Digitaria radicosa (Presl) Miquel

Fl. Ind. Bat. 3: 437 (1857).- Type: Haenke s.n., Philippines (syn- PR) ; Junghuhn s.n., Indonesia, Padang (syn- L).

Panicum radicosum Presl, Rel. Haenk. 1: 297 (1830);

Panicum timorense Kunth, Enum. PI. 1: 83 (1833); Rév. Gram.: 587 (1834);

Digitaria timorensis (Kunth) Bal., in Morot, J. Bot. 4: 138 (1890).

Regional litterature: FWTA: 452 (1972). FTEA: 651 (1982); Gram. Cameroun: 324 (1992)

Description:

* Annual of 20-40 cm high. Culms rambling, slender. Leaves lanceolate, 2-7 mm long and 2-5 mm wide, rugose or slightly hairy.

* Inflorescence in 2-4 digitate racemes. Racemes unilateral, 3-9 cm long; rhachis triquetrous, narrowly winged, smooth on the margins. Spikelets in pairs, packing 0.5 their length apart on unequal pedicels.

* Spikelets lanceolate, 2.5-3 mm long and 0.6 mm wide. Lower glume a small hyaline, obtuse scale of 0.1-0.2 mm long; upper glume 1/3-1/2 as long as spikelet, membranous, 3-veined, pubescent, acute. Lower lemma without palea, elliptic, as long as spikelet, membranous, with 5-7 unevenly speced veins, pubescent, acute; upper lemma lanceolate, as long as spikelet, cartilaginous, yellow or light brown, its margins much thinner and covering most of the lemma, acute.                            

Distribution West Africa: Cameroon, introduced.

Distribution world-wide: Asia, Australia, introduced in Tanzania.

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