Weeds:Information
Contents
- 1 Characterizations of Crop Weed Pests
- 1.1 Amaranth_Family_(AMARANTHACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.2 Arum_Family_(ARACEAE_Juss.)
- 1.3 Aspidium_Family_(ASPIDIACEAE_Gray)
- 1.4 Bladderwort_Family_(LENTIBULARIACEAE_Rich._in_Poileau_&_Turpin)
- 1.5 Borage_Family_(BORAGINACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.6 Buckwheat_Family_(POLYGONACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.7 Buttercup_Family_(RANUNCULACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.8 Cacao_Family_(STERCULIACEAE_Bartling)
- 1.9 Caltrop_Family_(ZYGOPHYLLACEAE_R._Br._in_Flinders)
- 1.10 Carpetweed_Family_(AIZOACEAE_Rudolphi)
- 1.11 Catalpa_Family_(BIGNONIACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.12 Cattail_Family_(TYPHACEAE_Juss.)
- 1.13 Chara_Family_(CHARACEAE)
- 1.14 Dodder_Family_(CUSCUTACEAE_Dumort.)
- 1.15 Dogbane_Family_(APOCYNACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.16 Evening-primrose_Family_(ONAGRACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.17 Figwort_Family_(SCROPHULARIACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.18 Frog's_Bit_Family_(HYDROCHARITACEAE_Juss.)
- 1.19 Fumitory_Family_(FUMARIACEAE_DC.)
- 1.20 Geranium_Family_(GERANIACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.21 Goosefoot_Family_(CHENOPODIACEAE_Vent.)
- 1.22 Gourd_Family_(CUCURBITACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.23 Grape_Family_(VITACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.24 Grass_(POACEAE_Barnhart)
- 1.24.1 Wheatgrass_(Agropyron_Gaertner)
- 1.24.2 Bentgrass_(Agrostis_L.)
- 1.24.3 Hair_grass_(Aira_L.)
- 1.24.4 oat_(Avena_L.)
- 1.24.5 *Brachiaria_(Trin.)_Griseb.
- 1.24.6 Brome_(Bromus_L.)
- 1.24.7 Buffalo_grass_(Buchloe_Engelm.)
- 1.24.8 Sandbur_(Cenchrus_L.)
- 1.24.9 Bermudagrass_(Cynodon_Rich.)
- 1.24.10 Orchard_grass_(Dactylis_L.)
- 1.24.11 Crowfoot_Grass_(Dactyloctenium_Willd.)
- 1.24.12 Crab_grass,_finger_grass_(Digitaria_Heister)
- 1.24.13 Barnyard_grass_(Echinochloa_Pal.)
- 1.24.14 Crowfoot_grass,_Goosegrass_(Eleusine_Gaertner)
- 1.24.15 Wheatgrass_(Elymus_L.)
- 1.24.16 Lovegrass_(Eragostis_Wolf.)
- 1.24.17 Cupgrass_(Eriochloa_Kunth.)
- 1.24.18 *Festuca_L.
- 1.24.19 Barley_(Hordeum_L.)
- 1.24.20 Sprangletop_(Leptochloa_Pal.)
- 1.24.21 Ryegrass_(Lolium_L.)
- 1.24.22 Muhly_(Muhlenbergia_Schreber)
- 1.24.23 Panicum,_Vine_Mesquite,_Maidencane_(Panicum_L.)
- 1.24.24 Paspalum,_Dallisgrass,_Knotgrass_(Paspalum_L.)
- 1.24.25 Rabbitfoot_grass_(Polypogon_Desf.)
- 1.24.26 Canary_grass_(Phalaris_L.)
- 1.24.27 Timothy_(Phleum_L.)
- 1.24.28 Meadow_grass,_Blue_grass_(Poa_L.)
- 1.24.29 Bristlegrass_(Setaria_Pal.)
- 1.24.30 Johnsongrass_(Sorghum_Moench.)
- 1.24.31 Needlegrass_(Stipa_L.)
- 1.24.32 *Vulpia_C._Gmelin
- 1.24.33 Rice_(Oryza_L.)
- 1.24.34 *Rhynchelytrum_Nees.
- 1.24.35 Itchgrass_(Rottboellia_L.f.)
- 1.25 Hornwort_Family_(CERATOPHYLLACEAE_S._F._Gray)
- 1.26 Jewelweed_Family_(BALSAMINACEAE_A._Rich.)
- 1.27 Legume_Family_(FABACEAE_Lindl.)
- 1.27.1 *Cassia_L.
- 1.27.2 Rattleseed_(Crotalaria_L.)
- 1.27.3 Tick-trefoil,_Sticktights_(Desmodium_Desv.)
- 1.27.4 Bush_Clover_(Lespedeza_Michx.)
- 1.27.5 Trefoil_(Lotus_L.)
- 1.27.6 Lupine_(Lupinus_L.)
- 1.27.7 Alfalfa_(Medicago_L.)
- 1.27.8 Sweet_Clover_(Melilotus_L.)
- 1.27.9 Kudzu_(Pueraria_DC.)
- 1.27.10 Kudzu_Vine_(Pueraria_lobata_(Willd.)_Ohwi)
- 1.27.11 Sesbania_Scop.
- 1.27.12 Clover_(Trifolium_L.)
- 1.27.13 Vetch_(Vicia_L.)
- 1.28 Loosestrife_Family_(LYTHRACEAE_J._St._Hil.)
- 1.29 Madder_Family_(RUBIACEAE_Juss.)
- 1.30 Mallow_Family_(MALVACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.31 Milkweed_Family_(ASCLEPIADACEAE_R._Br.)
- 1.32 Mint_Family_(LAMIACEAE_Lindl.)
- 1.33 Morningglory_Family_(CONVOLVULACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.34 Mustard_Family_(BRASSICACEAE_Burnett.)
- 1.34.1 *Barbarea_R._Br.
- 1.34.2 Mustard_(Brassica_L.)
- 1.34.3 *Camelina_Crantz
- 1.34.4 Shepherd's_purse_(Capsella_Medicus)
- 1.34.5 Annual,_biennial,_or_perennial_(Cardamine)
- 1.34.6 Whitetop_(Cardaria_Desv.)
- 1.34.7 Tansy_mustard_(Descurainia_Webb)
- 1.34.8 Pepperweed_(Lepidium_L.)
- 1.34.9 Virginiacress_(Lepidium_virginicum_L.)
- 1.34.10 Radish_(Raphanus_L.)
- 1.34.11 Mustard_(Sinapis_L.)
- 1.34.12 Tumbling_mustard_(Sisymbrium_L.)
- 1.34.13 Penny_cress_(Thlaspi_L.)
- 1.35 Nettle_Family_(URTICACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.36 Niad_Family_(NAJADACEAE_Juss.)
- 1.37 Parsley_Family_(APIACEAE_Lindl.)
- 1.38 Pickerel-Weed_Family_(PONTEDERIACEAE_Kunth.)
- 1.39 Pink_Family_(CARYOPHYLLACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.40 Plantain_Family_(PLANTAGINACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.41 Pokeweed_Family_(PHYTOLACCACEAE_R._Br.)
- 1.42 Potato_Family_(SOLANACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.43 Primrose_Family_(PRIMULACEAE_Vent.)
- 1.44 Purslane_Family_(PORTULACACEAE_Juss.)
- 1.45 Rose_Family_(ROSACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.46 Sedge_Family_(CYPERACEAE_Juss.)
- 1.47 Sesame_Family_(PEDALIACEAE_R._Br.)
- 1.48 Smilax_Family_(SMILACACEAE_Vent.)
- 1.49 Soapberry_Family_(SAPINDACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.50 Spiderwort_Family_(COMMELINACEAE_R._Br.)
- 1.51 Spurge_Family_(EUPHORBIACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.52 St._Johnswort_Family_(GUTTIFERAE_A._L._Juss.)
- 1.53 Sunflower_Family_(ASTERACEAE_Dumort.)
- 1.53.1 Yarrow_(Achillea_L.)
- 1.53.2 *Ageratum_L.
- 1.53.3 Ragweed_(Ambrosia_L.)
- 1.53.4 Chamomile_(Anthemis_L.)
- 1.53.5 Burdock_(Arctium_L.)
- 1.53.6 *Artemisia_L.
- 1.53.7 *Aster_L.
- 1.53.8 *Bellis_L.
- 1.53.9 *Bidens_L.
- 1.53.10 Starthistle_(Centaurea_L.)
- 1.53.11 *Chrysanthemum_L.
- 1.53.12 Chicory_(Cichorium_L.)
- 1.53.13 Thistle_(Cirsium_Miller)
- 1.53.14 Horseweed_(Conyza_Less.)
- 1.53.15 *Emilia_Cassini
- 1.53.16 *Erechtites_Raf.
- 1.53.17 *Eupatorium_L.
- 1.53.18 *Galinsoga_Cav.
- 1.53.19 Gumweed_(Grindelia_Wooled.)
- 1.53.20 Sneezweed_(Helenium_L.)
- 1.53.21 Sunflower_(Helianthus_L.)
- 1.53.22 *Hemizonia_DC.
- 1.53.23 Golden_aster_(Heterotheca_Cassini)
- 1.53.24 *Hieracium_L.
- 1.53.25 Poverty-weed_(Iva_L.)
- 1.53.26 Lettuce_(Lactuca_L.)
- 1.53.27 Biennial_or_perennial_herbs_(Matricaria_L.)
- 1.53.28 False_Dandelion_(Pyrrhopappus_DC.)
- 1.53.29 Groundsel_(Senecio_L.)
- 1.53.30 Goldenrod_(Solidago_L.)
- 1.53.31 *Sonchus_L.
- 1.53.32 *Tanacetum_L.
- 1.53.33 Dandelion_(Taraxacum_Weber)
- 1.53.34 Goat_beard_(Tragopogon_L.)
- 1.53.35 *Vernonia_Schreber
- 1.53.36 Cocklebur_(Xanthium_L.)
- 1.54 Vervain_Family_(VERBENACEAE_St._Hil.)
- 1.55 Violet_Family_(VIOLACEAE_Batsch)
- 1.56 Waterfern_Family_(SALVINIACEAE_Reichb.)
- 1.57 Waterlily_Family_(NYMPHAEACEAE)
- 1.58 Water-milfoil_Family_(HALORAGACEAE_R._Br._in_Flinders)
- 1.59 Water-Plantain_Family_(ALISMATACEAE_Vent).
- 1.60 Willow_Family_(SALICACEAE_Mirbel)
- 1.61 Woodsorrel_Family_(OXALIDACEAE_Br._in_Tuckey)
- 1.62 NOXIOUS_WEEDS
Characterizations of Crop Weed Pests
‘’Classification by Family, Genera, and Species’’
Amaranth_Family_(AMARANTHACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Amaranth Family (AMARANTHACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Amaranth Family
Life span: annual herbs
Leaves: leaves simple, entire, alternate or opposite
Flowers: flowers perfect or imperfect, inconspicuous, with 3 dry, scarious, persistent, pungent bracts
Calyx: calyx commonly of 5 persistent, usually scarious sepals
Stamens: stamens as many as the sepals
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 1-loculed, usually with 2 or 3 stigmas
Fruit: fruit a utricle, indehiscent or circumscissile
Chromosome number: x = 6-13, 17+.
Glabrous_(Amaranthus_L.) ===
Glabrous (Amaranthus L.)
Surface: Glabrous
Life span: annual
Growth form: stems prostrate to erect
Leaves: leaves alternate; lanceolate
Flowers: monoecious or dioecious; flowers in dense terminal or axillary clusters, each subtended by 3 conspicuous green or red to purple bracts
Sepals: sepals 2-5 (rarely 1), distinct
Stamens: stamens 5 (1 or 3), distinct
Anthers: anthers 4-loculed (apparently 2-loculed following dehiscence)
Ovary: ovary 1-loculed, with 2 or 3 stigmas
Ovules: ovules 1
Fruit: utricle 1-seeded, circumscissile to indehiscent
Seeds: seeds erect, lenticular, lustrous
Toxins: Amaranths may accumulate levels of nitrate sufficient to be poisonous to livestock.
Pale_amaranth_(Amaranthus_albus_L.)
Pale amaranth (Amaranthus albus L.)
Common name: Pale amaranth
Life span: Monoecious (rarely perfect) annuals
Growth form: the main stem erect, the branches spreading or ascending, 1.5-10 dm tall
Surface: herbage pale green to whitish, glabrous, puberulent, or villous
Leaves: leaves alternate, the petioles 3-40 mm long, the blades elliptic, oblong, spatulate, or obovate, mainly 1-7 cm long, cuneate basally, rounded to mucronate-cuspidate apically, the veins prominent
Flowers: flowers in axillary clusters, usually shorter than the petioles
Bracts: bracts green, rigid, 2-4 mm long, pungent, spreading
Sepals: sepals 3, the staminate oblong, cuspidate, scarious,
Pistil: the pistillate 3, oblong to linear, acute, 1-veined, often tinged with red
Stamens: stamens 3
Style: style branches 3
Fruit: utricle circumscissile, rugose, exceeding the perianth
Seed: seed lenticular, 0.6-0.9 mm wide, dark brown, lustrous
Chromosome number: 2n = 32
Habitat: Weedy plants of open sites and cultivated land; widespread in temperate North America; adventive from tropical America
Prostrate_pigweed_(Amaranthus_blitoides_Wats.)
Prostrate pigweed (Amaranthus blitoides Wats.)
Common name: Prostrate pigweed
Synonym: [A. graecizans authors, not L.]
Life Span: Monoecious annuals
Stems: stems 1-6 dm long
Growth form: prostrate, branched mainly from the base
Stems: glabrous or sparingly hairy
Surface: herbage pale green or whitish, sometimes tinged with red or purple
Leaves: leaves alternate, the petioles 2-20 mm long, the blades obovate to oval, spatulate, or elliptic, mostly 8-40 mm long, cuneate to attenuate basally, rounded to acute apically, prominently veined
Flowers: flowers in dense clusters, these usually shorter than the petioles
Bracts: bracts oblong to lanceolate, subequal to the sepals, spinose
Sepals: sepals 4 or 5, the staminate scarious, oblong, acute, the pistillate oblong, 2.5-3 mm long, 1-veined, green with white margins
Stamens: stamens 3
Style: style branches 3
Fruit: utricle circumscissile
Seeds: seeds 1.3-1.5 mm wide, black, shining or dull
Chromosome number: 2n = 32
Habitat: Weedy species of open sites and cultivated land; widespread in temperate North America; Mexico; Europe
Pigweed_(Amaranthus_hybridus_L.)
