Digitaria sanguinalis
species of plant
Digitaria sanguinalis is a species of grass known by several common names, including hairy crabgrass, hairy finger-grass, large crabgrass, crab finger grass, purple crabgrass. It is one of the better-known species of the genus Digitaria, and one that is known nearly worldwide as a common weed. It is used as animal fodder, and the seeds are edible and have been used as a grain in Germany and especially Poland, where it is sometimes cultivated. This has earned it the name Polish millet.
Description
It is an annual grass with an inflorescence of up to nine very long, very thin, radiating branches atop its stems. Each branch is lined with pairs of very tiny spikelets. The inflorescences may be reddish or purplish.
Uses
During the European Middle Ages, Digitaria sanguinalis was cultivated by Slavic peoples in Eastern Europe, where it was cooked in soups and porridges.
The plant was brought to the United States by immigrants to serve as hand-foraged grain. The grass is also highly nutritious, especially before the plant exhausts itself producing seed.
The public source identifies “Digitaria sanguinalis” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Digitaria, sanguinalis and species.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q158994. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Digitaria sanguinalis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.