African couchgrass
Digitaria abyssinica (Hochst. ex A.Rich.) Stapf
African couchgrass is a perennial built around persistence close to the ground. Wiry rhizomes spread beneath its shoots, and the plant can form mats rather than isolated tussocks. The stems often lie along the ground at their bases before turning upward, producing a loose flowering display above the leaves. Flora of Tropical East Africa via Kew: Digitaria abyssinica
Botanical name
Kew accepts Digitaria abyssinica in Poaceae, with Panicum abyssinicum as its basionym. Plants of the World Online: Digitaria abyssinica
Recognizing the plant
Flora of Tropical East Africa describes stems from five to sixty centimetres tall. The leaf blades are broadly linear to narrowly lance-shaped, usually a few millimetres wide. Flowering branches, called racemes, gather along a short central axis: a plant may carry only two or as many as twenty-five. Tiny spikelets occur in pairs on a three-angled supporting axis. Often touched with purple, the plump, oval spikelets contain the small flowers and eventually enclose a pale brown, greyish or purplish grain. Flora of Tropical East Africa via Kew: Digitaria abyssinica
Native range
Kew places its native range across tropical and southern Africa and eastward into parts of southern Asia and New Guinea. In East Africa, the flora records it in moister disturbed places, cultivated ground and closely grazed upland grassland, from low elevations to about 2,900 metres. Plants of the World Online: Digitaria abyssinicaFlora of Tropical East Africa via Kew: Digitaria abyssinica
Botanical sources
- Plants of the World Online: Digitaria abyssinica
- Flora of Tropical East Africa via Kew: Digitaria abyssinica
Reviewed 2026-10-11. Seasonal development varies with location and growing conditions.