Carolina crabgrass, more...Hairy-Flower Crab Grass, Western Witchgrass
[Digitaria cognata subsp. pubiflora (Vasey ex L.H. Dewey) Wipff, moreDigitaria cognata var. pubiflora Vasey ex L.H. Dewey, Panicum autumnale subsp. pubiflorum (Vasey ex L.H. Dewey) Wipff, Panicum autumnale var. pubiflorum Vasey ex L. H. Dewey]
Plants perennial; cespitose, with or without rhizomes. Culms 20-70
cm, erect; nodes glabrous or pubescent . Leaves mainly cauline;
sheaths glabrous or sparsely to densely pubescent, sometimes with papillose-based
hairs; ligules 0.5-2.2 mm, entire to lacerate; blades 1.3-7.7 cm
long, 1.5-4.7 mm wide, glabrous or sparsely to densely pubescent. Panicles
simple, 4.5-20 cm long, 5.5-31 cm wide, open; branches divergent; lower
primary branches 3.6-17.7 cm, often with 1-several sterile branches near the
base; pedicels divergent, spikelets solitary. Spikelets 2.3-3.3
mm long, 0.6-1 mm wide, narrowly elliptic. Lower glumes 0.1-0.4 mm; upper
glumes 1.8-2.9 mm, 3-veined, densely pubescent between the veins, hairs white,
becoming purple at maturity; lower lemmas similar to the upper glumes in
length, texture, and pubescence, 5-veined, veins equidistant; upper lemmas
1.9-2.6 mm, glabrous, dark brown, narrowly acute; anthers 0.3-0.5 mm, yellow,
red, or purple. Caryopses 1.3-1.6 mm. 2n = 36 or (more commonly)
72.
Digitaria pubiflora grows in dry, sandy or rocky soils from Arizona to
central Texas and south to central Mexico.
