Digitaria filiformis(L.) Koeler

slender crabgrass

WFO wfo-0000863955 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Digitaria filiformis, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. a Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-09-28 / obs. 161140190
Digitaria filiformis, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. b Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 161140258
Digitaria filiformis, photographed by Scott Ward
fig. c Scott Ward, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101916416
Digitaria filiformis, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. d Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 161140165
Digitaria filiformis, photographed by Scott Ward
fig. e Scott Ward, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101916444
Digitaria filiformis, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. f Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 161140228
Digitaria filiformis, photographed by Scott Ward
fig. g Scott Ward, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101916478
Digitaria filiformis, photographed by Scott Ward
fig. h Scott Ward, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101916506

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 741748
Filed as
Digitaria filiformis (L.) Koeler
Det. by
Sánchez-Ken, J. G.
Collected
C. G. Pringle 1889-11-05
Origin
MX
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 48 botanical countries

Regions where Digitaria filiformis is native: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Argentina Northwest, Bahamas, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Leeward Is., Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Turks-Caicos Is. AlabamaArkansasConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMarylandMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMissouriNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaOhioOklahomaPennsylvaniaSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasVermontVirginiaWest VirginiaArgentina NorthwestBoliviaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicGuatemalaHaitiHondurasParaguayPuerto Rico DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.BahamasLeeward Is.Turks-Caicos Is.
Native distribution of Digitaria filiformis, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arkansas ARK
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Missouri MSO
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Pennsylvania PEN
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA
Argentina Northwest AGW SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bahamas BAH
Bolivia BOL
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Guatemala GUA
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Leeward Is. LEE
Paraguay PAR
Puerto Rico PUE
Turks-Caicos Is. TCI

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 13 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Agrostis amaicensis Poir.
  • Digitaria dolichophylla Henrard
  • Digitaria filiformis var. dolichophylla (Henrard) Wipff
  • Digitaria filiformis var. filiformis
  • Digitaria filiformis var. laeviglumis (Fernald) Wipff
  • Digitaria laeviglumis Fernald
  • Panicum filiferum Garcke ex Sagorski & Gus.Schneid.
  • Panicum filiforme L.
  • Paspalum filiforme (L.) Flüggé
  • Paspalum furcatum var. filiforme (L.) Döll
  • Paspalum villosum Willd. ex Steud.
  • Syntherisma filiforme (L.) Nash
  • Syntherisma filiformis (L.) Nash

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.