Digitaria gayana (Kunth) Stapf ex A. Chev.

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Synonyms: Digitaria elegantula Mez
Panicum didymostachyum Steud.
Panicum gayanum Kunth
Common names:
Frequency:
Status:
Description:
A loosely caespitose or solitary growing annual. Culms 15–40 cm., erect, glabrous, nodes dark and glabrous. Leaf sheaths scaberulous, loosely to densely hairy. Ligule 0.5–1 mm. long, rim-like, ciliate. Leaf laminae 3–7 × 0.4–0.8 cm., linear, flat, scaberulous on both surfaces, margins scaberulous, sometimes with scattered bulbous based bristles. Inflorescence composed of 2(3) racemes, 6–13 cm. long, erect, one subsessile, the other(s) pedicellate. Rhachis triquetrous, broadly winged, up to 1.4 mm. broad, smooth to minutely scaberulous, with scabrous margins. Pedicels 3–4-nate, 0.5–4.0 mm. long, subterete, smooth or scaberulous, asymmetrically broadened at the apex. Spikelets 2.5–2.7 mm. long, oblong, basally adaxially gibbous. Inferior glume short, hyaline, soon withering. Superior glume somewhat shorter than the spikelet, narrowly triangular, 3-nerved, appressed hairy, hairs white to purplish, smooth, acute. Inferior lemma as long as the spikelet, oblong with recurved margins, centrally deeply sulcate, margins inflated, 5-nerved, the central nerve poorly developed, hairs in two basal bundles and along the inflated margins with a loosely papillose wall and swollen base, the other, marginal hairs somewhat slenderer, overtopping the spikelet for 2–3 mm. Superior lemma somewhat shorter than the spikelet, oblong, acuminate, basally gibbous, keeled, pale yellow to very pale brown.
Notes:
Derivation of specific name: gayana: after Claude Gay, 1800-1873, French natural historian.
Habitat: In disturbed miombo woodland, weed of fallow land and roadsides, on sandy soil.
Altitude range: (metres)
Flowering time:
Worldwide distribution: From Senegal to Sudan, south to Namibia and Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia
Zimbabwe distribution: N,W,C,S
Growth form(s):
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters: Display spot characters for this species
Literature:

Clayton, W.D. (1989). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(3) Pages 154 - 155. (Includes a picture).

Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 102.

Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 134.


Other sources of information about Digitaria gayana:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Digitaria gayana
Flora of Caprivi: Digitaria gayana
Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Digitaria gayana
Flora of Zambia: Digitaria gayana

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Digitaria gayana
African Plant Database: Digitaria gayana
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Digitaria gayana
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Digitaria gayana
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Digitaria gayana
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Digitaria gayana
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Digitaria gayana
JSTOR Plant Science: Digitaria gayana
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Digitaria gayana
Plants of the World Online: Digitaria gayana
Tropicos: Digitaria gayana
Wikipedia: Digitaria gayana


Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Zimbabwe: Species information: Digitaria gayana.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=107610, retrieved 29 March 2024

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