Latin name

Digitaria setigera Roth ex. Roemer & Schultes

Family

Poaceae

Common name(s)

Itchy crabgrass, East Indian crabgrass, hispid crabgrass

Synonym(s)

Digitaria horizontalis Willd., Synthesema digitata (Sw.) Hitchc., D. consanguinea Gaudich, D. corymbosa (Roxb.) Merr., D. microbachne (Presl) Henr., D. pruriens (Fischer ex Trin.) Büse, Cynodon setigerus (Roth) A. Rich. ex Hassk., Panicum corymbosum Roxb., P. fimbriatum var. setigerum (Roth) E. Fourn., P. setigerum (Roth) Boerl.

Geographical distribution

South and Southeast Asia: India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, and Philippines.

Morphology

A reclining, branching annual grass up to 100—cm—long.

Stem: culms rooting at lower nodes.

Leaf: blades hairy on both surfaces, 5—20—cm—long with undulate margins; sheaths mostly shorter than internodes with stiff hairs; ligule 2—4—mm, membranous.

Inflorescence: six to 20 digitate racemes on short axis, up to 15—cm—long; spikelets more or less hairy, 2.5—3—mm—long.

Biology and ecology

Growing in open areas, pastures, plantations, roadsides, waste places, and cultivated upland and rainfed lowland fields. Propagates by seeds and these germinate readily at the soil surface of untilled fields. Cut stem fragments can also develop roots from nodes.

Agricultural importance

Common and widespread grass in waste areas, field margins, and upland fields.

Management

Cultural control: can be controlled by cultivation and hand weeding.

Chemical control: Fenoxaprop reported to be effective.

Selected references

Galinato I, Moody K, Piggin. CM. 1999. Upland rice weeds of South and Southeast Asia. Manila (Philippines): International Rice Research Institute. 156 p.

Moody K. 1989. Weeds reported in rice in South and Southeast Asia. Manila (Philippines): International Rice Reseach Institute. 442 p.

Moody K. 1992.Weeds of cropped areas in the Philippines. Philipp. J. Weed Sci. 19:31-78.

Moody K, Munroe CE, Lubigan RT, Paller Jr. EC. 1984. Major weeds of the Philippines. Weed Science Society of the Philippines. College, Los Baños (Philippines): University of the Philippines. 328 p.

Pancho JV, Obien Sr. 1995. Manual of ricefield weeds in the Philippines. Muñoz, Nueva Ecija (Philippines): Philippine Rice Research Institute. 543 p.

Digitaria setigera Roth ex Roem. & Schult. Global Compendium of Weeds home page (http://www.hear.org/gcw/html/index.html).

Contributors

JLA Catindig, RT Lubigan, and DE Johnson