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Digitaria ciliaris

Crab Grass

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General Information

COMMON NAMES: Crab Grass, Hairy Digitaria, Henry's Crabgrass, Summer Grass

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Vayavaya (PK)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Asia - ?Samoa

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; Land, lowlands

KEY FEATURES: Erect grass with 5-6 flowering spikes, rooting at nodes. STEM rooting at nodes, red. LEAVES long hairs (to 5mm) on basal-section, blade without hairs except a few long hairs near joint at stem; blade crisped on one edge. FLOWERS stalk erect ~20cm; 5-6 wide-spread spikes, lower 2 opposite, each to 10cm. FLOWERS paired - 1 sessile and 1 stalked; without obvious hairs.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Digitaria setigera (Itchy Crab-grass) has flower-spikes erect and not spreading. Digitaria fuscescens has sikes 3 erect and not spreading. Digitaria radicosa recorded locally are probably all the present species [B. Sykes].

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
			+++	P		P		-

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	P	+	-	-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Digitaria ciliaris (Retz.)
SYNONYMS: Panicum ciliaris; Digitaria adscendens; Digitaria fimbriata; Digitaria sanguinale [sensu TC]; Digitaria microbachne [sensu GW]

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); LILIOPSIDA (=Monocotyledones); COMMELINIDAE; Cyperales; POACEAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Pukapuka: specimen, Motu Kotawa, 2/2004, G.McCormack, to Auckland Museum (AK 287422), ID R.Gardner as Digitaria ciliaris.

References:
p.1530 Wagner et al.- Flowering Plants of Hawaii
p.72 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.1/326 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.303 I Cheeseman - Flora of Rarotonga
p.18 R Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga

Data Update History (information):
zB02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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