Crabgrass
Digitaria sanguinalis · Warm-season, Annual, C4
Grass Family
Poaceae, subfamily Panicoideae
Grass Category
Invasive/Weed Grass
Variety / Cultivar
Wild type (smooth crabgrass and large crabgrass)
Hardiness Zones
USDA Hardiness Zones 3 through 10, completing its life cycle in a single year and dying with the first frost.
About This Grass
An aggressive, coarse-textured annual weed grass that forms sprawling clumps. Light to medium green color, growing low to the ground unless supported, with characteristic finger-like seed heads in late summer.
Blade Characteristics
Coarse blades greater than 4mm wide, flat shape with pointed tips, light green to blue-green color, rolled in the bud (vernation), hairy leaf sheaths and blades, membranous ligule, and no auricles.
Root System
Shallow, fibrous root system that establishes rapidly from seed and produces roots at the lower nodes where stems touch the soil.
Growing Information
Origin Region
Europe and Asia, now naturalized worldwide in temperate and tropical regions
Growth Habit
Stoloniferous and spreading prostrate to ascending, rooting at the nodes
Sunlight & Water Needs
Full sun, requires moderate moisture but can survive periods of drought by going dormant, prefers well-drained soils with a wide pH range.
Mowing & Maintenance
High maintenance weed; tolerates low mowing down to 0.5 to 1 inch by spreading horizontally, difficult to control without pre-emergent herbicides.
Special Characteristics
Exceptional wear tolerance under poor conditions, highly prolific seed production, excellent ability to invade thin lawns, poor drought recovery as an annual relying on seed bank.
Ecological Information
Introduced species, acts as an invasive weed in turfgrass systems, provides minimal forage value, can cause severe degradation of managed turf lawns.