Pigweed (Amaranthus hybridus L.)
Common name: Pigweed
Surface: plant dark green or purple, pubescent or almost smooth
Growth form: stem usually slender and branched, erect
Height: 0.6-2.4 m tall
Leaves: green on both sides, sometimes paler beneath
Spikes: slender-cylindric, green, flexuous, somewhat spreading or drooping
Bracts: rather long-awned, twice the length of the 5 acute or acuminate sepals
Stamens: 5
Fruit: utricle scarcely wrinkled, circumscissile
Palmer's_amaranth_(Amaranthus_palmeri_Wats.)
Palmer's amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri Wats.)
Common name: Palmer's amaranth
Life Span: annual
Stems: stems 6-10 dm tall, branched throughout, glabrous or villous
Leaves: leaves alternate, the petioles slender and long, the blades 1-6 cm long, ovate to lanceolate, cuneate to rounded basally, acute or shortly acuminate apically
Flowers: Dioecious; flowers borne in terminal and axillary clusters or panicles
Sepals: staminate flowers with 5 sepals; pistillate flowers with 5 recurved sepals
Bracts: bracts 4-6 mm long, much surpassing the sepals
Stamens: staminate flowers with 5 stamens
Styles: styles usually 2 (3)
Fruit: utricle circumscissile
Seed: seed 1-1.3 mm wide, dark brown
Chromosome number: n = 17
Habitat: adventive from the southwestern U.S.
Redroot_pigweed_(Amaranthus_retroflexus_L.)
Redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.)
Common name: Redroot pigweed
Life span: annual
Growth Form: herbs; stems erect
Height: 0.6-1.5 dm tall or more,
Surface: puberulent to villous, white-striped or suffused with red
Leaves: leaves alternate, long-petiolate, the blades mainly 1-8 cm long, usually hairy (at least on veins beneath), lanceolate to ovate, obtuse to acute basally, rounded to acute apically
Flowers: monoecious; flowers in dense terminal or axillary paniculate spikes
Bracts: bracts ovate, subulate apically, at least the longest much surpassing the flowers
Sepals: sepals of staminate flowers ovate to lanceolate, acute, scarious, those of pistillate flowers narrowly oblong, rounded to truncate apically, usually emarginate and often mucronate, scarious
Stamens: stamens 5
Style: style branches 3
Fruit: utricle circumscissile, surpassed by the longest sepals
Seeds: seeds about 1 mm wide, dark brown or reddish
Chromosome number: 2n = 34
Habitat: Weedy species of gardens, other cultivated land, and open sites; adventive from Central America, widespread in North America; Europe. Redroot pigweed is a common weed of gardens throughout much of North America.
Arum_Family_(ARACEAE_Juss.)
Arum Family (ARACEAE Juss.)
Common name: Arum Family
Life span: perennial
Growth form: herbs with corms or rootstocks mostly tuberous, and an acrid or pungent cell sap
Leaves: basal, long-petioled, simple or compound, often net-veined
Flowers: small, crowded on a fleshy axil (spadix) and often more or less enveloped by a hood-like bract (spathe); perianth lacking or of 4-6 sepals
Stamens: stamens 4-10 with very short filaments
Fruit: fruit a berry or utricle
Water-Lettuce_(Pistia_L.)
Water-Lettuce (Pistia L.)
Common name: Water-Lettuce
Growth form: plants aquatic
Stems: very short
Leaves: in a rosette floating on the water surface, the petioles short, the blades broadly obovate
Inflorescence: inflorescence axillary, few-flowered, enclosed in a small white spathe
Flowers: plants monoecious, the staminate flowers above; perianth none
Pistil: pistil solitary; ovary 1-celled
*Pistia_stratiotes_L.
Pistia stratiotes L.
Growth form: stoloniferous
Leaves: 5-15 cm long, plaited
Bracts: spathe ca. 1 cm long, constricted near the middle
Chromosome number: 2n = 28
Aspidium_Family_(ASPIDIACEAE_Gray)
Aspidium Family (ASPIDIACEAE Gray)
Common name: Aspidium Family
Growth form: terrestrial ferns with erect, ascending or horizontal creeping rootstocks
Leaves: one- to three-pinnate or decompound; venation pinnate or anastomosing
Indumentum: indumentum of scales or trichomes, unicellular, articulate, or branching
Sorus: sori indusiate or exindusiate, orbicular, peltate, or reniform, on the veins or at tips of free veinlets
Annulus: annulus fourteen cells or more
Spore: spore bilateral, oblong, smooth or tuberculate
Stipe: stipes rarely jointed
*Onoclea_L.
Onoclea L.
Growth form: Coarse ferns
Leaves: two distinctly different kinds of leaves; 1) the sterile foliaceous suberect, withering with frosts and 2) the fertile ones strictly erect, with pinnules modified to form hard, rounded, berry-like divisions in which the sori are concealed, ultimately dehiscent and persisting throughout the winter
Sorus: concealed by berry-like pinnules
*Onoclea_sensibilis_L.
Onoclea sensibilis L.
Leaves: fertile leaves 3-7.5 dm tall, the fertile portion bipinnate; sterile leaves 3-13.5 dm tall, broadly triangular, deeply pinnatifid, the rachis winged; pinnae with entire or undualte margins
Habitat: moist meadows and damp woods
Bladderwort_Family_(LENTIBULARIACEAE_Rich._in_Poileau_&_Turpin)
Bladderwort Family (LENTIBULARIACEAE Rich. in Poileau & Turpin)
Common name: Bladderwort Family
Growth form: herbaceous, aquatic
Life span: perennial
Leaves: leaves alternate or basal, typically submersed and finely divided, bearing insectivorous bladders
Flowers: flowers perfect, irregular, few to several in scapose racemes
Calyx: calyx 2-lobed
Petals: corolla of 5 united petals, bilabiate, the lower lip saccate or spurred at the base
Stamens: stamens 2, sometimes with 2 staminodia also
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, unilocular, bicarpellate
Style: style 1 or lacking, the stigma 2-lobed
Fruit: fruit a capsule
Chromosome number: x = 6, 8, 9, 11, 21
Bladderwort_(Utricularia_L.)
Bladderwort (Utricularia L.)
Life span: perennial
Growth form: herbs
Roots: without roots or apparently so
Leaves: leaves all submersed and finely dissected, or sometimes emergent and with leaves somewhat reduced, alternate, bearing bladderlike floats that trap small animals
Flowers: flowers showy
Calyx: calyx with 2 entire lobes
Petals: corolla with the upper lip entire or obscurely 2-lobed, the lower entire or 3-lobed, produced into a basal spur
Borage_Family_(BORAGINACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Borage Family (BORAGINACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Borage Family
Growth form: plants herbaceous or shrubby
Leaves: leaves simple, alternate, opposite, or whorled, entire and pubescent, hispid or setose
Flowers: flowers perfect, regular, solitary or cymose
Inflorescence: cymes glomerate-racemose or spicate, frequently unilateral and coiled (scorpioid), usually with bracts between, to one side of, or opposite the flowers
Calyx: calyx usually 5-lobed or 5-parted, usually persistent, the lobes valvate
Petals: corolla 5-lobed, sometimes crested or appendaged in the throat
Stamens: stamens 5, borne on the corolla tube alternate with the lobes
Ovary: ovary superior, bicarpellate, usually 4-ovulate, entire or lobed, becoming tough or bony at maturity
Fruit: fruit commonly breaking up into 4 single-seeded lobes (nutlets)
Style: style simple or 2-cleft, seated in the pericarp at the apex of the fruit or borne between the nutlets on the receptacle, or on an upward prolongation (gynobase)
Seed: endosperm absent or scarce; embryo straight or curved
Chromosome number: x = 4-12
Note: The classification of this family is based primarily upon the structure of the fruit. In many cases it is difficult to recognize the genus and almost impossible to obtain a precise identification of the species if the specimens lack mature fruiting structures.
*Amsinckia_Lehm.
Amsinckia Lehm.
Life span: annual
Growth form: pungent-bristly, herbaceous plants, erect
Stem: stems erect or with spreading branches, leafy
Leaves: leaves alternate, linear to ovate, usually veinless
Inflorescence: racemes usually ebracteate
Calyx: calyx cut to base into erect lanceolate or oblong lobes
Petals: corolla tubular or salverform, heterostyled, yellow or orange, tube cylindrical, glabrous, unappendaged lobes spreading, rounded, imbricate
Stamens: stamens included, affixed in the tube; filaments very short
Anthers: anthers oblong; style obtuse, filiform included
Stigma: stigma capitate, emarginate
Ovary: ovules 4
Cotyledons: cotyledons 2-parted
Fruit: nutlets 4, erect, angulate-ovoid, smooth or rough, unmargined, strongly keeled ventrally; gynobase pyramidal, about half the height of the nutlet
Stoneseed_(Lithospermum_L.)
Stoneseed (Lithospermum L.)
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbaceous or fruticose plants
Leaves: alternate leaves
Flowers: flowers white, yellow, or violet, in bracteate racemes
Sepals: calyx usually undivided
Petals: corolla tubular or salverform, the tube cylindrical, lobes spreading and imbricate, the throat with intruded appendages or with pubescent or glandular areas
Stamens: stamens inserted in the tube, included; filaments short, anthers oblong, usually with apiculate connectives
Style: style filiform
Stigmas: stigmas geminate
Ovary: ovules 4
Fruit: nutlets 4 or rarely fewer, erect, ovoid or angular, smooth or verrucose, inserted by a broad horizontal or slightly oblique basal areola; gynobase flat or very broadly pyramidal
Showy_Stoneseed_(Lithospermum_incisum_Lehm.)
Showy Stoneseed (Lithospermum incisum Lehm.)
Common name: showy stoneseed
Life span: perennial
Root: thick, woody
Growth form: erect or ascending
Stem: usually several, strigose to somewhat hirsute
Height: 1-5 dm tall
Leaves: alternate; 10-15 mm long, linear (lanceolate) to linear-oblong, strigose
Inflorescence: terminal, leafy racemes; cleistogamous flowers present; in fruit usually with recurved pedicels; flowers monomorphic
Calyx: 6-10 mm long
Corolla 10-30 mm long, yellow, salverform, the limb 9-18 mm wide, the lobes fimbriate to toothed
Fruit: nutlets 3-4 mm long, white and shining
Habitat: Sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, ephedra, mixed desert shrub, bitterbrush, mountain brush, ponderosa pine, and mountain mahogany communities; central U. S., Canada, and Mexico westward to British Columbia, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
Buckwheat_Family_(POLYGONACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Buckwheat Family (POLYGONACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Buckwheat Family
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs, subshrubs, shrubs, or twining vines
Leaves: leaves simple, alternate, opposite, or whorled; stipules forming a sheath (ocrea) or absent
Flowers: flowers perfect or polygamo-dioecious, regular; perianth 2- to 6-parted or -cleft, not readily identifiable as sepals and petals
Stamens: stamens 2-9
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 1-loculed, 1-ovuled
Styles: styles 2 or 3
Fruit: fruit an achene
Chromosome number: x = 7-13
*Brunnichia_Banks_ex_Gaertner
Brunnichia Banks ex Gaertner
*Brunnichia_ovata
Brunnichia ovata
Buckwheat_(Fagopyrum_Mill.)
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum Mill.)
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: erect, fleshy herbs
Stems: striate
Leaves: alternate, petioled, hastate, with cylindric ocreae
Flowers: small, white or green, in racemes, perfect
Calyx: calyx 5-parted
Stamens: stamens 8
Ovary: ovary 1-celled
Style: style 3-parted
Fruit: achene 3-angled
Green_Buckwheat_(Fagopyrum_tataricum_(L.)_Gaertn.)
Green Buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn.)
Common name: Green Buckwheat
Flower: short (c. 2mm) greenish-white tepals; tepals 5, petaloid, not winged or keeled, not enlarging in fruit
Fruit: achenes with undulate margins
Stamens: stamens 8
Syles: styles 3, long
Fruit: achene with 3 acute angles, far exserted
Knotweed_(Polygonum_L.) ===
Knotweed (Polygonum L.)
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial
Growth form: herbs
Roots: taproots or rhizomes
Leaves: leaves alternate, cauline or basal
Stipules: stipules sheathing
Flowers: flowers solitary or clustered in leaf axils or in axillary or terminal spikelike racemes or panicles, not subtended by a regular involucre; perianth of 5 petaloid (or sepaloid) segments
Stamens: stamens 8 (5 and 3) or lacking
Pistils: pistils usually 3-carpelled
Ovary: ovary 1-loculed, 1-ovuled
Styles: styles 2 or 3, often very short
Fruit: achenes lens-shaped or 3-angled
Knotweed,_chivalry-grass,_dishwater-grass_(Polygonum_aviculare_L.)
Knotweed, chivalry-grass, dishwater-grass (Polygonum aviculare L.)
Common name: Knotweed, chivalry-grass, dishwater-grass
Life span: annuals
Growth form: prostrate to ascending or erect
Stems: stems striate, terete or angled, mostly 1-10 dm long
Leaves: alternate; leaves usually not crowded, 5-40 mm long and 2-10 mm wide, oblong to elliptic or oblanceolate, smaller on the branchlets than on the main stem, acute to obtuse or rounded, the blade sessile or short-petiolate above the basal joint
Stipules: stipules shredded, 3-6 mm long
Flowers: flowers 1-5 axillary; pedicels included or shortly exserted; perianth 2-3 mm long, united ca 1/3 the length, 5-lobed, the lobes greenish with white or pink edges, the outer lobes only slightly broader than the inner
Styles: styles 3
Fruit: achenes 3-angled, brown
Chromosome number: 2n = 22, 40, 60
Habitat: Weedy species of open sites; widespread in most continents
Note: The plants tolerate trampling and similar abuse that forces other plants to yield way to this vigorous species
Black_bindweed_(Polygonum_convolvulus_L.)
