Dactyloctenium aegyptium (L.) Willd.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Poaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Cespitose annual herb with short stolons; culms decumbent, 5-40 cm tall, rooting at the lower nodes. Leaf ligules 0.5-0.8 mm long, ciliate; blades 1.5-10 x 0.1-0.5 cm, papillose-pilose. Inflorescences digitate, with 2-4 racemes 0.7-6 cm long, the terminal point 1-3 mm long. Spikelets 3-4.2 mm long, 3-5- flowered, gray to purplish; glumes 2-3.4 mm long, broadly lanceolate to ovate; lower glumes persistent; upper glumes deciduous, the apex with stout divergent awn 0.8-1.5 mm long; upper 1 or 2 florets reduced and sterile; lemmas 1.9-3 mm long, ovate, the apex acuminate, scabrous along keel, the awn to 1 mm long; anthers 0.3-0.5 mm long, yellowish. Caryopsis 0.8-1 mm long, light brown.
Distribution and Ecology - Common in cultivated fields and disturbed areas. Western slope of Fish Bay (A3916); In vicinity of Bordeaux (A2629), East End (A3790). Also on Anegada, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; native to the Old World, now widespread throughout the tropics and subtropics.