Crabgrass, Digitaria sanguinalis, Grasses of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Grasses of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Height	Prime Season
	Crabgrass	Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop.	Poaceae (Grasses)	Upland	7 to 28"	Summer to Fall
	Native Status	(Hairy Crabgrass). Crabgrass is a non-native Eurasian species that has now naturalized into all the lower Canadian provinces and all the lower 48 states except Florida. In Minnesota it is found in a number of counties in the southern half of the state, absent in the northern half, except perhaps in lawns.
Notes	Crabgrass is a weedy grass found in waste places, untilled fields and usually in lawns. It is an annual that usually is found growing with stems lying on the ground where they can root at the nodes. Leaf blades are 1 to 4 inches long and very narrow (3-8 mm), usually with hair on both surfaces that arises from small protuberances on the blade. Leaf sheaths usually have light hair and are keeled (Like a boat). The flowering panicles have 4-13 spike-like primary branches which can be up to 12" long. The individual spikelets are small (1.7 to 3mm long) and have hair on the margins of the glumes. They are arranged in stalked pairs on the panicle branches. The panicles will usually rise above the foliage and the foliage itself can be erect if not subject to cutting. The seed heads may be reddish or purplish and the seeds are edible.


Above: Crabgrass growing in an erect position. Photo ©Ted Bodner, USDA-NRCS Plants Database	Above: Drawing courtesy USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950. Manual of the grasses of the United States. USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 200. Washington, DC.
Below: The flowering seed panicle of Crabgrass with pairs of spikelets arranged along the spike-like branches of the panicle. Photo ©Robert W. Freckmann, University of Wisconsin, Steven's Point.

Below: Crabgrass in the usually found decumbent position of the stems, where rooting can take place at the nodes.

Large Crabgrass plant

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 28c, W2, W3, W5 & W6. Distribution principally from W2 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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