Common Name:

General Information

Digitaria milanjiana is a clump-forming, perennial grass with erect culms that can be 60 - 150cm tall, exceptionally to 250cm. The clump spreads slowly by means of stolons[, ].
The plant can be grown to cover the ground and protect against erosion, with the added benefit of reducing nematode damage to other plants.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Africa - Ethiopia, Somalia, eastern DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, S. Africa

Habitat

Common in woodland, thickets, disturbed areas and abandoned cultivation in S. Africa[].

Properties

Weed Potential	Yes
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Perennial
Height	0.90 m
Pollinators	Wind
Cultivation Status	Cultivated

Cultivation Details

A plant of the tropics and subtropics, where it is found at elevations up to 2,000 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 22 - 28°c, but can tolerate 8 - 35°c[]. Top growth is killed by mild frost, but the plant will often survive and regrow from the base[]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 600 - 800mm, but tolerates 375 - 1,700mm and succeeds both in areas with a dry season and with all year rainfall[].
Requires a sunny position[]. Grows best in a fertile sandy or sandy loam soil, but succeeds in most soils that are well-drained, including those of low fertility[, ]. Established plants are very drought tolerant[, ]. Prefers a pH in the range 4.5 - 7, tolerating 4 - 8[].
Plants can flower after 79 - 96 days at a daylength of 14 hours and in 132 - 151 days at 11 hours[].
Plants are severely affected by fire[].
Dry matter yields may be between 5 - 25 tonnes per hectare[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

None known

Agroforestry Uses:

The plant has proved to be useful when grown in banana plantations in tropical Australia, where it helps to control burrowing nematodes[, ].
It can be used as ground cover under crops, where it can help protect the soil from erosion[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - freshly harvested seed is dormant, with ecotypes from high rainfall areas having a short dormancy and ecotypes from low rainfall having an extended dormancy. Germination improves with 5 months or more of storage. Experimentally, dormancy can be broken by removing the palea and lemma from around the caryopsis[].

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