABI
- ^ Heatwole, H., Done, T., Cameron, E. Community Ecology of a Coral Cay, A Study of One-Tree Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Series: Monographiae Biologicae, Vol. 43, p. 102
- ^ Bouton, J. "Crabgrass: A Short Step from Weed to Valuable Forage!".
- ^ "Red River Fact Sheet".
External links
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Media related to Digitaria ciliaris at Wikimedia Commons- Southern crabgrass PFAF
