Digitaria fumida S.T.Blake, Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland 84: 62 (1973)
T: Queensland:
MORETON
DISTRICT: Northgate, Brisbane, 15 May
1937, S.T.Blake 12970 (holo:
BRI).
Panicum
parviflorum R.Br.
var. pilosum Benth. (as ‘pilosa’, Fl. Austral. 7: 471
(1878). T: MORETON DISTRICT: Moreton
Bay, Queensland, s.dat., F.M.Bailey [41] (holo:
MEL; iso: BRI, K, n.v., L, n.v.
Perennial,
rhizomatous. Flowering culms decumbent, 30–80 cm tall, 3–10-noded. Leaves:
sheaths hairy to glabrous; ligule 0.5–2.7 mm long; blades flat to involute,
4–18 cm long, 1.5–4.5 mm wide, hirsute or glabrous, smooth to scabrous.
Inflorescence 1.5–7 cm long, on a distinct central axis; racemes 2–10, usually
bearing spikelets to base, 3.5–15 cm long. Pedicels 0.5–1 mm long. Spikelets
34–80 on a typical lowermost primary branch, glabrous, paired or in 3's,
elliptic, 1.3–1.9 mm long, 0.55–0.75 mm wide; lower glume 0.16–0.43 mm long,
ovate, nerveless, membranous, smooth, glabrous; upper glume 0.4–0.9 mm long,
ovate to oblong, 0–1-nerved
(lateral nerves occasionally poorly developed), with ciliate margins and
submargins, glabrous. Lower floret; lemma 1.2–1.8 mm long, glabrous, 3–7-nerved; palea vestigial or absent.
Upper floret overtopping the lower floret; lemma 1.2–1.8 mm long, brown,
cartilaginous, muricate, elliptic to obovate, acute, mucronate.
Additional specimens examined: Queensland: COOK DISTRICT: 6 km
SW of Cape Flattery, May 1990, Clarkson 8626 & Neldner (BRI, MBA, NSW,
K); BURKE DISTRICT: Poison Creek, Feb 1931, Hubbard
7727 & Winders((BRI, K); NORTH KENNEDY DISTRICT: Mount Abbot, Aug 1992,
Bean 4831 (BRI); SOUTH KENNEDY
DISTRICT: 5 kms along Burton Downs – Goonyella Road, May 1997, Thompson 295 (BRI); LEICHHARDT DISTRICT:
Laglan Road, NW of Clermont, Jun 1999, Johnson
126 & Turpin (BRI); PORT CURTIS DISTRICT: Curtis Island, Mar 1966, Blake 22512 (AD, BRI, CANB, DNA, K, MO,
PERTH); MARANOA DISTRICT: Mt Moffatt NP, Apr 1996, Addicott 138 (BRI); BURNETT DISTRICT: Narayen, Mar 1971, Pederson N167 (BRI); WIDE BAY DISTRICT:
between Childers and Howard, Mar 1966, Blake
22404 (BRI, CANB, NSW). DARLING DOWNS DISTRICT: Kindon Station, Dec 1938, Smith 604 (BRI). MORETON DISTRICT: Northgate, May 1937, Blake 12970 (AD,
BRI, CANB, DNA, K, L, MO, NSW);
Distribution and
habitat: Digitaria
fumida is broadly sympatric with D.
orbata in tropical and
subtropical Queensland
(Map 8) where it grows in a range of
Eucalyptus woodlands on mainly sandy
soils. It is often abundant in the summer season following fire in the previous
year.
Phenology: Flowering
mostly November to August.
Notes: This species differs from D. orbata by having a lower glume.
