Digitaria setigeraRoth

East Indian crabgrass

WFO wfo-0000864407 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 5 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 5 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 setigera, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. a Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-08-31 / obs. 101580314

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
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
01051077
Filed as
Digitaria setigera Roth ex Roem. & Schult.
Det. by
F. S. Axelrod 2004-07-01
Collected
P. Liogier;A. H. Liogier 1981-03-31
Origin
PR
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

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 66 botanical countries

Regions where Digitaria setigera is native: Aldabra, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles, Tanzania, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Kazan-retto, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, Christmas I., Cocos (Keeling) Is., East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Pakistan, Philippines, Solomon Is., South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Norfolk Is., Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Caroline Is., Cook Is., Easter Is., Fiji, Gilbert Is., Marcus I., Marianas, Marquesas, Marshall Is., Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Phoenix Is., Pitcairn Is., Samoa, Society Is., Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Vanuatu, Wake I., Wallis-Futuna Is. MadagascarTanzaniaChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanAssamBangladeshBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPakistanPhilippinesSolomon Is.Sri LankaSulawesiThailandVietnamWest HimalayaNorthern TerritoryQueenslandWestern AustraliaFijiNew Caledonia AldabraMauritiusRéunionSeychellesKoreaNansei-shotoAndaman Is.Christmas I.South China SeaNorfolk Is.Caroline Is.Cook Is.MarianasMarquesasMarshall Is.NauruNiuePitcairn Is.SamoaSociety Is.Tokelau-ManihikiTongaTuamotuTubuai Is.VanuatuWake I.Wallis-Futuna Is.
Native distribution of Digitaria setigera, 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
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
Christmas I. XMS
Cocos (Keeling) Is. CKI
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Pakistan PAK
Philippines PHI
Solomon Is. SOL
South China Sea SCS
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Cook Is. COO
Easter Is. EAS
Fiji FIJ
Gilbert Is. GIL
Marcus I. MCS
Marianas MRN
Marquesas MRQ
Marshall Is. MRS
Nauru NRU
New Caledonia NWC
Niue NUE
Phoenix Is. PHX
Pitcairn Is. PIT
Samoa SAM
Society Is. SCI
Tokelau-Manihiki TOK
Tonga TON
Tuamotu TUA
Tubuai Is. TUB
Vanuatu VAN
Wake I. WAK
Wallis-Futuna Is. WAL
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Kazan-retto KZN
Korea KOR
Nansei-shoto NNS
Ogasawara-shoto OGA
Taiwan TAI
Aldabra ALD AFRICA
Madagascar MDG
Mauritius MAU
Réunion REU
Seychelles SEY
Tanzania TAN
Norfolk Is. NFK AUSTRALASIA
Northern Territory NTA
Queensland QLD
Western Australia WAU

Not drawn on the map: Kazan-retto, Ogasawara-shoto, Cocos (Keeling) Is., Easter Is., Gilbert Is., Marcus I., Phoenix Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are 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 105 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 10.4 °C 15.2 °C 20.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 24.9 °C 28.3 °C 30.7 °C
Annual rainfall 901 mm 1,860 mm 4,503 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 58 mm 126 mm 864 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 105 research-grade observations of Digitaria setigera 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 50 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.

  • Cynodon setiger (Roth) A.Rich. ex Hassk.
  • Cynodon setigerus (Roth) Hassk.
  • Digitaria consanguinea Gaudich.
  • Digitaria extensa (Hook.f.) Henrard
  • Digitaria hainanensis Hitchc.
  • Digitaria lanosa Llanos
  • Digitaria marginata var. extensa (Hook.f.) E.G.Camus
  • Digitaria marginata var. pruriens (Fisch. ex Trin.) Ridl.
  • Digitaria microbachne (J.Presl) Henrard
  • Digitaria microbachne subsp. calliblepharata Henrard
  • Digitaria microbachne subsp. presliana Henrard
  • Digitaria microbachne var. calliblepharata (Henrard) Henty
  • Digitaria microbachne var. longivillosa Henrard
  • Digitaria microstachya Henrard
  • Digitaria pruriens (Fisch. ex Trin.) Buse
  • Digitaria pruriens var. microbachne (J.Presl) Fosberg
  • Digitaria radicosa subsp. blepharophora (Henrard) M.R.Almeida
  • Digitaria sanguinalis f. extensa (Hook.f.) Haines
  • Digitaria sanguinalis var. evalvula (Honda) Honda
  • Digitaria sanguinalis var. extensa (Hook.f.) Rendle
  • Digitaria sanguinalis var. pruriens (Fisch. ex Trin.) Prain
  • Digitaria subhorizontalis Ohwi
  • Digitaria timorensis subsp. blepharophora Henrard
  • Digitaria timorensis var. norfolkiana (Endl.) Henrard

and 26 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.