AusTraits

Digitaria ciliaris

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Poaceae

Taxonomy: Digitaria ciliaris (Retz.) Koeler

Synonyms: 8 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Digitaria adscendens (Kunth) Henrard (taxonomic synonym)
  • Digitaria adscendens subsp. marginata (Link) Henrard (taxonomic synonym)
  • Digitaria ciliaris subsp. marginata (Link) S.K.Jain & Doli Das (taxonomic synonym)
  • Digitaria marginata Link (taxonomic synonym)
  • Digitaria sanguinalis var. ciliaris (Retz.) Parl. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Panicum adscendens Kunth (taxonomic synonym)
  • Panicum ciliare Retz. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Panicum sanguinale var. ciliare (Retz.) F.Muell. (nomenclatural synonym)
Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Digitaria heterantha (Hook.f.) Merr. (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), NT (naturalised), SA (naturalised), Qld (naturalised), NSW (naturalised), LHI (naturalised), NI (naturalised), ACT (naturalised)

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, NSW Flora, NT eFlora, SA eFlora, Florabase, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: Crowley_2007 (1), Metcalfe_2020_2 (19), NHNSW_2014_2 (3), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (6), Nano_2011 (1), SAH_2014 (4), SAH_2022 (3), SAH_2023 (4), Schmidt_1993 (1), Simpson_2021 (1), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_2022_1 (4), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_1 (1), WAH_2023_2 (3), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 25 traits from 65 records in 18 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

fire response
flower morphology
  • flower_colour (categorical): blue_purple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_type (categorical): caryopsis (6) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006; WAH_2023_1; WAH_2023_2]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1); indehiscent (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 526.5 mm2 (526.5-526.5 mm2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 117.5 mm (20-250 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; SAH_2014]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 6.5 mm (3-10 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2014]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c4 (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): graminoid (4); herb (3); tussock (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_form (categorical): therophyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • life_history (categorical): annual (6) [sources: NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; Simpson_2021; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (5) [sources: NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): caespitose (1); decumbent (1) [sources: WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2]
  • root_structure (categorical): arbuscular_mycorrhizal (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Schmidt_1993]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): wind (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): anemochory (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yyyyynnnnnny (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2014_2]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 0.73 m (0.02-1 m) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Metcalfe_2020_21719D. Metcalfe. “Unpublished data: Traits of Poaceae spp, CSIRO”. 2020.
NHNSW_202356N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
SAH_201424J. P. Jessop and H. R. Toelken. Flora of South Australia, 4th edition, 4 vols. Electronic version curated by J. Kellermann, State Herbarium of South Australia.. Government Printer, Adelaide, 1986.
SAH_202334S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
Sjostrom_200644A. Sjöström and C. L. Gross. “Life-history characters and phylogeny are correlated with extinction risk in the Australian angiosperms”. Journal of Biogeography 33.2 (2006), pp. 271-290. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01393.x.
WAH_2022_144Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2014_233Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_202233N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
SAH_202233S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
WAH_2023_223Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Crowley_200711G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Nano_201111C. E. M. Nano and P. J. Clarke. “How do drought and fire influence the patterns of resprouting in Australian deserts?”. Plant Ecology 212 (2011), pp. 2095-2110. doi: 10.1007/s11258-011-9988-x.
Schmidt_199311S. Schmidt. “Unpublished data: Compilation of mycorrhizal status data, University of Queensland”. 1993.
Simpson_202111K. J. Simpson, E. C. Jardine, S. Archibald, E. J. Forrestel, C. E. R. Lehmann, G. H. Thomas, and C. P. Osborne. “Resprouting grasses are associated with less frequent fire than seeders”. New Phytologist 230 (2021), pp. 832-844. doi: 10.1111/nph.17069.
WAH_2023_111Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.