Biology:Digitaria ciliaris
| Digitaria ciliaris | |
|---|---|
| |
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
|
| Binomial name | |
| Digitaria ciliaris (Retz.) Koeler
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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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]
The grass is known as "ගුරු තණ - guru thana" in Sri Lanka.
Distribution
Digitaria 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
This 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]
Forage Crop
Southern 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
- ↑ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-408848.
- ↑ Digitaria ciliaris. USDA Plants Profile.
- ↑ (xls) BSBI List 2007, Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, https://bsbi.org/download/3542/, retrieved 2014-10-17
- ↑ Digitaria ciliaris - Common Australian Garden Weeds .
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 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!". https://southeastagriseeds.com/blog-posts/crabgrass-short-step-weed-valuable-forage.
- ↑ "Red River Fact Sheet". https://www.johnstonseed.com/product/red-river-crabgrass/.
External links
Wikidata ☰ Q8559911 entry
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