Black bindweed (Polygonum convolvulus L.)
Common name: Black bindweed
Life span: annuals
Growth form: erect (when young) or soon prostrate or twining
Height: the stems 1-15 dm long or more
Leaves: leaves with long petioles not jointed basally, the blades 1-8 cm long (from sinus to apex), 0.7-5 cm wide sagittate-ovate, acuminate
Stipules: stipules 2-5 mm long, shredded and soon deciduous
Flowers: flowers few to many, borne in axillary or terminal racemes; perianth 3-4.5 mm long, greenish, 5-lobed, the outer lobes keeled
Styles: styles 3-cleft
Fruit: achenes 3-angled, black, usually shining
Chromosome number: 2n = 40
Habitat: Weedy species of gardens, fields, and other open habitats, where they twine on other forbs and shrubs; widespread in North America; adventive from Europe.
Note: These plants thrive in raspberry plantings, where they are protected from eradication by the spiny raspberry thickets. Because of its twining habitat and sagittate-ovate leaves the plant is often confused with common bindweed.
Ladysthumb_(Polygonum_persicaria_L.)
Ladysthumb (Polygonum persicaria L.)
Common name: Ladysthumb
Life span: annuals
Growth form: erect to ascending
Height: mainly 1.5-10 dm tall
Leaves: alternate; leaves petiolate to subsessile, not jointed at the base; blades 1.5-15 cm long, 0.4-4 cm wide, lanceolate to elliptic or oblong, acuminate to attenuate apically, acute to cuneate basally, with a purplish spot near the center, usually glabrous, ciliate
Stipules: stipules 5-15 mm long, not shredded, usually pubescent, long-ciliate apically
Flowers: flowers several to numerous, borne in terminal and usually axillary racemes; perianth 1.5-3 mm long, not glandular-dotted, united only near the base, 5-lobed, the lobes pinkish or whitish, not strongly veined and with vein ends not recurved
Styles: styles 2 or 3
Fruit: achenes lens shaped or 3-angled, black, lustrous
Chromosome number: 2n = 22, 40, 44
Habitat: Fence lines, canal banks, marshes, pond margins, fields, gardens, and pastures; widespread in North America; Eurasia.
Note: The long-ciliate ocrea distinguishes this species from willow-weed, with which it shares similar habit and habitat.
Dock_(Rumex_L.) ===
Dock (Rumex L.)
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial
Growth form: herbs
Roots: stout taproots or rhizomes
Leaves: leaves alternate, basal or mostly cauline, gradually reduced upward
Stipules: stipules sheathing
Flowers: flowers borne in panicles, not subtended by a regular involucre; perianth of 6 (rarely 4), petaloid or sepaloid segments, the inner 3 segments enlarging in fruit and forming the "wings"' or "valves" enclosing the fruit, the midveins of the valves sometimes thickened and forming grainlike tuberosities on the segments
Stamens: stamens usually 6
Pistil: pistil 3-carpelled
Ovary: the ovary 1-loculed, 1-ovuled
Styles: styles 3
Fruit: fruit a 3-angled achene
Curled_dock_(Rumex_crispus_L.) ====
Curled dock (Rumex crispus L.)
Common name: Curled dock
Life span: Perennial
Growth form: erect herbs
Roots: taproots
Height: stems 3-10 dm tall or more
Leaves: alternate; basal leaves long-petiolate; blades 8-40 cm long, 1.2-6 cm wide, oblong-lanceolate to elliptic, acute to rounded basally, acuminate to acute apically, undulate-crisped; cauline leaves somewhat smaller upward, short-petiolate
Flowers: flowers numerous, perfect, borne in panicles with large leafy bracts to midlength or above, usually greenish; fruiting pedicels jointed above the base; perianth 1.5-2 mm long, the outer segments not reflexed; inner segments much enlarged in fruit, 3-5 mm long, cordate to deltoid or ovate, denticulate to entire, usually each (sometimes only 1 or 2) bearing a reticulately patterned tuberosity almost half as long as the segment
Fruit: achenes 2-3 mm long, brown, lustrous
Chromosome number: 2n = 60
Habitat: Weedy plants of open sites often in roadside ditches, moist meadows, or stream banks at 760 to 2440 m in probably all Utah counties; widespread in North America; adventive from Eurasia
Note: This plant has also been used in folk medicine, and has also been implicated as a poisonous species.
Bitter_dock_(Rumex_obtusifolius_L.)
Bitter dock (Rumex obtusifolius L.)
Common name: Bitter dock
Life span: perennial
Growth form: erect herbs
Roots: taproot
Height: stems 4-12 dm tall (or more), usually unbranched below the inflorescence
Leaves: basal leaves long-petioled; blades 10-40 cm long, 4-15 cm wide, ovate to oblong or lanceolate, cordate to truncate basally, obtuse to acute or acuminate apically, undulate; cauline leaves like the basal ones, somewhat smaller and with shorter petioles upward
Flowers: flowers numerous, perfect, borne in panicles with leafy bracts to the middle or above, usually greenish; perianth segments 2-3 mm long, the outer ones not reflexed; inner segments 3.5-5 mm long in fruit, ovate, with 4-6 teeth per segment, each tooth 0.5-2 mm long, at least some valves with a prominent tuberosity
Fruit: achenes 1.5-2 mm long, brown, lustrous
Chromosome number: 2n = 20, 40
Habitat: Ruderal weeds, mainly on canal and stream banks; widespread in North America; adventive from Eurasia.
Buttercup_Family_(RANUNCULACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Buttercup Family (RANUNCULACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Buttercup Family
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs or trailing vines
Leaves: leaves alternate, opposite, or basal, simple, deeply divided or variously compound
Flowers: flowers hypogynous, perfect or rarely imperfect, regular or irregular, lacking a hypanthium
Sepals: sepals 3 to many, often petaloid
Petals: petals 3 to many or lacking
Stamens: stamens several to many
Pistils: pistils 1 to many, superior
Fruit: fruit an achene, follicle, or berry
Chromosome number: x = 6-10, 13
*Delphinium_L.
Delphinium L.
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Roots: from slender or tuberous roots
Stems: stems simple (rarely branched)
Growth form: erect
Leaves: leaves alternate or mostly basal, the blades palmately divided
Flowers: flowers perfect, irregular, large and showy, borne in terminal racemes or panicles, subtended by a pair of bracts
Sepals: sepals 5, petaloid, the upper one produced into a prominent spur, the lateral ones often shorter than the lower 2
Petals: petals 4, in 2 pair, the upper ones spurred and clawless, the lower ones clawed and with expanded blades; bluish-purple
Stamens: stamens numerous
Pistils: pistils 3-5
Fruit: fruit a follicle.
*Ranunculus_L.
Ranunculus L.
Life span: perennial, biennial, or annual
Growth form: aquatic or terrestrial herbs; stems erect, ascending or sometimes prostrate and stoloniferous
Roots: fibrous to tuberous roots
Leaves: leaves basal or cauline and alternate, simple or compound
Flowers: flowers perfect, regular, solitary or few to several in cymes
Sepals: sepals 3-5, herbaceous or petaloid, usually deciduous
Petals: petals 5-16, rarely more
Stamens: stamens 5 to numerous, sometimes the outer ones petaloid
Pistils: pistils 5 to many
Fruit: fruit an achene
Tall_buttercup_(Ranunculus_acris_L.)
Tall buttercup (Ranunculus acris L.)
Common name: Tall buttercup
Growth form: terrestrial
Life span: perennials
Height: mostly 2-5 dm tall
Stems: stems spreading, long-hairy below, the hairs appressed upwards, 1.5-3 mm wide, erect, not rooting at the nodes
Leaves: alternate; basal leaf blades simple, 3-parted, the 3 main segments again lobed or toothed, pentagonal in outline, the ultimate segments mostly 1-7 mm wide; petioles 3-15 cm long; cauline leaves similar but more shortly petiolate
Bracts: bracts with 1-3 linear segments, sessile
Flowers: pedicels 2-20 cm long or more
Sepals: sepals 5, greenish, or marginally yellowish, 4-5.5 mm long, pilosulous, spreading deciduous
Petals: petals 5, yellow, 8-10 mm long, obovate
Fruit: achenes glabrous, 2.6-3 mm long, about 50, in a subglobose cluster, 5.5-6 mm high and 6-7.5 mm wide; beaks about 0.5-0.6 mm long
Receptacle: receptacle hirtellous
Chromosome number: n = 14, 28
Cacao_Family_(STERCULIACEAE_Bartling)
Cacao Family (STERCULIACEAE Bartling)
Common name: Cacao Family
Growth form: trees, shrubs, or herbs
Surface: chiefly with stellate pubescence
Leaves: alternate, simple or rarely compound, stipulate
Flowers: small or large, perfect, regular or nearly so
Calyx: calyx usually 5-lobed
Corolla: petals 5 or 0, free or united with stamen tube
Stamens: fertile stamens 5, the filaments united below, with staminodia sometimes also present
Fruit: fruit a 1-5 -celled capsule
*Waltheria_L.
Waltheria L.
Growth form: herbs or shrubs
Leaves: petiolate, serrate, stipulate, with pubescent chiefly of stellate hairs
Flowers: variously arranged, small
Calyx: calyx five-parted
Corolla: petals five, spatulate
Stamens: stamens five, fused at the base and opposite the petals
Ovary: ovary one-carpellate and one-locular
Fruit: fruit a smooth or pubescent capsule
*Waltheria_americans ====
Waltheria americans
Caltrop_Family_(ZYGOPHYLLACEAE_R._Br._in_Flinders)
Caltrop Family (ZYGOPHYLLACEAE R. Br. in Flinders)
Common name: Caltrop Family
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs or shrubs
Leaves: leaves usually opposite, pinnately compound or digitately 2 or 3 (7) -foliolate, the leaflets entire
Flowers: flowers perfect, regular or nearly so
Sepals: sepals 5, distinct or united at the base
Petals: petals usually 5
Stamens: stamens usually 10
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, usually 4- or 5-loculed
Style: style 1
Fruit: fruit splitting into several nutlets
Chromosome number: x = 6, 8-13+
Cresote_bush_(Larrea_Cav.) ===
Cresote (Larrea Cav.)
Surface: resinous
Aroma: aromatic
Life span: evergreen shrubs
Leaves: leaves opposite, with 2, spreading, sessile, asymmetrical olive green leaflets
Flowers: flowers solitary, yellow, showy
Sepals: sepals 5, unequal, deciduous
Petals: petals 5, yellow
Stamens: stamens 10, borne on a 10-lobed nectary disk
Pistil: pistil 5-lobed and 5-carpelled
Style: style slender
Stigmas: stigmas 5
Fruit: fruit globose, hairy, separating into 5 indehiscent, 1-seeded carpels
Cresote_bush_(Larrea_tridentata_(DC.)_Cov.)
Cresote bush (Larrea tridentata (DC.) Cov.)
Common name: Creosote bush
Synonym: [Zygophyllum tridentatum DC.; L. glutinosa Engelm.; L. divaricata authors, not Cav.]
Height: mainly 1-3 m tall
Growth form: shrubs
Stems: stems flexuous, seldom more than 5 cm thick, arranged in broadly rounded clumps, the wood very tough; nodes with dark bands
Stipules: stipules brown, persistent
Leaves: leaflets 3-10 mm long, obliquely lance-ovate
Inflorescence: pedicels 4-10 mm long
Sepals: sepals 5-8 mm long, broadly elliptic, villous-strigose
Petals: petals yellow, 5-12 mm long
Fruit: fruit 4-5.5 mm long, villous with long, white to tawny hair
Style: style persistent 5-9 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 26, 52?
Habitat: Creosote bush and other warm desert shrub communities; California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, and Mexico.
Puncture_vine_(Tribulus_L.)
Puncture vine (Tribulus L.)
Life span: annual
Growth form: prostrate herbs
Leaves: leaves even-pinnate with several to many leaflets
Stipules: stipules membranous
Flowers: flowers axillary, solitary usually 5-merous
Stamens: stamens usually 10, with slender filaments
Petals: petals 5, bright yellow
Sepals: sepals 5, caducous
Ovary: ovary 5-lobed, 5-loculed
Fruit: fruit 5-angled, horizontally compressed, pubescent, separating into 5, indurate, 3- to 5-seeded, indehiscent, 7-spined, nutlets
Puncture_vine,_goat-head,_caltrop_(Tribulus_terrestris_L.)
Puncture vine, goat-head, caltrop (Tribulus terrestris L.)
Life span: annual
Common name: Puncture vine, goat-head, caltrop
Growth form: plants with prostrate spreading stems
Height: mainly 1-10 cm long
Leaves: pinnate; leaflets 3-8 pairs, 5-14 mm, oblong to elliptic, acute apically, pilose
Inflorescence: flower found in the angle between the leaf and the stem
Petals: petals 3-5 mm long, yellow
Obovate
Fruit: fruit segments crested, sculptured into elongate spinose protuberances, these spinulose-aristate, and bearing 2 puberulent spines mainly 3-6 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 12, 24, 36, 48
Habitat: Gardens, roadsides, sidewalks, and other open sites; widespread in the U. S.; adventive from the Old World.
Note: This tribulation of the earth is a vicious weed, leaving in its wake a refuse heap of punctured tires and painfully injured feet; it is, indeed, adequately named scientifically.
Carpetweed_Family_(AIZOACEAE_Rudolphi)
Carpetweed Family (AIZOACEAE Rudolphi)
Common name: Carpetweed Family
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs; stems mostly prostrate or ascending, often succulent
Leaves: leaves simple, opposite or whorled, entire, with or without stipules
Flowers: flowers solitary or clustered in leaf axils, perfect, regular
Sepals: calyx 4- to 5-lobed or -parted, the tube free or adnate to the ovary
Petals: petals lacking
Stamens: stamens few to many
Anthers: anthers small, 2-loculed, linear
Ovary: ovary 1- to 5-loculed, inferior or superior
Styles: styles as many as locules
Fruit: fruit a capsule
Seeds: seeds numerous
Chromosome number: x = 8, 9
Carpetweed_(Mollugo_L.) ===
Carpetweed (Mollugo L.)
