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• True grasses
• Digitaria filiformis

Digitaria filiformis — slender crabgrass

Facts

Slender crabgrass is native to southern and eastern North America. In New England there are two varieties. One (Digitaria filiformis var. laeviglumis) is rare and endemic to New Hampshire, where it is found in peaty depressions on granite ledges. The other (D. filiformis var. filiformis) is a more widespread inhabitant of dry, open, sandy areas.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), grassland, meadows and fields, ridges or ledges

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Anther length

  0.3–0.6 mm

  Anther number

  3

  Awn on glume

  the glume has no awn

  Bristles below spikelets

  no

  Floret lower bract texture

  the lemma is hard and firm

  Floret number

  1–2

  Floret types within spikelet

  • NA
  • there are at least two distinct forms of florets within one spikelet

  Glume relative length

  neither glume is quite as long as all of the florets

  Glume shape

  the glume is flat or curved in cross-section

  Glume veins

  • 0
  • 1
  • 3
  • 5
  • 7 or more

  Inflorescence arrangement

  the spikelets are uniform

  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 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

  Lemma awn base

  NA

  Lemma awn coiled

  NA

  Lemma awn length

  0 mm

  Lemma awn number

  the lemma has no awn

  Lemma awn orientation

  NA

  Lemma cross-section

  the lemma is flat or rounded if you cut across the midpoint

  Lemma surface

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

  Lemma tip

  the lemma tip is a simple point, with or without an awn (long narrow extension ending in a point)

  Lemma vein number

  • 1
  • 3
  • 5
  • 7 or more

  One or more florets

  • there is more than one floret per spikelet
  • there is 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

  1.3–2.8 mm

  Spikelet pedicel

  the spikelets have pedicels

  Spikelets spiny

  the spikelets do not appear spiny

  Upper glume shape

  the upper glume is widest at or below the middle

• Leaves

  Leaf auricles

  the leaves do not have auricles

  Leaf blade width

  1–6 mm

  Leaf ligule length

  0.3–1.5 mm

  Leaf ligule type

  the leaf ligule is in the form of a membrane

  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
  • there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath

  Leaf sheath hairs

  • there are hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath
  • there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath

• Place

  Habitat

  • terrestrial
  • wetlands

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island

  Specific habitat

  • grasslands
  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • meadows or fields
  • ridges or ledges

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Roots at lower stem nodes

  • no
  • yes

  Stem orientation

  • the stems are upright
  • the stems trail at the base, but turn upwards at the tips

  Stem spacing

  the stems grow close together in compact clusters or tufts

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae