Carpetgrass

Axonopus compressus

Carpetgrass is a perennial grassy weed that is also known as Broadleaf Carpetgrass or by its scientific name, Axonopus compressus.

Identify

Stolons

Folded

Hairy

Carpetgrass can be identified as a spreading perennial grassy weed with a creeping growth habit. It produces many other lawn weeds at short intervals. Its collar is narrow, indistinct and hairy at the edges. Its sheaths are compressed and flattened. Carpetgrass also features short blades that are rounded at the tip and nodes that are densely hairy. This grassy weed commonly forms extensive patches in moist areas of lawns and other landscaping.

Life Cycle

This grassy weed prefers moist soils and can often be found growing in humid to sub-humid wooded areas, or spreading to lawns and landscaped areas. Carpetgrass is often found in the southern part of the United States along the Gulf Coast and up the Atlantic Coast to the Carolinas. These perennial grassy weeds can germinate and spread from seeds, but they also produce a root structure (tubers, bulbs or corms) that can birth new weeds from your lawn’s surface (using stolons) or from underground (using rhizomes). Perennial grassy weeds live two or more years and have a deeper root structure that can give rise to new weeds—even if you no longer see the weeds in your lawn.

Control

Carpetgrass typically exhibits a low, creeping growth habit, making it tough to contain using cultural control methods such as hand-pulling lawn weeds or proper watering and mowing. For weed removal, professionally applied weed control treatments are recommended for complete eradication.