Life span: annual
Growth form: much-branched herbs, nonsucculent
Leaves: leaves whorled
Flowers: flowers small, perfect, without petals, with long, filiform pedicels
Sepals: calyx 5-parted, persistent, white inside
Stamens: stamens 3-5, hypogynous
Ovary: ovary 3-loculed, superior
Fruit: capsule ovoid to ellipsoid, thin-walled, 3-valved, loculicidally dehiscent
Seeds: seeds numerous
Indian_Chickweed_(Mollugo_verticillata_L.)
Indian Chickweed (Mollugo verticillata L.)
Common name: Indian Chickweed
Life span: annual
Leaves: 1-3 cm long, narrowly lanceolate or spatulate, in whorls of three to eight
Flowers: usually two to five on slender pedicels arising from the nodes, sepals green or white, 4-5 mm wide, stamens three or four
Fruit: capsule 3 mm, ovoid, with many small seeds
Catalpa_Family_(BIGNONIACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Catalpa Family (BIGNONIACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Catalpa Family
Growth form: Shrubs or trees
Leaves: leaves mostly opposite, simple or compound
Flowers: flowers large and showy, perfect, irregular, in terminal panicles or spicate racemes
Calyx: calyx short, bilabiate or unequally 4- to 5-toothed
Petals: corolla sympetalous, bilabiate, 5-lobed
Stamens: stamens 2 or 4
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 2-carpelled
Style: style 1
Stigma: stigma bilobed
Fruit: fruit an elongate 2-valved capsule
Seeds: seeds many, large, flat, winged or comose
Chromosome number: x = 20 (7)
Trumpet-vine_(Campsis_Lour.)
Trumpet-vine (Campsis Lour.)
Growth form: woody vines
Leaves: leaves opposite, odd-pinnately compound, with toothed leaflets
Flowers: flowers orange, in compact terminal panicles
Calyx: calyx 5-lobed, suffused with red, leathery
Petals: corolla funnelform, expanded above the narrow tube, the 5 lobes spreading
Stamens: stamens 4, in 2 pair
Ovary: ovary 2-loculed, surrounded at base by a large disk
Fruit: fruit a fusiform capsule, the 2 valves separating from the septum
Seeds: seeds numerous, compressed, with 2 large translucent wings
Trumpet-vine_(Campsis_radicans_(L.)_Seemann)
Trumpet-vine (Campsis radicans (L.) Seemann)
Common name: Trumpet-vine
Synonym: [Bignonia radicans L.]
Height: stems mainly 1.5-10 m long
Growth form: climbing by means of aerial rootlets or merely clambering over other plants or structures
Leaves: leaves pinnately compound with 7-11 leaflets, these 2-8 cm long, oval to ovate or oblong, long-acuminate, serrate, dark green above, pale and hairy beneath (at least on the midrib)
Petals: corolla tube orange, mainly 6-8 cm long
Fruit: capsules commonly 7-16 cm long, sharply margined at maturity, tapering at both ends
Habitat: cultivated ornamental, persisting and spreading; widely cultivated in the U. S., indigenous in eastern U. S.
Cattail_Family_(TYPHACEAE_Juss.)
Cattail Family (TYPHACEAE Juss.)
Common name: Cattail Family
Growth form: erect marsh or aquatic herbs
Root: creeping rootstock
Stems: smooth, terete stems
Leaves: linear, sessile, erect
Cattail_(Typha_L.)
Cattail (Typha L.)
Flowers: staminate and pistillate flowers borne on the same axis, the staminate spike upermost; perianth of bristles
Roots: rootstocks are eaten by muskrats
Broad-Leaved_Cattail_(Typha_latifolia_L.) ====
Broad-Leaved Cattail (Typha latifolia L.)
Common name: Broad-Leaved Cattail
Stem: stout, 1-2 m high
Inflorescence: staminate and pistillate portions of the spike each 8-15 cm long or longer
Flowers August-September
Habitat: in marshes, abundant in poorly drained areas
Chara_Family_(CHARACEAE)
Chara Family (CHARACEAE)
*Sphenoclea_Gaertner
Sphenoclea Gaertner
Habitat: 1 West African species; 1 pantropical species.
*Sphenoclea_zeylandica_Gaertner
Sphenoclea zeylandica Gaertner
Life span: perennial
Roots: somewhat fleshy
Growth form: erect, freely branched
Surface: glabrous
Height: 0.5-1 m tall
Leaves: alternate, elliptic, acute, entire, base cuneate; petioles 5-20 mm long
Inflorescence: spikes dense, 1.5-10 cm long, 5-10 mm broad, the rachis completely hidden
Flower: calyx and corolla 5-lobed, lobes rounded, lightly erose, curved inward, less than 3 mm long
Sepals: sepals green, enlarged to 5 mmm in fruit
Petals: corrolla irregular, petals yellowish to whitish, slightly longer that the sepals
Stamens: stamens 5, separate
Fruit: capsule 2- locular, circumscissile
Seeds: seeds yellowish tan, oblong, 0.4-0.5 mm long
Chromosome number: n = 12
Note: a weed of rice in 17 countries; shoots locally eaten with rice.
Dodder_Family_(CUSCUTACEAE_Dumort.)
Dodder Family (CUSCUTACEAE Dumort.)
Common name: Dodder Family (Contributed by Gary I. Baird)
Roots: Rootless
Growth form: twining, parasitic herbs, attached to a wide variety of herbaceous and woody hosts by means of discoid haustoria; achlorophyllous
Life span: mostly annual
Stems: stems glabrous, usually much branched and tangled, white to yellow to orange
Leaves: leaves alternate, reduced to minute scales or lacking
Inflorescence: inflorescence cymose, 1- to many-flowered
Flowers: flowers perfect, 4- or 5-merous, white to yellowish, sessile or pedicellate, infrequently with subtending bracts
Calyx: calyx united, rarely separate, persistent, usually glabrous, often pellucid
Petals: corolla tubular to campanulate to urceolate, usually whitish, glabrous, often persistent around the developing capsule, commonly with a ring of fringed, united scales attached to the inside of the corolla tube and alternate with the corolla lobes (infrastaminal scales)
Stamens: stamens alternate with and mostly shorter than the corolla lobes, inserted on the corolla tube below or at the sinuses; filaments mostly subulate, usually equaling the anthers
Pistil: pistil 1, superior, 2-carpelled and 2-loculed, usually enlarging and distending or rupturing the perianth
Style: styles 2, distinct, often unequal
Stigma: stigmas capitate, occasionally linear
Fruit: fruit a capsule, indehiscent or some basally circumscissile
Seeds: seeds 1-4; embryo acotyledoneous
Chromosome number: x = 17
Dodder_(Cuscuta_L.) ===
Dodder (Cuscuta L.)
Note: The single genus has the characteristics of the family.
*Cuscuta_campestris
Cuscuta campestris
Plain_dodder_(Cuscuta_indecora_Choisy)
Plain dodder (Cuscuta indecora Choisy)
Common name: Plain dodder
Synonym: [C. decora Engelm.; C. decora var. indecora (Choisy) Engelm.; C. decora var. subnuda Engelm.; C. indecora var. subnuda (Engelm.) Yuncker; Epithymum indecorum (Choisy) Nieuwl. & Lunell; Grammica indecora (Choisy) W. A. Weber; C. verrucosa var. hispidula Engelm.; C. hispidula (Engelm.) Engelm.; C. indecora var. hispidula Yuncker; C. neuropetala Engelm.; C. neuropetala var. minor Engelm.; C. neuropetala var. littoralis Engelm.; C. indecora var. neuropetala (Engelm.) A. S. Hitchc.; Grammica indecora ssp. neuropetala (Engelm.) W. A. Weber; C. pulcherrima Scheele; C. decora var. pulcherrima (Scheele) Engelm.; C. indecora var. bifida Yuncker]
Stems: stems medium to coarse; 0.3-0.5 mm in diameter (when dry), yellowish
Inflorescence: inflorescence a many-flowered, loose paniculate cyme
Flowers: flowers 5-merous, pedicellate, 3-4 mm long, commonly granular, mostly ebracteate
Calyx: calyx united, the lobes 1.5-3 mm long, triangular-ovate, acute, entire to uneven, sometimes with a nerved midrib, rarely, if ever, overlapping
Petals: corolla campanulate, the lobes 1-1.5 mm long, triangular-ovate, erect to spreading, the tip often inflexed, acute, entire to granulate, often with a nerved midrib; stamens shorter than the corolla lobes
Stamens: filaments slender, equal to the anthers, these oblong to triangular, 0.7 mm long; infrastaminal scales inserted or slightly exserted, abundantly fringed
Ovary: ovary globose to slightly ovoid
Styles: styles 0.5-1.5 mm long; stigmas capitate
Fruit: capsules globose, the apical depression evident, often slightly thickened apically, indehiscent
Seeds: seeds mostly 4, oval
Habitat: Widespread throughout the U. S. and tropical America..
*Cuscuta_planiflora
Cuscuta planiflora
Dogbane_Family_(APOCYNACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Dogbane Family (APOCYNACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Dogbane Family
Life span: perennial shrubs, trailing vines, and herbs
Growth form: stem erect or trailing
Leaves: opposite, alternate, or sometimes whorled, entire, estipulate
Flowers: regular, perfect, solitary and axillary, or cymose to paniculate
Calyx: 5-lobed, imbricate in bud, frequently with glandular appendages within
Flower: 5-lobed corolla, convolute and often twisted in bud, salverform to urceolate or campanulate, the tube often with appendages within
Stamens: 5, alternate with the corolla lobes, inserted on the throat or tube
Anthers: 4-loculed, often connivent around the stigma
Pistil: superior, the carpels 2, distinct or united apically, each 1-loculed
Style: simple or divided
Fruit: fruit of 2 follicles
Seed: seeds commonly comose
Chromosome number: x = 8-12+
Perennial_Herbs_(Apocynum_L.)
Perennial Herbs (Apocynum L.)
Life span: perennial herbs
Roots: reproducing asexually from gemiferous roots
Stems: branching
Leaves: opposite or rarely verticillate, not glandular, often mucronate
Flowers: small and pale, few to many on short pedicels in terminal or axillary cymes
Calyx: 5-parted mearly to the base, the lobes equal, scarcely imbricate
Flower: corolla campanulate to urceolate or cylindrical, the tube short with 5 small sagittate appendages at the base opposite the lobes, the limb 5-parted
Stamens: attached at corolla base
Anthers: connivent and agglutinated to the stigma, with an enlarged narrowly 2-lobed connective, the pollen grains maintained within persistent tetrads
Ovary: separate carpels, ovules numerous
Stigma: sessile, mostly ovoid-fusiform
Follicles: 2, slender, terete
Seeds: numerous, truncate, comose
Note: At least some species of this genus are considered to be poisonous.
Dogbane_(Apocynum_cannabinum_L.)
Dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum L.)
Common name: Dogbane
Growth form: stems erect or ascending
Height: 3-9 dm tall
Stems: the branches opposite or subopposite
Surface: herbage glabrous or pubescent
Leaves: opposite or whorled, petiolate or the lowermost subsessile, ascending or somewhat spreading, ovate to lanceolate, 2-14 cm long, 1-7 cm wide, glabrous above, more or less densely pilosulous to tomentose beneath, or tomentose throughout
Calyx: lobes lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 3-4 mm long, glabrous
Flower: corolla cylindric to urceolate, 3-6 mm long, white to greenish, the lobes erect or somewhat spreading
Fruit: fruit a follicle; 12-20 cm long, glabrous, pendulous at maturity
Habitat: roadsides, fields, streambanks and distributed sites mainly in riparian communities; widespread in the U.S. and Canada.
Evening-primrose_Family_(ONAGRACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Evening-primrose Family (ONAGRACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Evening-primrose Family
Growth form: herbs, or rarely woody plants
Roots: Caulescent or acaulescent
Leaves: leaves alternate, opposite, or basal
Flowers: flowers perfect; hypanthium adnate to the ovary and usually prolonged beyond
Sepals: sepals 4 or 2
Petals: petals distinct, 4 or 2 (0 in some Boisduvalia), inserted near or at the summit of the hypanthium
Stamens: stamens as many or twice as many as the petals
Ovary: ovary inferior, usually 4-loculed
Styles: styles 1
Stigma: stigma capitate, 4-lobed, or discoid
Fruit: fruit a capsule, nut, or berry
Chromosome number: x = 6-18
Willow-herb_(Epilobium_L.)
Willow-herb (Epilobium L.)
Life span: perennial, or less commonly, annual
Growth for: herbs
Roots: rhizomes, stolons, bulblike offsets (turions), and taproots or fibrous roots
Growth form: stems decumbent to ascending or erect
Leaves: leaves all opposite, the upper ones alternate, or all alternate (or rarely whorled), simple, entire to toothed
Flowers: flowers perfect, regular or nearly so, solitary in leaf axils or in terminal racemes; hypanthium short or lacking
Sepals: sepals 4
Petals: petals 4, entire or emarginate
Stamens: stamens 8
Stigma: stigma capitate, cylindric, or 4-lobed
Fruit: fruit a loculicidal, 4-carpellate, 4-loculed, elongate capsule
Seeds: seeds with a tuft of hair
Note: This genus is considered to be taxonomically complex, partly due to hybridization within the section Epilobium, and partly due to its circumboreal distribution, wherein different interpretations are the result of poor typification of ancient collections and poor descriptions that tend to be inclusive, but not exclusive.
Fireweed_(Epilobium_angustifolium_L.)
Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium L.)
Common name: Fireweed
Height: plants mostly (3) 5-20 dm tall
Roots: arising from rhizome-like roots that bear buds freely
Stems: stems often purplish, at least above
Growth Form: basally decumbent to erect, usually simple (less commonly branched), glabrous below, commonly puberulent above
Leaves: leaves alternate, lanceolate to elliptic (or linear), 5-20 cm long, 0.5-4 cm broad, entire or nearly so, sessile or subsessile, glabrous or pubescent only along the lower midvein
Sepals: sepals 7.5-17 mm long, puberulent
Petals: petals 8-20 mm long, pink purple, pink, or rarely white
Styles: styles longer than the stamens, pubescent near the base
Stigma: stigma 4-lobed; capsules 8-9 cm long, pubescent
Seeds: seeds 1-1.5 mm long, the hair white to dingy
Chromosome number: n = 36
Habitat: Sagebrush, mountain brush, Douglas fir, aspen, lodgepole pine, and spruce-fir communities; widely distributed in North America
Primrose-Willow_(Jussiaea_L.)
