Digitaria violascens Link, Hort. Berol. [Link], 1: 229. 1827.

( Poaceae)

Naturalized neophyte new to the flora of the province of Alessandria (Piemonte) (Verloove et al., 2011).

ITALY. Piemonte. Prov. Alessandria: Valenza, river Po S of the bridge, sandy river bank, 07.09.2014, F. Verloove 11088 (BR) .

A native from the Old World tropics Digitaria violascens has long been overlooked in southern Europe. Verloove (2008) cited records from France and Italy (prov. Novara in Piemonte), subsequently also from Spain (Verloove & Sánchez Gullón, 2008). Later, it turned out to be much more widespread in northwestern Italy ( Verloove et al., 2011). In Piemonte it was previously recorded in the provinces Biella, Torino, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Vercelli ( Verloove et al., 2011) and in September 2014 it was also seen along river Po near Valenza, apparently for the first time in the province of Alessandria .