Common Crabgrass vs Crab Grass

Digitaria ciliaris compared with Digitaria siderograpta

Key Differences

• Common Crabgrass is Not Evaluated while Crab Grass is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Common Crabgrass	Crab Grass
Kingdom same	Plantae (พืช)	Plantae (พืช)
Phylum same	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class same	Liliopsida (Monocots)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order same	Poales (อันดับหญ้า)	Poales (อันดับหญ้า)
Family same	Poaceae (Grass Family)	Poaceae (Grass Family)
Genus same	Digitaria	Digitaria
Species	Digitaria ciliaris	Digitaria siderograpta

Evolutionary Relationship

Common Crabgrass and Crab Grass share a common ancestor at the Genus level: Digitaria.

Conservation Status

Common Crabgrass

NE — Not Evaluated

Crab Grass

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Common Crabgrass	Crab Grass
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Common Crabgrass

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (8 countries), Asia (8 countries), Europe (18 countries), North America (10 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (12 countries), and South America (5 countries).

Crab Grass

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Common Crabgrass

<em>Digitaria ciliaris</em>, commonly known as common crabgrass or southern crabgrass, is an annual grass in the family Poaceae. It has a near-cosmopolitan distribution, occurring across tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions on multiple continents. This species typically colonizes disturbed habitats including lawns, gardens, roadsides, cultivated fields, and waste ground, making it one of the most widespread grass weeds in the world. Common crabgrass spreads rapidly via its sprawling, branching stems that root at the nodes when they contact moist soil. It produces slender, finger-like racemes bearing small, paired spikelets. The species thrives in warm weather and full sun, declining with the onset of cooler autumn temperatures. While it is considered a troublesome weed in many agricultural and horticultural contexts, it also provides ground cover and food for various seed-eating birds. Biological traits of this species remain poorly documented in the scientific literature.