Digitaria hitchcockii (Chase) Hauman & Van der Veken

Valota hitchcockii Chase, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 24 : 110. 1911
Panicum tenerrimum I,. Dewey, in Coult. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 2 : 503. 1894. Not P. tenerrimum Kunth, 1829.
Stems tufted, 2-5 dm. tall, slender, glabrous, the lower nodes often pubescent; leaf-sheaths glabrous or sparingly hirsute; blades up to 6 cm. long, 2-3 mm. wide, flat, glabrous beneath, usually shortly pubescent on the upper surface and with a few long hairs near the base, with a narrow white cartilaginous margin; panicle commonly of 3-5 racemes, rarely fewer, the racemes 2-3 cm. long, erect ; spikelets usually in pairs, sometimes single, on rather long pedicels, 2.5-3 mm. long, lanceolate, the first scale minute, triangular, the second and third scales densely pubescent, especially on the margins, with long purple hairs, the second 3-nerved, about equaling the fruiting scale, the third 5-nerved, a little longer than the second, the fruiting scale yellowish-brown, about 2.25 mm. long, a little shorter than the second scale, elliptic, acuminate.
Type locality : On dry prairie soil, San Antonio, Texas. Distribution : Central and western Texas and adjacent Mexico.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solit ary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with digitately arranged spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Lower panicle branches whorled, Rachis angular, Flowers bisexual, Flowers unisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelet with 1 fertile floret and 1-2 sterile florets, Spikelets paired at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 1 clearly present, the other greatly reduced or absent, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glume surface hairy, villous or pilose, Glu mes 4-7 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.