Digitaria ciliaris var. ciliaris

Southern crab grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Southern crab grass is a naturalized annual grass found in southern California coastal regions and San Diego County in open, disturbed areas at elevations generally below 150 meters. Flowering from June to September, this grass produces small, pale green to tan spikelets in whorled clusters 6 to 22 centimeters long. Growing with erect and decumbent stems 10 to 100 centimeters tall, it has distinctive leaf sheaths covered with swollen-based hairs. Its flat leaf blades are 1.5 to 25 centimeters long and 3 to 10 millimeters wide, typically rough or scabrous on both surfaces. The spikelets are elliptical, approximately 2.5 to 4 millimeters long, with acute tips and delicate branching structures.

Habitat: Weedy in open, disturbed areas

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: generally < 150 m

Bioregions: SCo, PR (San Diego Co.)

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.