Purple crabgrass

Digitaria violascens

Family: Poaceae Genus: Digitaria Species: violascens

Synonyms: Digitaria caespitosa, Digitaria fusca, Digitaria digitata, Panicum digitatum, Digitaria recta, Panicum pertenue var. glabrum, Panicum violascens var. glabrescens, Digitaria ropalotricha var. villosa, Paspalum minutiflorum, Syntherisma fusca, Digitaria ischaemum var. lasiophylla, Syntherisma ischaemum var. lasiophylla, Digitaria thwaitesii var. tonkinensis, Panicum pertenue, Panicum steudelianum, Digitaria ischaemum var. violascens, Digitaria pseudodurva, Digitaria bogoriensis, Digitaria pertenuis var. glabra, Panicum pseudodurva var. majus, Digitaria pertenuis, Reimaria purpurascens, Panicum pseudodurva, Panicum violascens var. remotiusculum, Digitaria violascens var. intersita, Paspalum pertenue, Paspalum pseudodurva, Syntherisma violascens, Digitaria violascens var. lasiophylla, Digitaria violascens var. villosa, Syntherisma helleri, Panicum pseudoischaemum var. elongatum, Digitaria ischaemum var. asiatica, Syntherisma chinensis, Paspalum fuscum, Panicum violascens, Paspalum chinense, Digitaria ischaemum var. intersita

Purple crabgrass (en)

Gallery

Botanical Description

Digitaria violascens, the purple crabgrass or violet crabgrass, is a slender tufted annual grass in the Poaceae family widespread through warm temperate and tropical regions of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific, where it grows as a weed of lawns, gardens, roadsides, and cultivated fields. The plant typically reaches twenty to seventy centimetres in height with thin, geniculate culms that often root at the lower nodes. The flat soft leaf blades are five to ten centimetres long and two to five millimetres wide, glabrous to sparsely hairy with a ciliate-fringed ligule. The slender digitate inflorescence consists of two to six finely ascending or spreading flowering branches arranged at or near the tip of the culm. Each branch bears two rows of small ovate spikelets about one and a half millimetres long, often tinged purplish, hence the specific epithet. The species reproduces prolifically from seed.

Native Region: Afghanistan, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Hainan, India, Japan, Jawa, Kazan-retto, Korea, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Guinea, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Ogasawara-shoto, Pakistan, Philippines, Qinghai, Queensland, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Turkey, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Xinjiang

Cultural & Historical Context

Traditional American Uses

None Documented

Chemistry & External Identifiers

Trefle ID

227654

Important Disclaimer

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.

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