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Digitaria sanguinalis - hairy crabgrass

Scientific Family
Poaceae
Synonyms
Panicum sanguinale, Syntherisma sanguinalis
Other common names
large crabgrass
purple crabgrass
redhair crabgrass
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
Yes

Grass Description

Origin
Introduced
Season
Warm

Common weeds of lawns and cultivated soils, occasionally along streams and washes.

Plant Community
Disturbed Areas
Riparian
Low elevation
2400
High elevation
6000

General Description

Annual grass with spreading-decumbent stems, often rooting at lower nodes. Has long sprawling stems and fibrous roots. The many soft stems grow close to the ground in an open space or will push up through other grasses when crowded.

Annual grass; seedhead stem spreading-decumbent, rooting at lower nodes; blades very hairy to sparsely hairy, broad, flat, thin; spikelets in 2 rows on 1 side of a 3-angled branch digitate; first glume minute.

Grass type
Annual
Rhizomes
No
Stolons
No
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
No
Bushy - highly branched
No
Height with Seedheads
Less than 12 inches
Seedhead Structure
Branched - fingerlike
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
June
Last bloom month
October

Flower Characteristics

Flowers per Spikelet
Multi-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
Yes
Awns
Absent
Three Awns
No
Awns bent
No
Flower and Seedhead Notes

Two florets per spikelet; lower florets sterile; upper florets bisexual. Anthers three, 1/16 inch long; stigmas red. Lower glumes to 1/16 inch long, lacking veins. Upper glumes to 1/16 inch long, three-veined.

Vegetative Characteristics

Blade is hairy
Yes
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Flat

Blades somewhat hairy to very hairy, blades broad, flat, 1/8 to 1/2 inch wide and 3/4 to 5-1/2 inches long.

Sheath is hairy
Yes
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
Yes
Ligule
Membranous
Auricles
No

Fodder for livestock.