Primrose-Willow (Jussiaea L.)
Common name: Primrose-Willow
Life span: perennial
Growth form: herbs
Surface: smooth
Leaves: alternate, usually entire leaves
Inflorescence: axillary, solitary flowers
Calyx: calyx-tube elongated, the lobes 4-6, persistent
Ovary: ovary 4-6 celled
Stigma: stigma 4-6-lobed
Fruit: capsule angular or ribbed, crowned with the calyx-lobes
Evening-primrose_(Oenothera_L.)
Evening-primrose (Oenothera L.)
Life span: annual, biennial, or more commonly perennial
Growth form: herbs
Leaves: leaves alternate or basal
Flowers: flowers typically sessile in leaf or bract axils, fragrant, opening in evening (pollinated by moths); hypanthium much surpassing the ovary, deciduous in fruit
Sepals: sepals 4, reflexed at anthesis
Petals: petals 4, white or yellow, fading pink, lavender, orange, bronze, or purple to brownish
Stamens: stamens 8, dimorphic or subequal, the anthers versatile
Stigma: stigma 4-lobed
Fruit: capsules loculicidal
Seeds: seeds lacking a coma
Biennial_evening-primrose_(Oenothera_biennis_L.)
Biennial evening-primrose (Oenothera biennis L.)
Common name: Biennial evening-primrose
Synonym: [Oe. villosa Thunb.]
Life span: Biennial (or annual to perennial)
Growth form: herbs, mainly 3-12 (15) dm tall or more
Stems: stems simple or sparingly branched, strigose to hirsute and usually with longer hairs intermixed
Leaves: alternate; basal and lower cauline leaves petiolate, becoming sessile or subsessile upward, mainly 3-20 cm long, 0.6-3.5 cm wide, lanceolate to oblong or oblanceolate, acute to attenuate, entire to undulate or serrate-dentate
Flowers: flowers few to numerous in terminal, bracteate spikes, self-pollinated; hypanthium 2-4 cm long
Sepals: sepals 1-2 cm long
Petals: petals 1-2 cm long, yellow, often whitish or orange in age
Anthers: anthers 4-8 cm long
Style: style protruding 0.8-1.5 cm beyond hypanthium
Fruit: capsules erect-ascending, 1.8-4 cm long, tapering
Seeds: seeds numerous, in 2 rows per locule, about 1-1.5 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 14
Habitat: Moist, disturbed sites, such as ditch banks, roadsides, and fence lines; widespread in the U. S. and Canada.
Cut-Leaved_Evening-Primrose_(Oenothera_laciniata_Hill)
Cut-Leaved Evening-Primrose (Oenothera laciniata Hill)
Common name: Cut-Leaved Evening-Primrose
Stems: ascending or decumbent, 1-7 dm high, more or less strigose-pubescent and puberulent
Leaves: alternate; oblong or lanceolate, 2-10 cm long, sinuately toothed or often pinnatifid
Flowers: axillary
Calyx: calyx-lobes linear-lanceolate, reflexed, much shorter than the slender tube
Corolla: petals yellow, 5-12 mm long
Fruit: capsule linear, 2-3 cm long about 2 mm thick, more or less pubescent
Seeds: seeds strongly pitted
Habitat: dry open mostly sandy places
Figwort_Family_(SCROPHULARIACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Figwort Family (SCROPHULARIACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Figwort Family
Life span: annual, biennial, perennial
Growth form: herbs or shrubs or vines; some parasitic or semiparasitic
Leaves: leaves alternate, opposite, all basal or sometimes whorled, simple to pinnatifid
Inflorescence: inflorescence of spikes, panicles, thyrsoid panicles or in some the flowers solitary on leaf axils or on long slender pedicels
Bracts: bracts foliaceous to reduced
Calyx: calyx lobes 4 or 5 (rarely 2), distinct or united
Petals: corolla sympetalous, regular or bilabiate, some saccate at the base or spurred, 4- or 5-lobed, commonly 2-lipped, tubular, rotate to campanulate
Stamens: stamens epipetalous, alternate with the corolla lobes, 4 and didynamous, or 4 fertile and 1 sterile, or 5 fertile (Verbascum), the anthers 2-celled, equal or unequal
Ovary: ovary superior, 2-locular
Style: style 1, sometimes forked into 2 stigmatic lobes
Fruit: fruit a capsule
Seeds: seeds usually many and small or rarely few, winged or wingless
Chromosome number: x = 6+
Water_Hyssop_(Bacopa_Aubl.)
Water Hyssop (Bacopa Aubl.)
Common name: Water Hyssop
Growth form: aquatic or subaquatic perennial herbs with prostate or floating stems
Surface: pilose to hispid in young parts
Roots: rooting at the lower nodes
Leaves: opposite, sessile, entire, obovate-cuneate to suborbicular, palmately veined, clasping
Flowers: weakly bilabiate; calyx 5-parted
Seeds: seeds numerous and small, ellipsoid to cylindrical, with longitudinally arranged reticulations
Habitat: floating in shallow ponds, lake & slow-moving streans & on muddy banks
Butter-and-eggs_(Linaria_Miller)
Butter & eggs (Linaria Miller)
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs, stems erect,
Stems: leafy, simple or branched
Leaves: leaves alternate (the lower sometimes opposite), entire, sessile
Inflorescence: inflorescence terminal racemes
Calyx: calyx of 5 more or less distinct sepals
Petals: corolla yellow, blue or white, strongly bilabiate, the tube spurred ventrally
Stamens: stamens 4, didynamous, included
Stigmas: stigmas capitate, united
Butter-and-eggs_(Linaria_vulgaris_Hill)
Butter-and-eggs (Linaria vulgaris Hill)
Common name: Butter-and-eggs
Synonyms: [Antirrhinum linaria L.; L. linaria Karsten]
Life span: perennial
Growth form: herb; from creeping roots
Height: 2.5-6.8 dm tall
Surface: hairless
Inflorescence: elongate, dense with flowers
Leaves: mostly alternate, lanceolate, 2-4.5 (5.5) cm long, narrow, linear to narrowly lanceolate
Calyx: 3.5-5 mm long
Corolla: 13-17 mm long, bright yellow, with a bearded orange palate, the spur 10-12 mm long, mostly straight
Fruit: capsule 5-9 mm long, subglobose
Chromosome number: 2n = 12
Habitat: Waste places, pastures, and roadsides; scattered over temperate North America; native of Eurasia.
*Striga_Lour.
Striga Lour.
Witch-Weed_(Striga_asiatica_(L.)_Kuntze)
Witch-Weed (Striga asiatica (L.) Kuntze)
Common name: Witch-Weed
Surface: hispid or pubescent
Life span: annuals
Growth form: parasitic on corn and other grasses
Stem: angled, erect, simple or virgately branched, 1-4 dm tall
Leaves: lower leaves opposite, upper alternate, linear or linear-elliptic, 1-5 cm wide, entire or remotely toothed, sometimes cleft or parted, reduced upward
Inflorescence: raceme poorly differentiated, flowers axillary, solitary
Calyx: calyx tubular, 10-15 nerved, 7-8 mm long, the lobes subulate, 2-3 mm long
Corolla: corolla crimson, strongly zygomorphic, the limb about 1 cm broad, tube slender, cylindrical, 2 X as long as the calyx
Stamens: stamens 4, didynamous, included
Fruit: capsule oblong, 2-3 mm long, loculicidal, surrounded by the now separate calyx nerves
Seeds: seeds minute
Flowering: July - frost
Mullein_(Verbascum_L.)
Mullein (Verbascum L.)
Common name: Mullein
Life span: biennial
Growth form: slightly woody, tall herbs
Leaves: alternate, simple
Flowers: in terminal spikes or racemes, perfect
Corolla: corolla rotate, 5-lobed, slightly irregular
Stamens: stamens 5, exserted
Ovary: ovary 2-loculed
Style: style flattened at apex
Fruit: capsule globular, many-seeded
*Verbascum_thapsus_L.
Verbascum thapsus L.
Stems: coarse, 4-30 dm tall, winged, densely covered with matted, branched hairs
Leaves: alternate, spatulate, elliptic or oblanceolate, densely woolly with branched hairs, the basal 1-4 dm long, reduced upward
Inflorescence: raceme densely flowered and spikelike, 1-10 dm long
Corolla: corolla bright yellow, 1.5-2 cm wide
Speedwell_(Veronica_L.)
Speedwell (Veronica L.)
Common name: Speedwell
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs growing in water or wet soil
Leaves: opposite or whorled or occasionally the upper alternate
Inflorescence: solitary, spicate or racemose
Flowers: perfect
Calyx: calyx 4-parted
Corolla: corolla rotate, 4-lobed, slightly irregular
Stamens: stamens 2, exserted
Fruit: capsule compressed, usually notched at apex, few- to many-seeded
Common_Speedwell_(Veronica_arvensis_L.)
Common Speedwell (Veronica arvensis L.)
Common name: Common Speedwell
Life span: annual
Surface: pubescent
Stem: stem slender, at first simple and erect, at length much branched and diffuse, 7.5-25 cm long
Leaves: lower leaves ovate or oval, opposite, obtuse at both ends, crenate or crenulate, 4-12 mm long, the lowest petioled; upper leaves sessile, alternate, ovate or lanceolate, acute or acutish, commonly entire, each with a short pedicelled minute blue flower in its axil
Flower: pedicels shorter that the calyx
Corolla: corolla 2 mm broad or less
Fruit: capsule broadly obovate, obcordate, 2mm high
Flowering: Flowers April-September
Habitat: waste places, sterile pastures, and cultivated soil
Filiform_Speedwell_(Veronica_filiformis_Sm.)
Filiform Speedwell (Veronica filiformis Sm.)
Common name: Filiform Speedwell
Life span: perennial
Growth form: pubescent with numerous creeping stems, often forming large patches and densely matted
Leaves: reniform, about 5 mm across, short-stalked, crenate
Flowers: pedicels filiform, much longer than the leaves
Corolla: corolla bright-blue or slightly purplish, 1 cm broad, pretty
Flowering: Flowers April-August
Common_Speedwell,_Gypsyweed_(Veronica_officinalis_L.)
Common Speedwell, Gypsyweed (Veronica officinalis L.)
Common name: Common Speedwell, Gypsyweed
Stems: extensively creeping, rooting at the nodes, branches ascending, 7.5-25 cm high
Leaves: oblong, oval or obovate, petioled, 1-2.5 cm long, obtuse at the apex, serrate, narrowed into the petioles
Inflorescence: racemes spikelike, long, narrow, dense, elongated, often borne only in alternate axils, much longer that the leaves
Bracts; subulate bractlets longer than the pedicels
Calyx: longer than the pedicels
Flowers: pale blue, 4-6 mm broad
Fruit: capsule obovate-cuneate, compressed, broadly emarginate, 4 mm high, 3 mm broad
Seeds: seeds numerous, flat
Flowering: Flowers May-August
Bird's-Eye_(Veronica_persica_Poiret)
Bird's-Eye (Veronica persica Poiret)
Common name: Bird's-Eye
Life span: annual
Stems: diffusely brached, spreading or ascending, 1.5-37.5 cm long
Leaves: ovate or oval, short-petioled, obtuse or acutish, sometimes narrowed at the base, crenate-dentate, or somewhat incised, 8-24 mm long, the lowest opposite, the upper all alternate and each with a slender-peduncled rather large blue flower in its axil
Inflorescence: peduncles filiform, as long as the leaves or longer
Sepals: lanceolate-ovate
Corolla: much exceeding the calyx, 6-8 mm broad
Capsule: pubescent, 6 mm broad, with a wide and shallow emargination at the summit
Seeds: few or several, hollowed out on the inner side
Flowering: Flowers May-September
Frog's_Bit_Family_(HYDROCHARITACEAE_Juss.)
Frog's Bit Family (HYDROCHARITACEAE Juss.)
Common name: Frog's Bit Family
Growth form: aquatic herbs
Flower: dioecious or polygamous; sessile or borne on scape-like peduncle from a spathe; single or double perianth in the fertile flower forms a tube coherent with the ovary.
Ovary: 1-3 celled
Stamens: 3-12, separate or monadelphous
Stigmas: 3 or 6
Fruit: fruit ripening under water, indehiscent, many-seeded
Frog's_bit_(Elodea_Michx.)
Frog's bit (Elodea Michx.)
Growth form: submerged plants with branching leafy stems
Leaves: opposite or whorled, crowded, 1-nerved
Flowers: polygamodioecious, solitary and sessile from a sessile tubular 2-cleft axillary spathe; staminate flowers very small, often overlooked because they usually become detached and float on the surface where they open and shed their pollen around the stigmas of the fertile flowers, elevated to the surface by elongation of the calyx-tube; fertile flowers pistillate or apparently perfect; limb of perianth 6-parted
Sepals: 3, barely united at base
Petals: usually 3, similar or narrow
Ovary: ovary 1-celled
Canada_Waterweed_(Elodea_canadensis_Michx.)
Canada Waterweed (Elodea canadensis Michx.)
Common name: Canada Waterweed
Stem: slender, 3- 10.5 dm long
Leaves: sessile, in whorls of 3 or 4, lower ones in 2's, linear to oval-oblong, 5-10 mm long
Sepals: sepals of staminate flowers 3.8-5 mm long, those of the pistillate flowers 2.3-2.7 mm long
Habitat: sluggish streams and ponds, particularly in the mountains
Esthwaite_Waterweed_(Hydrilla_Rich.)
Esthwaite Waterweed (Hydrilla Rich.)
