Weed ID

[skysthelimit]

Your #4, I believe I have a ton of this, too. I'll get pics tomorrow.
#7 looks like Dock, new fresh growth.

Does your #5 look like this?

Yes that is it~!

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

WHEN IDENTIFYING WEEDS-- THE MOST IMPORTANT PART TO START WITH IS THE FLOWER. One must SEE the flower-- the number of parts, regular, irregular, color, size, etc..
I told my prof about this thread-- and he told me to remain stubborn!!!

oh, he loves MidnightCoders pictures--

 

[Miss M]

MidnightCoder is an amazing photographer! :razz:

 

[MaggieJ]

I agree, Terry, that the flowers make weeds much easier to identify. But it's only March and most of us want to be able to identify the plants as they start growing. Not much blooms this early in Zones 5/6.

 

[Secuono]

http://weeds.cropsci.illinois.edu/weedi ... otoGallery

 

[MaggieJ]

One tip to help identify common weeds is to use your sense of smell. Many weeds have a distinctive odour, especially when the foliage is bruised. It will help you identify Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) if you remember that its other common name is Wild Carrot... and the foliage smells carroty. If it doesn't, then it is something else.

Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea)and henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) look quite similar to me, but ground ivy has a minty aroma whereas henbit does not. Just an example, since neither are good for rabbits anyway.

When you know how a plant should smell, it makes it easier to identify in its early stages. This can only come with experience.

 

[avdpas77]

There is trouble with common names. If one checks out the U of I directory, what they show as Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) is nothing like what many of us in the Midwest call Henbit; Lamium atropupureum. http://www.horizonherbs.com/search.asp?mode=results

 

[MaggieJ]

I agree... I should have quoted the Latin names as well. I'll go back and add them. (Shame on you, Maggie!)

 

[avdpas77]

While we are chastising ourselves.... I completely got sidetracked last night and forgot to check on #2

Here is another weed identification site. http://weedid.missouri.edu/index.cfm

One of the weeds that drives me nuts is Polygonum persicaria. The leaves vary, if it has a dark spot it is usually called "lady's thumb" if not it is usually call "purple knot weed", but it is actually the same species, apparently varying due to soil, and amount of shade.

Pictures from University of Missouri.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

I agree, Terry, that the flowers make weeds much easier to identify. But it's only March and most of us want to be able to identify the plants as they start growing. Not much blooms this early in Zones 5/6.

Sigh-- I am no longer in Zone 5-- the USDA moved the borders, and I am now in Zone 6 Maggie, if ya don't watch pout, you will be planting 'nanner trees soon!

 

[Secuono]

So is the Purple Deadnettle safe?

 

[MaggieJ]

Lady's Thumb (Polygonum persicaria) is fine for rabbits. There are other similar Polygonums without the leaf spot that are also safe. As you point out, Avdpas77, there are subtle differences in the leaves and flowers.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Sigh-- I am no longer in Zone 5-- the USDA moved the borders, and I am now in Zone 6 Maggie, if ya don't watch pout, you will be planting 'nanner trees soon!

I am in zone 8b now.

 

[skysthelimit]

One tip to help identify common weeds is to use your sense of smell. Many weeds have a distinctive odour, especially when the foliage is bruised. It will help you identify Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) if you remember that its other common name is Wild Carrot... and the foliage smells carroty. If it doesn't, then it is something else.

Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea)and henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) look quite similar to me, but ground ivy has a minty aroma whereas henbit does not. Just an example, since neither are good for rabbits anyway.

When you know how a plant should smell, it makes it easier to identify in its early stages. This can only come with experience.

True. I passed my final exam in botany by smelling the leaves and flowers of herbs. I yet to go around smelling weeds, those things that I previously thought of as pests, this will take some getting used to.<br /><br />__________ Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:52 am __________<br /><br />

I agree, Terry, that the flowers make weeds much easier to identify. But it's only March and most of us want to be able to identify the plants as they start growing. Not much blooms this early in Zones 5/6.

When you live on a property that has to be maintained a certain way, you don't necessarily have the convenience of waiting for flowers. Some of these weeds need to get fairly tall in order to flower, and grass needs to be less than three inches here. The front lawn of the front house (my sister in law) has lots of clover. But they will mow before I ever get to see the clover flowers, and will probably weed and feed and reseed before that stage. I would not be surprised now if she was outside digging up all of the weeds that are in question now, and I arrive home to see mulched areas where these weeds were.

 

[avdpas77]

Lady's Thumb (Polygonum persicaria) is fine for rabbits. There are other similar Polygonums without the leaf spot that are also safe. As you point out, Avdpas77, there are subtle differences in the leaves and flowers.

My rabbits won't touch the stuff. Of course they get plantain, dandelion, and both red and white clover often, so they are probably a bit persnickety. :roll:

BTW # 6 is not any kind of plantain. I believe it will turn out to be one of the several varieties of weeds which are locally called stink-weeds. Most of them are in the aster family, and have a flower about the size of a dime, which looks a bit like the common daisy. Various Erigerons have this habit, such as "fleabane

 

[MaggieJ]

My rabbits seem to eat it... At least, I have never noticed any left in the pens the next day. I just established its safety last summer so we will see how they do with it this year. I pretty much only gather it when it's growing with other weeds... It is so straggly that you don't get that much for your effort. But it's nice to know I don't have to pull it out of a mix. Around here it tends to grow in among the mallows (Malva neglecta and Malva rotundafolia). The rabbits love the mallows, but oddly enough the geese and chickens don't eat them. :shrug:

 

[avdpas77]

Maggie,
I was wondering if your mallows my be quite different than ours.
These are the three common in Missouri:
Callirhoe involucrata
Callirhoe digitata
Callirhoe bushii

After looking at pictures of the ones you list above, it's quite possible that #2 might be a mallow. Another common name problem I guess. I don't know exactly which state skysthelimit is from, but at least one of those two grows here in Missouri sparingly. The plant guide, though, indicates that they have "toothed" leaf margins when they are young, and implies they are annuals in this area. I still think I have a book at home that shows a plant like this in our area... since my memory is so bad, and no string for my finger, I guess I will write myself an email.

 

[MaggieJ]

Avdpas, I gave the Latin name, Malva neglecta, in my first post on plant #2. Those you list seem to be something commonly called "poppymallows" - not a plant I am familiar with at all. I'd still like to see a better photograph of #2 before saying absolutely that it is one of the Malva species.

You're right... It is just not safe to use common names.

 

[avdpas77]

Avdpas, I gave the Latin name, Malva neglecta, in my first post on plant #2. Those you list seem to be something commonly called "poppymallows" - not a plant I am familiar with at all. I'd still like to see a better photograph of #2 before saying absolutely that it is one of the Malva species.

You're right... It is just not safe to use common names.

I am sure we have a plant here that looks very like that, but I still haven't been able to locate it. In my checking this evening, I came across another mallow that I forgot, Hibiscus Lasiocarpos, which simply looks like a white version of purple poppy mallow. Did run across something interesting, though; a weed/wildflower called "white snakeroot", Eupatorium rugosum. I have some along the fence in back yard ever year. It seems that if cattle eat it it will poison the milk...Abraham Lincoln's mom died of drinking milk from a cow which had been eating=it

I suspect it would be something one would wan to keep away from rabbits.

Uh, I'm still looking :?

 

[skysthelimit]

I will get a better pict of #2 in the morning. I saw some real plantain today. I know it because as a child, I remember the tall stem that comes up, with something that looks like tiny green beads; we would pull it through our hands till all of the beads came off. http://weeds.cropsci.illinois.edu/image ... /index.htm