Summer Grass - introduced (*Digitaria sanguinalis)

Native of Asia and southern Europe. Annual. C4.

Identification

• a windmill grass, but the radiating arms are usually slightly offset
• the first glume is tiny, or absent
• the spikelets are in pairs, one stalked and the other stalkless
• the spikelets are not awned.
• each spikelet has two florets, one fertile and the other sterile
• the leaves are flat
• the ligule 1-2mm long, and truncate or eroded.

It is a common weed of gardens, nature strips, and disturbed land. It grows prolifically in summer. It differs from most windmill grasses in that the radiating arms are usually slightly offset.

Digitatus: with fingers; sanguinalis: of blood red colour, as in photo L2.