Compilation
Digitaria fenestrata

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Name

Identification
Digitaria fenestrata (A. Rich.) Rendle [family GRAMINEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Data not digitized, Panicum fenestratum A. Rich. [family GRAMINEAE ] Verified by Data not digitized,
Related name
  • Panicum fenestratum
  • Digitaria fenestrata

Flora

Entry for DIGITARIA velutina (Forssk.) P. Beauv. [family ]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 451, (1982) Author: W. D. CLAYTON and S.A. RENVOIZE
Names
DIGITARIA velutina (Forssk.) P. Beauv. [family ], Ess. Agrost.:51 (1812); Ann. list grasses Ug.: 15 (1947); F.P.N.A. 3: 78 (1955); F.P.S. 3: 435 (1956); R.K.G.: 49 (1958); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 36 (1958); I.G.U.: 26 (1960); G.T.: 78 (1965). Type: Yemen, Hadie, Forsskål (C, holo.)
Phalaris velutina Forssk. [family POACEAE], Fl. Aegypt.-Arab.: 17 (1775)
Panicum zeyheri Nees [family POACEAE], Fl. Afr. Austr.: 25 (1841). Type: South Africa, Mbashe [Basche] R., Drège (K, iso.!)
Panicum fenestratum A. Rich. [family POACEAE], Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 361 (1851). Types: Ethiopia, Aderbati, Quartin Dillon (P, syn.) & Adua [Adoua], Schimper 85 (K, isosyn.!)
Panicum sanguinale (A. Rich.) Schweinf. var. fenestratum [family POACEAE], in Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2, App. 2: 18 (1894)
Panicum sanguinale Schweinf. var. cognatum [family POACEAE], in Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2, App. 2: 18 (1894), nom. nud. Based on: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Schweinfurth 146 & 1180 (K!)
Panicum psilostachyum Th. Dur. & Schinz [family POACEAE], Consp. Fl. Afr. 5: 768 (1895), nom. nud. Based on: Ethiopia, Sellada R., Schimper 2256 (K!)
Digitaria fenestrata (A. Rich.) Rendle [family ], Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. 2: 163 (1899)
Panicum redemptum Chiov. [family POACEAE], in Ann. Ist. Bot. Roma 8: 297 (1908), in syn.
Panicum abyssinicum Chiov. var. setigerum [family POACEAE], in Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital., n.s., 19: 418 (1912). Type: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Dongollo, Fiori 1238 (FI, holo.!)
Panicum forskalii Christensen [family POACEAE], in Dansk. Bot. Arkiv. 4: 12 (1922). Based on Phalaris velutina Forssk., non Panicum velutinum G. Meyer (1818)
Digitaria horizontalis [family ], [sensu E.A. Pasture Plants 1: 30 (1926), non Willd.]
Digitaria divaricata Henr. [family ], in Blumea 1: 96 (1934). Type: Tanzania, Rungwe District, Kyimbila, Stolz 635 (L, holo., K, iso.!)
Digitaria zeyheri (Nees) Henr. [family ], in Blumea 1: 105 (1934)
Digitaria ulugurensis Pilg. [family ], in N.B.G.B. 15: 709 (1942). Type: Tanzania, Uluguru Mts., Schlieben 3640 (K, iso.!)
Information
Annual; culms 20–80 cm. high, geniculately ascending, often decumbent and rambling. Leaf-blades broadly linear to lanceolate, 2–15 cm. long, 3–17 mm. wide, thin. Inflorescence composed of (3–)7–20 racemes diverging from a common axis 1–7 cm. long, this rarely exceeding the longest raceme; racemes delicate, 3–13 cm. long, the longer occasionally branched near the base, the spikelets binate and overlapping by less than 1/2 their length on a narrowly winged triquetrous rhachis, this sometimes bearing a few long glistening hairs. Spikelets narrowly ovate-elliptic, 1.5–2.1 mm. long, bluntly acute; lower glume obscure or an ovate scale up to 0.2 mm. long; upper glume 2/3–4/5 as long as the spikelet, 3-nerved; lower lemma as long as the spikelet, 7-nerved, the nerves evenly spaced, obscurely and appressedly pubescent, very rarely with a ciliate frill; fruit ellipsoid, mostly grey, sometimes yellowish or purplish brown.
Range
DISTR. U1–4; K1–7; T1–8; Z Egypt and Yemen to South Africa
Altitude range
0–2300 m.
Distribution
KENYA Northern Frontier Province Moyale, 2 Nov. 1952, Gillett 14118!KENYA Baringo District 16 km. S. of Lake Baringo, 5 Jan. 1959, Bogdan 4743!KENYA Masai District Oloibortoto, 5 Aug. 1962, Glover & Samuel 3236!TANZANIA Mbulu District Mbagayo R. to Endabash [Ndabash], 3 Mar. 1964, Greenway & Kanuri 11292!TANZANIA Ufipa District Milepa, 28 May 1951, Bullock 3915!TANZANIA Kondoa District Sambala, 28 Mar. 1929, B.D. Burtt 2035!TANZANIA Zanzibar I., Mnazi Mmoja, 1 Nov. 1964, Faulkner 3444!UGANDA Karamoja District Namalu, 11 Apr. 1956, Harker 360! & Kacheliba, 20 May 1940, A.S. Thomas 3376!UGANDA Ankole District Mbarara, 3 Aug. 1929, Snowden 1407!
Notes
D. velutina is commonly confused with D. pearsonii. The latter is a rhizomatous perennial, but collectors seldom have patience to trace the straggling culm to its roots. It also has pure brown fruits, those of D. velutina being mostly grey but sometimes dirty brown.

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