344 PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 
SYNTHERISMA Walt. Fl. Car. 76. 1788. FINGER Grass. 
(Digitaria Scop. Fl. Carn. 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. 
SLENDER CRAB GRass, 
Panicum filiforme L. Sp. P1.1:57. 1753. 
Paspalum filiforme Sw. Prodr. 22. 1788. 
Digitaria filiformis 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. Ind.543. Scribner, Grass. Tenn. 2: 39, t. 7, f. 28. 
West InpiEs, 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. Kalm.” 
Herb. Geol. Surv. Herb. Mohr. 
Syntherisma villosum Walt. Fl. Car. 77. 1778. 
“Culms tufted, 24 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 to7 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; first glume wanting, second and third pubescent with long 
appressed hairs; the second 3-nerved, little shorter than the third; the third 
7-nerved; the fourth oblong-ovate to lanceolate, striate, in maturity of a deep chest- 
nut color, apiculate.” 
Distinct from the closely related Syntherisma jiliforme 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. Surv. Herb. Mohr. 
Syntherisma serotinum Walt. Fl. Car. 76. 1788. Hoary Crap Grass, 
Digitaria serotina Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1:41. 1803. 
Dz villosa Ell. Sk. 1: 132. 1816. 
Ell. l.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 CraB Grass. 
Panicum lineare Xrock. Fl. Sil. 1:95. 1787. 
Syntherisma glabrum Schrad. Fl. Germ. 1:163. 1806. 
Panicum glabrum Gaudin, Agrost. 1:22. 1811. 
Gray, Man. ed. 6, 630. Scribner, Grass. Tenn. 2:39, t.7, f. 87. 
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- 
ea Ss of Tennessee River. Flowers September and October 3 not frequent. 
nnoual. 
Type locality: ‘‘Auf sandigten Inseln der alten Oder neben der Passbruecke, auch 
am Steindamme nach Rosel, eben im Sande.” 
Herb, Geol. Surv. Herb, Mohr. 