Common name: Esthwaite Waterweed
Stems: long, branched, rooted in mud, submerged
Leaves: sessile, the lower opposite, the upper in whorls of 3-6(8), minutely serrate, with 2 minute fringed scales at base
Flowers: dioecious, solitary from sessile axillary spathe, inconspicuous
Petals: petals transparent with red streaks
Stamens: stamens 3
Styles: styles 3(-5), simple
Esthwaite_Waterweed_(Hydrilla_verticillata_(L._f.)_Royle)
Esthwaite Waterweed (Hydrilla verticillata (L. f.) Royle)
Common name: Esthwaite Waterweed
Stems: to 1m
Leaves: 5-20 x 0.7-2 mm, 0.2-0.7 mm wide 0.5 behind apex, with narrowly acute to acuminate apex
Chromosome number: 2n = 16
Note: closely resembles Elodea nuttallii but less robust and leaves more per node and with minute teeth above or below base
Fumitory_Family_(FUMARIACEAE_DC.)
Fumitory Family (FUMARIACEAE DC.)
Common name: Fumitory Family
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial
Growth form: herbs with watery juice
Leaves: leaves alternate or basal
Flowers: flowers perfect, irregular
Sepals: sepals 2, bractlike
Petals: petals 4, the 2 outer ones spreading at the apex and one or both saccate or spurred at the base, the 2 inner ones united over the stigma
Stamens: stamens 6, diadelphous, 3 per set
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 1-loculed; style 1
Stigma: the stigma bilobed
Fruit: fruit a capsule
Chromosome number: x = 6, 7, 8+
Fumitory_(Fumaria_L.)
Fumitory (Fumaria L.)
Life span: annual
Stem: caulescent, glabrous and glaucous
Roots: taproot
Leaves: leaves ternately 2 or 3 times compound into narrow segments
Flowers: flowers small, borne in racemes
Sepals: sepals 2, small, closely appressed
Petals: petals gibbous basally, elongate and more or less connivent, the outer pair dilated apically, the inner pair coherent at the apex
Fruit: fruit 1-seeded, indehiscent, globose
Common_fumitory_(Fumaria_officinalis_L.)
Common fumitory (Fumaria officinalis L.)
Common name: Common fumitory
Growth form: erect or sprawling herbs
Life span: annual herbs
Height: mainly 1.5-6 dm tall
Leaves: alternate; leaves petiolate, with filiform petiolules and very slender ultimate segments
Flowers: flowers few to numerous in axillary racemes
Petals: petals reddish purple, the tips dark purple, 5-10 mm long, the spur 2-4 mm long; fruit about 2.5 mm thick
Chromosome number: 2n = 28, 32
Habitat: Weedy species of disturbed sites in sagebrush, mixed desert shrub, and mountain brush communities; sporadic in the U. S.; adventive from Europe
Geranium_Family_(GERANIACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Geranium Family (GERANIACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Geranium Family
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Leaves: leaves opposite or alternate, stipulate, simple or compound
Inflorescence: inflorescence umbellate
Flowers: flowers perfect, mostly regular
Sepals: 5, distinct
Petals: petals 5, distinct
Stamens: stamens 5 or 10, the filaments more or less united at the base
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, usually 5-loculed
Style: style 1, with 5 stigmatic lobes
Fruit: fruit dry, with 1 seed per locule, the valves separating from the base and coiling at maturity
Chromosome number: x = 7-14
Storksbill_(Erodium_L'Her.)
Storksbill (Erodium L'Her.)
Life span: annual herbs
Leaves: leaves basal and cauline, pinnately lobed or parted, opposite
Flowers: flowers 5-merous; pedicels commonly recurved in fruit
Stamens: fertile stamens 5, alternating with 5 scalelike staminodia
Style: style column elongate, the styles bearded inside, spirally coiled at maturity
Pistil: carpel bodies (mericarps) spindle-shaped, indehiscent.
Storksbill_(Erodium_cicutarium)
(L.) L'Her. Storksbill (Erodium cicutarium (L.) L'Her.)
Common name: Storksbill
Synonym: Geranium cicutarium L.
Stem: Erect or finally prostrate to decumbent, .5-8 dm long (or more), strigulose as well as glandular
Leaves: 1-12 cm long, doubly pinnately dissected or parted; stipules lanceolate
Peduncle: 1-15 cm long
Pedicel: 1-10, typicall 6-18 mm long
Sepals: 3-6 mm long, mucronate and bristle-tipped
Petals: Pink to lilac, 5-7 mm long, spotted
Fruit: stylar beak 2-4 cm long; carpel bodies 4-5 mm long, stiffly pilose
Chromosome number: 2n=36, 38, 40
Habitat: Widely distributed herbs of open sites in numerous plant communities; widespread in western U. S.; adventive from Europe.
*Geranium_L.
Geranium L.
Life span: perennial, annual, or biennial herbs
Leaves: leaves alternate or opposite, or chiefly basal, palmately lobed or divided
Flowers: flowers often large, showy, borne solitary or in umbels on axillary peduncles
Sepals: sepals 5
Petals: petals 5, soon deciduous
Stamens: stamens 10, usually all anther-bearing
Style: styles much longer than the ovary, curved or coiling in fruit
Note: Diagnostic criteria have been based previously on such features as kind of pubescence and its position on plant parts, but those features do not appear to be of primary diagnostic value. Thus, keys are difficult to compose that will allow accurate identification of all specimens. Because of these factors the following key is tentative at best. In addition to the indigenous and weedy species keyed herein, there is a cultivated species, G. sanguineum L., which grows in compact, rounded clumps and typically has purple flowers.
Goosefoot_Family_(CHENOPODIACEAE_Vent.)
Goosefoot Family (CHENOPODIACEAE Vent.)
Common name: Goosefoot Family
Growth form: herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs
Surface: often succulent or scurfy
Leaves: leaves simple, alternate or opposite, estipulate
Flowers: flowers inconspicuous, monoecious, dioecious, polygamous, or perfect
Calyx: calyx persistent, 1- to 5-lobed, enclosing the fruit, or lacking in some pistillate flowers
Petals: corolla none
Stamens: stamens opposite the calyx lobes and as many or fewer
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, with 1-3 stigmas, 1-loculed and 1-ovuled
Fruit: fruit a utricle
Chromosome number: x = 6-9
Goosefoot_(Chenopodium_L.)
Goosefoot (Chenopodium L.)
Life span: annual
Growth form: herbs
Surface: glabrous, pubescent, glandular, or farinose (mealy)
Leaves: leaves alternate, flat, entire, toothed, or lobed; lanceolate
Flowers: flowers perfect or some pistillate only, ebracteate, usually in cymes, variously arranged in spicate or paniculate inflorescences
Calyx: calyx segments usually 4 or 5, persistent, flat or keeled, more or less covering the fruit, rarely becoming fleshy
Stamens: stamens commonly 5
Styles: styles 2 (3)
Seeds: seeds lenticular, horizontal or vertical.
Note: The genus is notoriously complex for several reasons. The floral features are greatly reduced and diagnostic characteristics are often based on either vegetative structures or on minutiae of calyx, pericarp, and seed coat, which are often subject to interpretation and might be demonstrated ultimately as trivial. Nomenclature is tangled both within the native and introduced entities, leading to taxonomic treatments that do not satisfactorily circumscribe the taxa as represented by actual specimens. Further, there is variability within the diagnostic features leading to contradictory statements in taxonomic treatments; e.g., with regard to such characters as adherent versus non-adherent pericarps.
Lambsquarter,_pigweed_(Chenopodium_album_L.)
Lambsquarter, pigweed (Chenopodium album L.)
Common name: Lambsquarter, pigweed.
Growth form: erect
Life span: annual herbs
Stems: stems red-striate; simple or more commonly branched
Height: 1-10 dm tall or more
Surface: herbage more or less farinose, at least when young
Leaves: leaves petiolate, the blades 1-6.5 cm long, 0.5-5.6 cm wide, ovate to rhombic-ovate or lanceolate, sinuate-dentate and often subhastately lobed or the upper (rarely all) entire
Flowers: flowers in dense glomerules, these spicate in upper axils
Calyx: calyx with keeled lobes, enclosing the fruit
Seeds: pericarp adherent; seeds horizontal, rounded marginally, smooth to sculptured, black, 1-1.5 mm wide
Chromosome number: 2n = 18, 36, 54, 108
Note: Two phases are present, which have been given taxonomic recognition.
Var. album
Chromosome number: n = 26
Habitat: Weedy species of disturbed habitats at 850 to 2265 m, probably in all Utah counties; widespread in North America; adventive from Eurasia
Note: This taxon has been confused with C. fremontii, q.v., but in those plants having mature fruits the adherent pericarps are diagnostic.
Var. berlandieri (Moq.) Mack. & Bush
Common name: Berlandier's pigweed. [C. berlandieri Moq.; C. berlandieri ssp. zschackei (Murray) Zabel; C. zschackei Murray]
Chromosome number: n = 18
Habitat: Weedy or pioneer plants of disturbed substrates in several plant; widespread in North America.
Narrowleaf_goosefoot_(Chenopodium_leptophyllum_(Moq.)_Wats.)
Narrowleaf goosefoot (Chenopodium leptophyllum (Moq.) Wats.)
Common name: Narrowleaf goosefoot
Synonym: [C. album var. leptophyllum Moq.]
Height: plants mainly 12-70 cm tall
Growth form: erect or the branches ascending, simple or branched
Leaves: leaves short-petiolate, the blades mainly 0.7-4 cm long, 1-5 (7) mm wide, linear to narrowly oblong or narrowly lanceolate, 1-veined, cuneate to acute basally, entire
Flowers: flowers in loose to compact cymes aggregated into terminal or axillary spicate panicles perianth lobes cleft to well below the middle, keeled dorsally; pericarp adherent
Seeds: seeds horizontal, 0.9-1.1 mm wide, black, finely rugulose to smooth
Chromosome number: 2n = 18
Habitat: Shadscale, greasewood, rabbitbrush, tamarix, sagebrush, fringed sagebrush, mountain brush, and aspen communities; British Columbia to Saskatchewan, south to California and Mexico.
Note: The 1-veined, narrow leaf blades and adherent pericarps are apparently definitive for this plant.
Nettleleaf_goosefoot_(Chenopodium_murale_L.)
Nettleleaf goosefoot (Chenopodium murale L.)
Common name: Nettleleaf goosefoot
Length: plants mainly 2-5 dm tall
Growth form: the stems erect or with branches ascending
Surface: herbage glabrous or sparingly farinose, especially in inflorescences
Leaves: leaves petiolate, the blades 1-5 (7) cm long and as broad or nearly so, ovate to oval or lanceolate, irregularly sinuate-dentate and some often subhastate, cuneate to subcordate basally
Flowers: flowers sessile and solitary to clustered in axillary or terminal panicles not much, if at all, surpassing the leaves; perianth lobes free to below the middle, keeled dorsally
Fruit: pericarp adherent to the horizontal, rugulose to smooth, sharply margined seed
Seeds: seeds 1-1.5 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 18
Habitat: Ruderal weeds at 730 to 1620 m in Sevier, Wasatch, and Washington counties; widespread in U. S. and Canada; adventive from Eurasia
Kochia_(Kochia_Roth)
Kochia (Kochia Roth)
Life span: annual
Growth form: herbs or subshrubs
Leaves: leaves alternate (or some opposite), linear to narrowly lanceolate, in some fleshy and terete
Flowers: flowers 1 to several, sessile in axils of foliose bracts, mostly perfect, 5-merous, the perianth lobes enclosing the fruit, keeled and horizontally winged
Stamens: stamens mostly 5
Stigmas: stigmas 2 or 3
Fruit: pericarp thin, free from the horizontal, smooth seed.
Summer-cypress_(Kochia_scoparia_(L.)_Schrader)
Summer-cypress (Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrader)
Common name: Summer-cypress. [Chenopodium scoparium L.]
Life span: annual
Growth form: herbs
Length: mainly 3-12 (15) dm tall
Stems: green, or suffused with red in autumn, simple or branched from the base, villous and often finely lanate to glabrous
Leaves: alternate; leaves 0.8-4.5 (6) cm long, 1-4 mm wide, lanceolate to oblanceolate, elliptic or linear, usually 3- to 5-veined, glabrous or softly pilose below (and above) or glabrous above, generally ciliate, acute
Inflorescence: inflorescence spicate, interrupted
Flowers: fruiting perianth of perfect flowers glabrous dorsally, ciliate, mostly transversely keeled, tubercled or sometimes horizontally winged from middle of the keel; pistillate flowers often lacking a keel
Seeds: seeds ovate in outline, 1.5-2 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 18
Habitat: Disturbed roadsides, canal banks, field margins, and other waste places in salt marsh, sedge-rush, sagebrush, mountain brush, and pinyon-juniper communities; widespread in North America; adventive from Eurasia
Poverty-weed_(Monolepis_Schrader)
Poverty-weed (Monolepis Schrader)
Life span: annual
Growth form: herbs
Leaves: leaves simple, hastately lobed or entire, alternate, mealy to subglabrous, fleshy
Flowers: flowers unisexual, polygamo-monoecious, inconspicuous, borne in axillary clusters; perianth consisting of 1 bractlike scale (rarely 2 or 3, or lacking), not enclosing the fruit
Stigmas: stigmas 2
Fruit: pericarp reticulately patterned or warty, adherent to the erect seed.
Poverty-weed_(Monolepis_nuttalliana_(Schultes)_Greene)
Poverty-weed (Monolepis nuttalliana (Schultes) Greene)
Common name: Poverty-weed
Synonyms: [Blitum nuttallianum Schultes in R. & S., based on B. chenopodioides Nutt.; M. chenopodioides (Nutt.) Moq. in DC.]
Length: plants mainly 4-30 cm tall
Growth form: the stems prostrate or ascending to erect, simple or much branched from the base
Surface: mealy to subglabrous
Leaves: leaves 5-50 mm long, the blades 1-15 mm wide, lanceolate to elliptic or oblong, with 1 pair of lateral lobes near the middle, reduced upwards and sometimes entire, the petiole 1-20 mm long
Flowers: flowers borne in dense, sessile, axillary clusters; perianth segments 1-2 mm long, more or less acute apically
Fruit: pericarp pitted, usually pale; fruit 0.9-1.5 mm broad
Chromosome number: 2n = 18
Habitat: Pioneer plant of open sites in blackbrush, shadscale, mat saltbush, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, mountain brush, ponderosa pine, Douglas fir-limber pine, aspen, and lodgepole pine communities; Alaska and Yukon to California and New Mexico, east to Manitoba and Missouri; Palmer 408, 409, 1877 ISC Parry!; 94 (xiv).
