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Species of grass From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification  | |
| 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 | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
The grass is known as "ගුරු තණ - guru thana" in Sri Lanka.
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]
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]
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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.
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