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• Poaceae
• Poaceae Group 5
• Dactyloctenium
• Dactyloctenium aegyptium

Dactyloctenium aegyptium — Durban crowfoot grass

Facts

Durban crowfoot is an annual grass native to Africa and Asia, and widely introduced in Europe, and the Americas. In North America it is mainly found in the South, from California to Florida and up the East Coast to New England, where it is an occasional visitor in Massachusetts and Maine.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats)

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Anther length

  0.5–0.8 mm

  Anther number

  3

  Awn on glume

  • the glume has an awn
  • the glume has no awn

  Glume awn length

  At least 0 mm

  Glume relative length

  neither glume is quite as long as all of the florets

  Glume veins

  1

  Inflorescence axis orientation

  the inflorescence axis is straight

  Inflorescence branches

  the flowers are attached to branches rather than to the main axis of the inflorescence

  Inflorescence crowding

  the panicle is somewhat to very spread out, with clearly-evident branches

  Inflorescence length

  Up to 60 mm

  Inflorescence type (general)

  the spikelets are borne on stalks or on branches

  Inflorescence type (specific)

  the inflorescence is branched and the branches all grow from the same side of the plant and look like spikes

  Inforescence position

  the spikelets are mainly carried at the end of the stem

  Lemma awn base

  • NA
  • the awn is attached right at the tip of the lemma

  Lemma awn length

  0–1 mm

  Lemma awn number

  • the lemma has no awn
  • the lemma has one awn on it

  Lemma cross-section

  the lemma is V-shaped if you cut across the midpoint

  Lemma surface

  the surface of the lemma is relatively smooth (not counting any longitudinal veins or hairs)

  Lemma vein number

  • 1
  • 3

  One or more florets

  there is more than one floret per spikelet

  Palea relative length

  palea is one half to fully as long as lemma

  Spikelet axis tip

  there is no extension of the spikelet axis beyond the tip of the spikelet

  Spikelet length

  3–4.5 mm

  Spikelets spiny

  the spikelets do not appear spiny

• Leaves

  Leaf auricles

  the leaves do not have auricles

  Leaf blade width

  2–12 mm

  Leaf ligule length

  0.5–1.5 mm

  Leaf ligule type

  the leaf ligule is in the form of a membrane with fine hairs

  Leaf sheath closed around stem

  the margins of the leaf sheath are overlapping and not fused together except in the basal half (or less)

  Leaf sheath hair type

  there are hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath, and some of the hairs have blisters at their bases

  Leaf sheath hairs

  there are hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Maine
  • Massachusetts

  Specific habitat

  man-made or disturbed habitats

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Stem spacing

  • the stems grow close together in compact clusters or tufts
  • the stems grow singly or a few together (they may form diffuse colonies)

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae