Poaceae
Digitaria

Digitaria ciliaris (Retz.) Koeler

First published in Descr. Gramin.: 27 (1802)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Tropical & Subtropical Old World. It is an annual or perennial and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome. It is has environmental uses, as animal food and a medicine and for food.

Descriptions

Morphology General Habit
Annual. Culms decumbent; 20-100 cm long. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Leaf-blades 3-25 cm long; 3-10 mm wide.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence composed of racemes. Racemes 2-12; digitate; unilateral; 6-22 cm long. Central inflorescence axis 0-5 cm long. Rhachis narrowly winged; angular; glabrous on surface, or with scattered hairs; scabrous on margins. Spikelet packing contiguous; 0.3 their length apart. Spikelets appressed; in pairs. Fertile spikelets pedicelled; 2 in the cluster; all alike, or heteromorphic (as to indumentum).
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets
Spikelets comprising 1 basal sterile florets; 1 fertile florets; without rhachilla extension. Spikelets elliptic; dorsally compressed; acute; (2-)2.5-3.3(-3.7) mm long; falling entire.
Fertile
Spikelets comprising 1 basal sterile florets; 1 fertile florets; without rhachilla extension. Spikelets elliptic; dorsally compressed; acute; (2-)2.5-3.3(-3.7) mm long; falling entire.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts Glume
Glumes two; dissimilar; shorter than spikelet; thinner than fertile lemma. Lower glume ovate; 0.2-0.4 mm long; 0.1 length of spikelet. Upper glume lanceolate; (0.5-)0.6-0.75 length of spikelet; membranous; 3 -veined. Upper glume surface pubescent; hairy between veins. Upper glume apex acute.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets
Basal sterile florets barren; without significant palea. Lemma of lower sterile floret elliptic; 1 length of spikelet; membranous; 7 -veined; with equidistant veins, or with unevenly spaced veins; puberulous, or pubescent, or setose, or villous; hairy between veins; eciliate on margins, or ciliate on margins; acute. Fertile lemma elliptic; 2-3.7 mm long; cartilaginous; much thinner on margins; grey, or dark brown; without keel; 3 -veined. Lemma margins flat; covering most of palea; ciliate. Lemma apex acute. Palea cartilaginous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Anthers 3.
Distribution
Europe: southeastern. Africa: north, Macaronesia, west tropical, west-central tropical, northeast tropical, east tropical, southern tropical, south, middle Atlantic ocean, and western Indian ocean. Asia-temperate: Soviet far east, Caucasus, western Asia, Arabia, China, and eastern Asia. Asia-tropical: India, Indo-China, Malesia, and Papuasia. Australasia: Australia and New Zealand. Pacific: southwestern, south-central, northwestern, and north-central. North America: Mexico. South America: Mesoamericana, Caribbean, northern South America, western South America, Brazil, and southern South America.
Reference
Paniceae. FTEA.
[GB]

Distribution
Biogeografic region: Amazonia, Andean, Guiana Shield, Caribbean, Orinoquia. Elevation range: 0–3000 m a.s.l. Naturalised in Colombia. Colombian departments: Amazonas, Antioquia, Bolívar, Boyacá, Caldas, Caquetá, Cauca, Cesar, Córdoba, Cundinamarca, Guaviare, Huila, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Risaralda, Santander, Tolima, Valle del Cauca.
Habit
Herb.
Conservation
National Red List of Colombia (2021): Potential LC.
Ecology
Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, savanna, shrubland, native grassland, artificial - terrestrial.
[UPFC]

The Useful Plants of Boyacá project

Ecology
Alt. 0 - 3000 m.
Morphology General Habit
Herb.
Distribution
Native from Colombia.
Conservation
Not Evaluated.
[UPB]

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution
Nativa en Colombia; Alt. 0 - 3000 m.; Amazonia, Andes, Guayana y Serranía de La Macarena, Llanura del Caribe, Orinoquia, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Valle del Cauca, Valle del Magdalena.
Morphology General Habit
Hierba
Conservation
No Evaluada
[CPLC]

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology General Habit
Annual up to 100 cm high, often decumbent at the base and geniculately ascending; leaves broadly linear
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence of 2–12 digitate or subdigitate racemes, the axis up to 5 cm long in robust specimens; racemes stiff, 6–22 cm long, the spikelets in pairs and overlapping by 2/3 their length on a winged rhachis with triquetrous midrib
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets
Spikelets narrowly elliptic, 2.5–3.3(–3.7) mm long, sharply acute; lower glume a distinct triangular scale usually 0.2–0.4 mm long; upper glume (1/2–)2/3–3/4 the length of the spikelet, 3-nerved; lower lemma 7-nerved, the nerves smooth and evenly spaced or with a wide interspace flanking the midrib (sometimes the spikelets of a pair different), appressed-puberulous to silky-pubescent or rarely shortly villous, often with aciliate frill, sometimes one or both spikelets of a pair beset with glassy bristles; fruit ellipsoid, grey to light brown.
Distribution
S2, 3 throughout the tropics.
Vernacular
Caws cade (Somali)
[FSOM]

George R. Proctor (2012). Flora of the Cayman Isands (Second Edition). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Morphology General Habit
Annual herb lacking stolons; flowering culms decumbent at the base, sparingly branched, 10–100 cm tall; leaf-sheaths glabrous or pubescent; ligules 1–4 mm long; leaf-blades linear, flat, 2–20 cm long, 3–10 mm broad, scabrous, mostly glabrous on the upper surface
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Primary branches of the inflorescence 4–24 cm long, distinctly winged
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets
Spikelets paired, lanceolate; lower glume nerveless, less than 0.8 mm long; upper glume 3–5-nerved, up to 2.7 mm long.
Distribution
Grand Cayman. A pantropical weed.
[Cayman]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Uses

Use Animal Food
Used as animal food.
Use Environmental
Environmental uses.
Use Gene Sources
Used as gene sources.
Use Food
Used for food.
Use Medicines
Medical uses.
[UPFC]

Use Gene Sources
Crop wild relatives which may possess beneficial traits of value in breeding programmes (State of the World's Plants 2016).
[UPB]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Somalia

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of the Cayman Islands

    • Flora of the Cayman Islands
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora

    • Clayton, W.D., Vorontsova, M.S., Harman, K.T. and Williamson, H. (2006 onwards). GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora.
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Useful Plants of Boyacá Project

    • ColPlantA database
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0