Russian_thistle_(Salsola_L.)
Russian thistle (Salsola L.)
Life span: annual
Growth form: herbs
Leaves: leaves alternate, entire, commonly spinulose; lanceolate
Flowers: flowers perfect, 5-merous, solitary or clustered in axils of spiny bracts, each with 2 smaller bracteoles, borne in spicate inflorescences; fruiting perianth with winglike, mostly horizontally spreading ridges
Stamens: stamens 5, usually inserted at the margin of a lobed disk
Styles: styles 2 or 3
Fruit: fruit closely enveloped in the persistent calyx
Seeds: seeds horizontal to oblique.
Gourd_Family_(CUCURBITACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Gourd Family (CUCURBITACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Gourd Family
Growth form: trailing or climbing herbs, typically with tendrils
Life span: annual or perennial
Leaves: leaves alternate, broad, usually simple but often deeply cut; tendrils simple or branched
Flowers: flowers imperfect, the plants monoecious or sometimes dioecious
Sepals: sepals 5
Petals: petals 5, connate or almost distinct
Stamens: stamens 5, with 2 pairs often united, mostly connate by the anthers
Ovary: ovary inferior
Pistil: carpels 3
Fruit: fruit a pepo or bladdery pod
Chromosome number: x = 7-14
Balsampear_(Momordica_L.)
Balsampear (Momordica L.)
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbaceous, prostrate or climbing vines with simple or branched tendrils
Flowers: monoecious or dioecious; unisexual, staminate solitary or clustered, calyx five-lobed; corolla five-lobed, stamens three, free; pistillate flowers solitary, perianth similar to staminate one, staminodia glandlike or absent, ovary one-locular, ovules many, style slender, stigmas three
Fruit: fruit a cylindrical or ovoid berry with many elliptic or flattened seeds
Wild_Balsam_Apple_(Momordica_charantia_L.)
Wild Balsam Apple (Momordica charantia L.)
Common name: Wild Balsam Apple
Growth form: creeping or climbing slender long stems often 2m or more, tendrils filiform opposite the leaves
Leaves: 4-10 cm wide, suborbicular or reniform, deeply palmately five- to seven-lobed, the lobes toothed, smooth or pubescent, acute to obtuse at the apex, petioles 3-6 cm long
Flowers: mostly solitary on peduncles bearing an entire, cordate, or ovate bract near the middle or below, sepals ovate 3-4 mm long, corolla lobes 1-2 cm long, yellow
Fruit: berry 2-12 cm long, bright yellow, tubercled, ovoid or oblong
*Sicyos_L.
Sicyos L.
Growth form: Climbing with 3-forked tendrils
Life span: annual
Leaves: angled
Flowers: small, monoecious
Calyx: 5-toothed
Corolla: 5-parted nearly to the base
Stamens: staminate flowers with 3 united stamens
Ovary: ovary 1-celled
One-seeded_Bur-cucumber_(Sicyos_angulatus_L.)
One-seeded Bur-cucumber (Sicyos angulatus L.)
Common name: One-seeded Bur-cucumber
Stem: angled, clammy-hairy, climbing to a height of 4-8 m
Leaves: nearly orbicular, cordate at the base, 5-angled or 5-lobed, the lobes acute, the margins denticulate
Fruits: ovoid, sessile, 3-10 together, yellowish, about 1.2 cm long, covered with barbed prickly bristles
Habitat: along river banks and in moist places
Grape_Family_(VITACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Grape Family (VITACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Grape Family
Growth form: shrubs or woody vines, usually supported by tendrils opposite the leaves or on peduncles, sympodial
Leaves: leaves alternate usually palmately 3- to 5-lobed or compound
Stipules: stipules deciduous
Inflorescence: inflorescence terminal, appearing opposite the leaves
Flowers: flowers often imperfect and perfect on the same plant, small, regular, greenish
Sepals: sepals 4 or 5, minute
Petals: petals 4 or 5
Stamens: stamens as many as the petals and opposite them
Style: style short or none
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary 2-loculed, 1- to 4-ovuled
Fruit: fruit a berry (grape)
Chromosome number: x = 11-20
Virgina_Creeper_(Parthenocissus_Planchon)
Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus Planchon)
Growth form: woody vines, supported by tendrils that clasp or affix themselves by adhesive disks
Leaves: leaves palmately compound; leaflets 3-7, coarsely serrate
Inflorescence: inflorescence cymose
Flowers: flowers perfect or imperfect; disk lacking
Calyx: calyx minutely 5-toothed
Petals: petals distinct
Fruit: berries thinly fleshy
Virginia_creeper_(Parthenocissus_quinquefolia_(L.)_Planchon)
Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia (L.) Planchon)
Common name: Virginia creeper
Synonym: [Hedera quinquefolia L.]
Height: Vines to 5 m tall or more
Leaves: tendrils support vines; tendrils with 3-8 branches, these terminated by adhesive disk leaflets with distinct petiolules, 3-15 cm long, 1.6-8 cm wide, oblanceolate to obovate, lanceolate or ovate, coarsely serrate, pale green and dull above, glaucous beneath
Inflorescence: cymes usually with a definite central axis with flowers clusters arising laterally from that axis
Fruit: berries 5-7 mm thick
Habitat: Cultivated ornamental in western U.S.; introduced from eastern U. S.
Note: The brightly colored leaves in autumn are beautiful.
Grape_(Vitis_L.)
Grape (Vitis L.)
Growth form: Clambering shrubs
Leaves: leaves palmately veined and usually lobed
Flowers: flowers small
Calyx: calyx minute, the limb unlobed
Inflorescence: inflorescence a compound thyrsoid cyme opposite the leaf
Petals: petals 5, usually coherent apically
Flower: disk of 5 glands alternate with the stamens
Ovary: ovary 2-loculed
Style: style short
Fruit: berry usually 2- to 4-seeded.
Grass_(POACEAE_Barnhart)
Grass (POACEAE Barnhart)
Growth form: herbs
Stems: hollow or solid, closed at the nodes
Leaves: 2-ranked, parallel-veined, composed of a sheath enclosing the culm, and a blade, with a hairy or membranaceous appendage (ligule) between them on the inside
Flowers: perfect or sometimes unisexual, arranged in spikelets, these consisting of a short axis (rachilla) and 2 to many 2-ranked bracts, the lower 2 bracts (glumes) empty, the succeeding ones (lemmas) bearing in their axils a single flower, and between the flower and the rachilla a 2-nerved bract (palea); the lemma, palea, and included flower constituting the floret
Stamens: stamens 1 to 6
Anthers: anthers 2-celled
Pistil: pistil 1, with 2 (rarely 1 or 3) styles, and usually plumose stigmas
Inflorescence: spikelets mostly aggregate in spikes or panicles at the ends of the main culms and branches
Wheatgrass_(Agropyron_Gaertner)
Wheatgrass (Agropyron Gaertner)
Common name: Wheatgrass
Lifespan: perennials
Growth form: many with creeping rhizomes
Ligule: membranous
Inflorescence: bilateral spike
Spikelets: solitary, infrequently paired
Disarticulation: continuous or disarticulating rachis
Glume shape: broad or narrow
Glume awns: awn-tipped or awnless
Glume nerves: few to several nerved
Lemma shape: firm, rounded on the back
Lemma awns: awned or awnless
Lemma nerves: faintly 5-7 nerved
Palea: membranous, about as long as the lemma, usually adhering to the caryopsis
Habitat: widely distributed in cool and temperate regions of both hemispheres. Many hybrids
Bentgrass_(Agrostis_L.)
Bentgrass (Agrostis L.)
Common name: Bentgrass
Lifespan: annuals and perennials
Growth form: low to moderately tall
Culms: slender culms
Sheaths: hairless; open to the base or nearly so
Ligule: membranous
Blade Shape: flat or involute blades
Inflorescence: open or contracted panicles
Rachilla: usually not hairy; usually not extended beyond the insertion of the floret
Spikelets: small, 1-flowered
Disarticulation: above glumes
Glumes: thin, lanceolate, acute to acuminate, equal or unequal. If unequal, the first longer than the second
Glume shape: lanceolate to ovate
Glume awns: glume tip may be rounded or awn-tipped
Glume nerves: 1st usually 1-nerved; 2nd 1 or 3-nerved
Lemmas: lemma thinner than or occasionally similar to the glumes in texture. Lemma is whitish to dark purple in color
Lemma shape: thin, broad, acute to obtuse or truncate at the apex. The tip may appear to be a little ragged
Lemma awns: awnless or awned from the middle or below
Lemma nerves: obscurely 3 or 5 nerved. Occasionally the midnerve may be prolonged as a straight to bent awn arising from the back
Lemma other: hairless or with a tuft of hair at the base
Palea: hyaline, usually small or absent but well developed in a few species
Habitat: widespread in temperate and cold regions of the world and present at high altitudes in the tropics and subtropics
Caryopsis: narrowly oblong, loosely enclosed by lemma or by the lemma and palea
Stamens: 3
Hair_grass_(Aira_L.)
Hair grass (Aira L.)
Common name: Hair grass
Lifespan: annuals
Culms: blades mostly basal
Ligule: less than 1 mm, membranous
Blade Shape: thin, subfiliform
Inflorescence: open or contracted panicle
Spikelets: small, two-flowered
Disarticulation: above glumes and between florets
Glumes: about equal
Glume shape: glumes longer than lemmas, thin, lanceolate
Glume nerves: 1 or obscurely 3
Lemmas: firm
Lemma shape: rounded on the back, tapers to 2 slender teeth or setae at the tip
Lemma awns: awned from below the middle with usually a geniculate and twisted, hairlike awn; awn of lower lemma sometimes wanting or reduced
Palea: thin, shorter than lemma
Habitat: Native to southern Europe but now widely distributed. In US, grow as weeds of disturbed sites in eastern and southeastern states and also in the Far West.
oat_(Avena_L.)
oat (Avena L.)
Common name: oat
Lifespan: annuals
Culms: moderately tall, weak culms
Sheaths: open
Blade Shape: broad, flat
Ligule: membranous
Inflorescence: large, open, nodding panicle or raceme
Spikelets: large, pendulous, usually 2-6 flowered spikelets on slender pedicels.
Disarticulation: above the glumes and between the florets
Glumes: about equal
Glume shape: lanceolate, broad, thin, longer than the lower floret and often exceeding the upper floret
Glume nerves: 3-11
Lemmas: tough and firm
Lemma shape: lanceolate; rounded on the back
Lemma awns: usually bearing a stout, geniculate awn from below the notch of a bifid apex; the awn arises from the back of the lemma
Lemma nerves: 5-7 nerved
Lemma--other: Notched at the tip; often hairy on the callus; the callus is 1-7 mm long, and is usually pointed
Palea: 2-keeled, shorter than the lemma
Habitat: Native to temperate Europe and Asia
Caryopsis: adherent to the lemma and palea.
Stamens: 3
*Brachiaria_(Trin.)_Griseb.
Brachiaria (Trin.) Griseb.
Lifespan: annuals and perennials
Growth form: stoloniferous or decumbent culm bases
Ligule: .5 mm, fringe of hairs
Blade Shape: flat
Inflorescence: small panicle with 2 to numerous short, usually simple, erect-appressed or spreading branches
Disarticulation: below the glumes
Glumes: 1st shorter than to nearly as long as the spikelet. 2nd glume and lemma of the lower floret about equal
Glume shape: 2nd glume of lower floret acute
Glume nerves: 2nd glume of lower floret 5-7
Lemma shape: L. of upper floret indurate, glabrous, obtuse or broadly acute at the apex; margins tightly inrolled over the palea
Lemma awns: (L. of upper floret) rarely short awned
Palea: L. and palea of upper floret strongly transverse rugose
Habitat: Tropical and subtropical regions of both hemispheres
Brome_(Bromus_L.)
Brome (Bromus L.)
Common name: Brome
Life span: annuals and perennials
Growth form: growing in tufts; a few rhizomatous
Sheaths: hairless or with hairs; usually with closed sheaths at least half the culm length
Auricles: some species with auricles
Blade Shape: broad, flat, thin blades, or occasionally loosely rolled
Ligule: membranous, often brownish; the ligule edge often appears ragged or torn; the ligule may have hairs or be hairless
Inflorescence: compact or open panicle, infrequently a raceme; 1-8 branches per node
Spikelets: large, several flowered; shape is flattened or cylindrical
Spikelet length: 13-45 mm or more
Disarticulation: above the glumes and between the florets
Glumes: unequal
Glume shape: lanceolate; acute
Glume awns: awnless
Glume nerves: first glume 1-7 nerved; the second glume 3-9 nerved
Lemmas: edge membranous
Lemma shape: lanceolate; tip with two small teeth
Lemma awns: 1 awn, infrequently awnless. The awn often arises from between the 2 teeth of the lemma tip
Lemma nerves: 1-13 nerved
Palea: palea is shorter or barely longer than the lemma; palea adnate to caryopsis
Stamens: 3
Habitat: Temperate and cool regions of world
Buffalo_grass_(Buchloe_Engelm.)
Buffalo grass (Buchloe Engelm.)
Common name: Buffalo grass
Life span: perennial
Growth form: low (.5-2 dm tall), mat-forming; extensive wiry stolons
Ligule: fringe of short hairs to about 1 mm long
Sheaths: open; most often with long spreading hairs
Blade Shape: flat or rolled leaves, 1-2.5 mm wide, .2-3 dm long, usually sparsely hairy with hairs 1-2 mm long
Inflorescence: the inflorescences bearing male spikelets are panicles with spicate branches, these well exserted above the leafy portion of the plant; the inflorescences bearing female spikelets are panicles with several headlike clusters
Spikelets: staminate and pistillate spikelets in separate inflorescences, usually on separate plants (dioecious) but not infrequently on the same plant (monoecious). Staminate spikelets 2-flowered, sessile, and closely crowded on 1-4 short, spicate inflorescence branches. Pistillate spikelets 1-flowered, in deciduous, capitate, burrlike clusters of 2-4, these present in the leafy portion of the plant and usually partially included in expanded leaf sheaths.
Glumes: Rachis and lower two-thirds of second glume of pistillate spikelets thickened, indurate.
