Digitaria ischaemum(Schreb.) Muhl.

red millet, smooth finger-grasssmooth crabgrass

WFO wfo-0000864055 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Digitaria ischaemum, photographed by Jamie VanBuskirk
fig. a Jamie VanBuskirk, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-01-14 / obs. 175928043

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.

Native range 53 botanical countries

Regions where Digitaria ischaemum is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Manchuria, North Caucasus, Primorye, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, East Himalaya, Myanmar, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Belarus, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, East European Russia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Romania, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastChitaInner MongoliaIranIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskKirgizstanKrasnoyarskManchuriaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeTadzhikistanTaiwanTibetTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanTuvaUzbekistanXinjiangEast HimalayaMyanmarPakistanWest HimalayaBelarusBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseEast European RussiaFranceGreeceHungaryItalyKrymNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNW. Balkan Pen.PortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine
Native distribution of Digitaria ischaemum, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Iran IRN
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Kirgizstan KGZ
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Manchuria CHM
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Tadzhikistan TZK
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Tuva TVA
Uzbekistan UZB
Xinjiang CHX
Belarus BLR EUROPE
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
East European Russia RUE
France FRA
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL
Myanmar MYA
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 774 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -25.7 °C -8.9 °C 2.1 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.5 °C 24.1 °C 30.2 °C
Annual rainfall 443 mm 809 mm 1,435 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 29 mm 127 mm 303 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 774 research-grade observations of Digitaria ischaemum that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 49 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.

  • Digitaria asiatica Tzvelev
  • Digitaria filiformis var. elongata Le Gall
  • Digitaria filiformis var. gracilis (Guss.) Fiori
  • Digitaria filiformis var. hirta (Junge) P.Fourn.
  • Digitaria filiformis var. prostrata (Asch. & Graebn.) Douin
  • Digitaria glabra (Schrad.) P.Beauv.
  • Digitaria glabra subsp. ambigua (Ces.) Arcang.
  • Digitaria glabra var. nana Tinant
  • Digitaria humifusa Pers.
  • Digitaria humifusa f. rubescens Opiz
  • Digitaria humifusa var. pubescens Opiz
  • Digitaria humifusa var. rubescens Opiz
  • Digitaria ischaemum f. gracillima (Asch. & Graebn.) Soó
  • Digitaria ischaemum f. prostrata (Asch. & Graebn.) Soó
  • Digitaria ischaemum f. rubescens (Opiz) Soó
  • Digitaria ischaemum var. ambigua Henrard
  • Digitaria ischaemum var. ischaemum
  • Digitaria ischaemum var. mississippiensis (Scribn.) Fernald
  • Digitaria ischaemum var. prostrata Henrard
  • Digitaria linearis Crép.
  • Digitaria linearis var. gracillima (Asch. & Graebn.) Podp.
  • Digitaria linearis var. prostrata (Asch. & Graebn.) Podp.
  • Digitaria paspaliformis J.Woods
  • Digitaria procumbens Steud.

and 25 more.

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.