Citation: Scop., Fl. Carniolica edn 2, 1:52 (1772).

Synonymy: Panicum sanguinale L., Sp. Pl. 57 (1753).

Common name: Crab grass, summer grass.

Description:
Annual, with stems often creeping and rooting, 15-70 cm high; leaves usually sprinkled with hairs, the blades lanceolate, flat, often undulate, 5-15 cm long; ligule truncate or erose, 1-2 mm long.

Racemes digitate or approximate at the summit of the culm, 3-10, slender, 5-16 cm long; spikelets in pairs on unequal pedicels, c. 3 mm long; first glume minute; second glume 3-nerved, villous-ciliate, acute, half as long as the first lemma; first (sterile) lemma 5-7-nerved and scabrous or villous-ciliate on the margins, the 4-6 lateral nerves arranged on the margins where they turn inwards and rather distant from the central straight nerves; second (fertile) lemma smooth.

Published illustration: Gardner (1952) Flora of Western Australia 1:pl. 67; Cunningham et al. (1982) Plants of western New South Wales, p. 87.

Distribution:  S.Aust.: GT, FR, EA, EP, NL, MU, YP, SL, KI, SE.   All States except the N.T.   widespread in warm and temperate regions of the world. Conservation status: native Flowering time: Dec. — May.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: Considered by Black (1943) to have been possibly introduced as it occurs mainly in disturbed places. See note to D. ciliaris.

Author: Not yet available