Asian Crabgrass
Digitaria bicornis
Found in sandy fields, lawns, roadsides, disturbed places. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native status: sources disagree, under review. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 76%
- Height
- 4–8 inches
- Spread
- 3 inches–2.5 feet
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to wet
Space about 1.5 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 44 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual or perennial
- Bloom
- January to December
Not yet recorded · Leaves
Recorded in 6 Mississippi counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
26CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including MS
Genus host records with ranges including MS · Digitaria
- Abagrotis magnicupidaOne-Dotted Dart
- Agrotis ipsilonIpsilon Dart, Black Cutworm, Greasy Cutworm
- Anicla infectaGreen Cutworm Moth
- Atalopedes huronSachem
- Dargida rubripennisThe Pink-Streak
- Elasmopalpus lignosellaLesser Cornstalk Borer
- Fissicrambus mutabilisStriped Webworm, Striped Sodworm, Changeable Grass-Veneer
- Hedone vibexWhirlabout
- Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
- Hesperia attalusDotted Skipper
Show all 26
- Hylephila phyleusFiery Skipper
- Hypena scabraGreen Cloverworm Bomolocha, Black Snout
- Leucania subpunctataWhite-Dotted Wainscot, Forage Armyworm
- Lon zabulonZabulon Skipper
- Maliattha synochitisBlack-Dotted Lithacodia, Black-Dotted Glyph, Brass-Dotted Grass Moth
- Marimatha nigrofimbriaBlack-Bordered Lemon
- Marimatha tripunctaThree-Spotted Lemon
- Mocis latipesSmall Mocis, Striped Grass Looper
- Mocis texanaTexas Mocis
- Mythimna unipunctaArmyworm Moth, White Speck
- Polites othoSouthern Broken-Dash, Broken-Dash Skipper
- Polites themistoclesTawny-Edged Skipper
- Protodeltote muscosulaLarge Mossy Lithacodia, Large Mossy Glyph, Large Mossy Grass Moth
- Redectis vitreaWhite-Spotted Redactis
- Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
21BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Digitaria
- Agelaius phoeniceusRed-winged Blackbird
- Anthus rubescensAmerican Pipit
- Calcarius lapponicusLapland Longspur
- Calcarius pictusSmith's Longspur
- Cardinalis cardinalisNorthern Cardinal
- Colinus virginianusNorthern Bobwhite
- Columba liviaRock Pigeon
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
- Melospiza melodiaSong Sparrow
- Melozone crissalisCalifornia Towhee
Show all 21
- Molothrus aterBrown-headed Cowbird
- Peucaea aestivalisBachman's Sparrow
- Plectrophenax nivalisSnow Bunting
- Porzana carolinaSora
- Quiscalus quisculaCommon Grackle
- Spizella passerinaChipping Sparrow
- Spizella pusillaField Sparrow
- Sturnus vulgarisEuropean Starling
- Tympanuchus pallidicinctusLesser Prairie-Chicken
- Vireo belliiBell's Vireo
- Vireo olivaceusRed-eyed Vireo
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Plant details
- Family
- Poaceae
- Flower color
- Pink
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “January to December” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Pink” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Height · “4–8 inches” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Annual or perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Dry; Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Spread · “3 inches–2.5 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Conservation status
| Mississippi rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| MS status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- Mississippi occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications