344 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 



SYNTHERISMA Walt. Fl. Car. 76. 1788. FINGER GRASS. 

 (DIGITARIA Scop. Fl. Cam. ed. 2, 1 : 52. 1772. Not Heist. 1763.) 

 Nearly 20 species, of temperate and tropical regions, mostly annuals. 



Syntherisma filiforme (L.) Nash, Bull. Torr. Club, 22 : 420. 1895. 



SLE>JDER CRAB GRASS. 



Panicum filiforme L. Sp. PL 1 : 57. 1753. 



Paspalnm fiUforme Sw. Prodr. 22. 1788. 



Digitaria fiUformis Muhl. Gram. 131. 1817. 



Ell. Sk. 1 : 132. Gray, Man. ed. 6, 630. Chap. Fl. 572. Coulter, Contr. Nat. Herb. 

 2 : 501. Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Incl. 543. Scribner, Grass. Tenn. 2 : 39, t. 7, f. ;?<?. 



WEST INDIES, MEXICO TO BRAZIL. 



Carolinian and Louisianian areas. Massachusetts to Florida, west to Texas, and 

 in Tennessee. 



ALABAMA: Central Pine belt to Coast plain. Dry sandy soil. Monroe, Mobile, and 

 Baldwin counties. July to October, common ; abundant throughout the Lower Pine 

 region; annual. 



Type locality : " Hab. in America septentrionali. Kalru." 



Herb. Geol. Surv. Herb. Mohr. 



Syntherisma villosum Walt. Fl. Car. 77. 1778. 



" Culms tufted, 2-4- to 3 feet high, slender, erect, simple, more or less branched 

 above, glabrous; sheaths keeled toward the upper end, the lower papillose-hirsute, 

 the upper nearly glabrous ; leaf blades 5 to 7 inches long, flat, erect, smooth beneath, 

 rough above, the lower more or less papillose, the upper glabrous; panicle long- 

 exserted, racemes elongated, slender, 8 to 10 inches long, erect, rarely spreading; 

 rachis triangular, hispidulous on the angles; spikelets elliptical, acute, pediceled in 

 threes, or in pairs; tirst glume wanting, second and third pubescent with long 

 appressed hairs; the second 3-nerved, little shorter than the third; the third 

 7-uerved; the fourth oblong-ovate to lanceolate, striate, in maturity of a deep chest- 

 nut color, apiculate." 



Distinct from the closely related Syntherisma filiforme by the much longer and more 

 numerous racemes, narrow spikelets, and striate fourth glume. 



Carolinian and Louisianian areas. Georgia and Florida to Texas, Indian Terri- 

 tory, and Illinois. 



ALABAMA: Central Prairie region. Dry pastures, sandy exposed hillsides. Mont- 

 gomery County, September, 1886. Not frequent. Annual. 



Type locality: South Carolina. 



Herb. Geol. Sui v. Herb. Mohr. 



Syntherisma serotinum Walt. Fl. Car. 76. 1788. HOARY CRAB GKASS. 



Digitaria serotina Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 41. 1803. 



D. villosa Ell. Sk. 1 : 132. 1816. 



Ell. 1. c. Chap. Fl. Suppl. 666; ed. 3, 581. Coulter, Contr. Nat. Herb. 2 : 501. 



Louisianian area. South Carolina to Florida and Texas. 



ALABAMA: Coast plain. In light sandy soil, pastures, roadsides; perennial; July 

 to October; frequent. Creeping extensively, forming close mats. 



Type locality : South Carolina. 



Economic uses : Valuable as a pasture grass on poor sandy land. 



Herb. Geol. Surv. Herb. Mohr. 



Syntherisma lineare (Krock.) Nash, Bull. Torr. Club, 22:420. 1895. 



SMOOTH CHAB GRASS. 



Panicum lineare Xrock. Fl. Sil. 1 : 95. 1787. 



Syntherisma glabrnm Schrad. Fl. Germ. 1 : 163. 1806. 



Panicum glaorum Gaudin, Agrost. 1 : 22. 1811. 



Gray, Man. ed. 6, 630. Scribner, Grass. Tenn. 2 : 39, *. 7, /. 27. 



EUROPE. 



Canadian zone to Carolinian area. Naturalized in Ontario and New England, 

 thence to Missouri and Tennessee. 



ALABAMA: Tennessee Valley. Waste places, grass plots. Morgan County, Deca- 

 tur, banks of Tennessee River. Flowers September and October; not frequent. 

 Annual. 



Type locality: "Auf sandigten Inseln der alten Oder neben der Passbruecke, auch 

 am Steindamme nach Rosel, eben ini Sande." 



Herb. Geol. Surv. Herb, Mohr. 



