RANGE GRASSES OF HAWAII 



17 



No. 15. DIGITARIA PRURIENS, SYNTHERISM A PRURIENS (6, p. 174) 

 Common names: Crabgrass, kukaipuaa 



Digitaria pruriens was collected on Oahu as early as 1895. It is 

 distributed over all the islands up to elevations of at least 6,000 feet. 

 It is an annual and sometimes a perennial with semierect stems, 

 and is the most erect and vigorous of the three species of Digitaria 



Figure 15. — Digitaria pruriens 



common in Hawaii, often attaining a height of 3% feet. It is dis- 

 tinguished from D. violascens and D. sanguinalis by the fingers of its 

 flowering stalk, which remain unspread even when mature. This 

 species does not grow to any extent in continuously grazed areas, 

 but springs up readily in rested paddocks. It roots at the joints, and 

 when not cut or grazed a single stool may spread into a clump several 

 feet in diameter. D. pruriens has fair palatability. 



162845°— 33 2 



