Texas Sedge

Carex texensis

Texas Sedge is a summer annual grassy weed that is also known as Mangspike Flatsedge or by its scientific name, Carex texensis. This lawn weed can thrive in dry, moist or wet, sandy soils.

Identify

Sedge

Texas Sedge can be identified as a summer annual grassy weed with stems of varying heights. It features reddish-brown to greenish-brown blades. This lawn weed also has a branching seed head that varies from tightly clustered to open and diffusely spreading. The seed head produces seeds in long, very narrow spikes that are flattened and yellowish to reddish-brown in color. Texas Sedge produces seeds from mid-summer through early fall.

Life Cycle

These lawn weeds often grow in sandy soils, ranging from dry to moist to wet—they also frequently occur in lawns. In the United States, Texas Sedge can be found as far northeast as New York and as far southwest as Texas, but also in parts of California. These grassy weeds are also summer annuals, meaning they begin to grow (germinate) in the spring, mature in the summer and then produce seeds and die by the fall or first hard frost—an entire life cycle completed within 12 months.

Control

Cultural control methods—such as hand-pulling lawn weeds or proper watering and mowing—are typically not effective for removing Texas Sedge once it has invaded your lawn. For effective weed removal, professionally selected and applied weed control treatments, based on your climate and geography, are your best bet for eradication.