Lemma shape: lemma of pistillate spikelet membranous; usually thickened, indurate
Lemma awns: L. of pistillate sp awnless
Lemma nerves: L. of pistillate sp: 3
Habitat: When growing in pure stands, forms a soft, grayish-green turf. Dominant on Western short grass prairie.
Sandbur_(Cenchrus_L.)
Sandbur (Cenchrus L.)
Common name: Sandbur
Life span: annuals and perennials
Culms: weak, geniculate-decumbent culms (but a few with tall, coarse, stiffly erect culms)
Ligule: membrane with fringe of hairs
Sheaths: open, often compressed
Blade Shape: soft, flat blades
Inflorescence: spikelike panicle
Spikelets: enclosed in burs, these sessile or subsessile on a short, stout rachis; burrs of bristles and/or flattened spines (modified branches) fused together at least at the base; bristles and spines usually retrorsely barbed; spikelets 1-8 in each bur
Disarticulation: bur readily disarticulating at maturity
Glumes: thin, membranous, unequal
Glume nerves: 1st glume 1-3 nerved, the 2nd 1-7 nerved
Lemma shape: lemma of sterile floret thin, 1-7 nerved, equaling or exceeding the 2nd glume; lemma of fertile floret tapering to a slender, usually acuminate tip, the margins not inrolled
Lemma nerves: lemma of fertile floret 5-7 nerved
Palea: palea of sterile floret about equaling the lemma.
Habitat: Mostly in America; all but 1 American species weedy annuals or short-lived perennials of open, sandy, usually disturbed sites. C. incertus is an annual or biennial
Caryopsis: elliptic to ovoid, dorsally flattened
Bermudagrass_(Cynodon_Rich.)
Bermudagrass (Cynodon Rich.)
Common name: Bermudagrass
Lifespan: perennial
Growth form: low, mostly mat-forming stoloniferous and rhizomatous perennials
Culms: much branched, mostly with short internodes
Ligule: fringe of hairs
Blade Shape: flat, short, narrow, soft, and succulent
Inflorescence: 2 to several slender, spicate branches, these digitately arranged at the culm apex; rachis narrow, somewhat triangular
Spikelets: sessile in two rows; single floret, the rachilla prolonged behind the palea as a bristle and occasionally bearing a rudimentary lemma
Glumes: slightly unequal; second glume nearly as long as the lemma
Glume shape: lanceolate
Glume awns: awnless
Glume nerves: 1
Lemma shape: firm, laterally compressed
Lemma awns: awnless
Lemma nerves: 3, usually puberulent on the midnerve
Palea: narrow, 2 nerved, as long as the lemma
Habitat: 10 species, mostly in Africa and Australia; one species C. dactylon, distributed throughout the warmer parts of the world.
Orchard_grass_(Dactylis_L.)
Orchard grass (Dactylis L.)
Life span: perennials
Growth form: densely clumped, erect
Culms: to 12 dm tall
Sheaths: closed along the whole length or open to half the culm length. Keeled.
Blade Shape: flat or folded, 1.5-11 mm wide
Ligule: membrane, 2.5-11 mm long
Inflorescence: panicle 4-20 cm long; panicle with spikelets in dense clusters on short to long, erect or backwards-bent branches; 1-3 branches at each node, each branch .5-12 cm long
Spikelets: 2-5 flowered, laterally flattened, subsessile and crowded in dense asymmetrical clusters at the tips of stiff, erect, or spreading inflorescence branches; occasionally purple-tinged
Spikelet length: 5-9 mm long
Disarticulation: above the glumes and between the florets
Glumes: unequal to subequal; the first glume 5-6.5 mm long; the second glume usually membranous, 3-6 mm long
Glume shape: keeled, hispid-ciliate on the keels
Glume awns: pointed or with an awn to ca. 1 mm long
Glume nerves: 1-3 nerved
Lemmas: firm
Lemma shape: lanceolate, keeled
Lemma awns: pointed or with an awn to ca. 2 mm long
Lemma nerves: obscurely 5-nerved
Habitat: widely distributed in temperate and cold portions of Europe and Asia
Caryopsis: free within or slightly adherent to the lemma and palea
Anthers: 2-4 mm long
Stamens: 3
Crowfoot_Grass_(Dactyloctenium_Willd.)
Crowfoot Grass (Dactyloctenium Willd)
Common name: Crowfoot Grass
Lifespan: annuals
Culms: thick, weak; often decumbent below and rooting at the lower nodes
Ligule: 0.1-0.4 mm long or absent, membranous
Blade Shape: soft, flat blades
Inflorescence: 2 (occasionally 1) to several digitately arranged, unilateral spicate branches
Spikelets: closely placed and pectinate in two rows on one side of a short, stout rachis, this projecting as a point beyond the insertion of the uppermost spikelet; 2-several flowered, laterally compressed
Disarticulation: often between the glumes, the first remaining on the rachis
Glumes: subequal
Glume shape: keeled
Glume awns: 1st awnless, the 2nd mucronate or with a short, stout awn
Glume nerves: 1-nerved
Lemma shape: firm, broad
Lemma awns: nerves abruptly narrowing to a beaked, usually short-awned tip
Lemma nerves: 3, lateral nerve indistinct
Palea: well-developed, about as long as the lemma
Habitat: Native to the warmer parts of the Eastern Hemisphere, one introduced in the Americas. D. aegyptium is occasional as a weed of disturbed sites and coastal sands throughout the southern US, from N. Carolina and Florida to the West Coast and south into Mexico.
Caryopsis: plump, usually subglobose, with a minutely ridged and rugose seed loosely enclosed in a thin pericarp
Crab_grass,_finger_grass_(Digitaria_Heister)
Crab grass, finger grass (Digitaria Heister)
Common names: Crab grass, finger grass
Life span: annuals and perennials
Growth form: erect or decumbent-spreading, stoloniferous culms
Culms: 2-10 dm tall
Ligule: membranous
Sheaths: open
Blade Shape: mostly thin and flat
Inflorescence: a panicle with 2-20 slender spikelike racemose branches, these unbranched or sparingly branched near the base
Spikelets: slightly plano-convex; solitary, paired, or in groups of 3-5; subsessile or short-pedicelled in one or two rows on a 3-angled, often winged rachis; spikelets are 2 flowered; the lowermost floret is reduced to an empty lemma, the uppermost floret is perfect
Disarticulation: below the glumes
Glumes: 1st glume minute or absent; 2nd well-developed but usually shorter than the lemma of the sterile floret
Glume nerves: glumes are conspicuously 3-7 nerved; nerves of glume and lemma of the sterile floret glabrous, puberulent, or long-ciliate
Lemmas: lemmas of fertile floret relatively narrow, acute or acuminate, firm and cartilaginous, but not hard, the margins thin, flat, not inrolled over the palea
Lemma nerves: conspicuously 3-7 nerved
Caryopsis: free of but firmly enclosed within the lemma and palea
Habitat: Temperate and tropical regions throughout the world. Most US species grow in moist, disturbed sites.
Barnyard_grass_(Echinochloa_Pal.)
Barnyard grass (Echinochloa Pal.)
Common name: Barnyard grass
Life span: coarse annuals and perennials
Culms: usually weak, succulent culms
Ligule: ring of hairs or absent
Sheaths: open
Blade Shape: broad, flat
Inflorescence: contracted or moderately open panicle, with few to numerous, simple or rebranched, densely flowered branches
Spikelets: spikelets arise from one side of the branch;spikelets are subsessile, in irregular clusters or regular rows; two flowers per spikelet; the lowermost floret is sterile; the uppermost floret is perfect
Disarticulation: below glumes
Glumes: membranous; first well developed but much shorter than the second glume; second glume of the sterile floret about equal to the lemma
Glume shape: glume of sterile floret usually with stout spicules and long or short hairs, these often glandular-pustulate at the base; 2nd glume and lemma of sterile floret about equal
Glume awns: acute or slightly awned; 2nd glume and lemma of sterile floret acute, short-awned or with a long, flexuous awn
Lemmas: lemma of sterile floret usually with stout spicules and long or short hairs, these often glandular-pustulate at the base
Lemma shape: lemma of the fertile floret indurate, smooth and shiny, with inrolled margins and usually an abruptly pointed apex
Palea: palea of fertile floret similar to the lemma in texture, broad but narrowing to a pointed tip that is free from the lemma margins
Habitat: Throughout warmer regions of world. Widespread and weedy on moist, disturbed sites throughout the US are populations of the European species E. crusgalli and the closely related native species E. muricata.
Caryopsis: free of but firmly enclosed within the lemma and palea, broadly ellipsoidal to spherical
Stamens: 3
Crowfoot_grass,_Goosegrass_(Eleusine_Gaertner)
Crowfoot grass, Goosegrass (Eleusine Gaertner)
Common names: Crowfoot grass, Goosegrass
Life span: annuals
Growth form: low, spreading
Culms: thick, weak culms
Ligule: short, lacerate membrane
Sheaths: open
Blade Shape: soft, flat or folded, succulent
Inflorescence: two (occasionally one) to several branches digitately arranged at the culm apex; one or two branches frequently developed below the apical cluster
Spikelets: sessile in two closely overlapping rows; 3 to 10 flowered
Disarticulation: above the glumes and between the florets
Glumes: unequal; the first shorter than the second
Glume shape: firm, acute
Glume nerves: 1st 1-nerved; 2nd 3-7 nerved
Lemma shape: acute, broadly keeled
Lemma awns: awnless or mucronate
Lemma nerves: 3, the lateral nerves very close to the midnerve.
Palea: shorter than the lemma
Habitat: Mostly of warmer regions of the Old World. E. indica, a common weed of the tropics and subtropics of both hemispheres, if frequent on disturbed soil in the southern US and has been recorded throughout the country except in the Northwest.
Caryopsis: plump, with a minutely transversely ruguse seed loosely enclosed in a thin pericarp; seed 3 angled, with horizontal stripes
Stamens: 3
Wheatgrass_(Elymus_L.)
Elymus L.
Life span: perennials
Growth form: cespitose or rhizomatous
Ligule: membranous, truncate to obtuse
Auricles: with or without auricles
Sheaths: open
Blade Shape: flat or rolled
Inflorescence: spike
Spikelets: in pairs of threes at nodes (some species with 1 spikelets per node and others with 4-6 or more spikelets per node
Disarticulation: above glumes and between florets
Glumes: equal or nearly so
Glume shape: firm, narrow, subulate to broad and soft
Glume awns: awned or awnless
Glume nerves: 1-several nerved
Lemmas: equaling the 2nd glume or longer
Lemma shape: rounded on the back
Lemma awns: short or long awn, less frequently awnless
Lemma nerves: 5-7 nerved
Palea: well-developed
Habitat: Cool and temperate regions of n. hemisphere; hybrids common
Caryopsis: adherent to the palea and often to the lemma; elliptical
Stamens: 3
Lovegrass_(Eragostis_Wolf.)
Lovegrass (Eragrostis Wolf)
Common name: Lovegrass
Life span: annuals and perennials
Growth form: cespitose; a few with rhizomes
Ligule: a ring of hairs, or rarely membranous
Sheaths: open, often long-hairy at the summit
Blade Shape: flat or folded to involute
Inflorescence: an open (infrequently contracted) panicle
Spikelets: round in cross section or flattened; 3 to 40 flowered; pale green or gray to nearly black
Disarticulation: glumes, lemmas, and mature caryopsis usually early deciduous, the paleas persistent on the rachilla
Glumes: usually membranous; unequal, shorter than the lemmas
Glume awns: awnless
Glume nerves: 1-3
Lemmas: usually membranous
Lemma shape: acute or acuminate on the apex, keeled or rounded on the back
Lemma awns: awnless
Lemma nerves: 3 usually conspicuous nerves; nerves are nearly parallel
Palea: strongly 2 nerved and usually 2-keeled, often ciliolate on the keels, as long or nearly as long as the lemma; paleas persistent on the rachilla.
Habitat: Tropical and temperate regions of the world. About 1/2 of E. species are weedy annuals
Caryopsis: oblong or subelliptic, typically reddish brown and translucent; rounded or shallowly to deeply grooved on one side, typically falling free of the lemma and palea
Stamens: 2 or 3
Cupgrass_(Eriochloa_Kunth.)
Cupgrass (Eriochloa Kunth.)
Common name: Cupgrass
Lifespan: annuals and perennials
Growth form: cespitose
Culms: often branching at lower nodes
Ligule: ciliated membrane
Sheaths: open
Blade Shape: flat, mostly thin
Inflorescence: loosely contracted panicle
Spikelets: subsessile or short-pediceled on unbranched or sparingly rebranched primary branches
Disarticulation: below the glumes
Glumes: 1st reduced and fused with the rachis node to form a cup or disk; 2nd glume and lemma of the sterile floret about equal
Glume shape: 2nd glume of sterile floret usually scabrous, hispid or hirsute, acute or more commonly acuminate at the apex
Lemma shape: lemma of sterile floret usually scabrous, hispid or hirsute, acute or more commonly acuminate at the apex; lemma of fertile floret indurate, glabrous, finely rugose, with slightly inrolled margins
Lemma awns: lemma of fertile floret apiculate or short-awned at the apex
Habitat: Tropics and warm-temperate regions of both hemispheres. Annuals often grow as weeds of roadsides, ditch banks, low meadows, and similar moist or marshy habitats.
*Festuca_L.
Festuca L.
Life span: perennial
Growth form: tufted
Ligule: generally less than 1 mm, membranous, truncate, minutely fringed
Blade Shape: thin, flat or narrow and involute blades
Inflorescence: open or contracted panicles
Spikelets: 3 to several flowered
Disarticulation: above the glumes and between the florets
Glumes: unequal
Glume shape: narrow, acute or acuminate
Glume nerves: 1-3 nerved
Lemma shape: thin or firm; rounded on the back
Lemma awns: awned from a narrow, entire or minutely bifid apex, or awnless
Lemma nerves: 5-7 nerved
Palea: free from caryopsis
Habitat: Temperate and cool regions of world
Stamens: 3
Barley_(Hordeum_L.)
Barley (Hordeum L.)
Common name: Barley
Life span: annuals and perennials
Growth form: low to moderately tall, without rhizomes
Ligule: membranous
Blade Shape: flat, mostly broad and lax
Inflorescence: dense, spicate raceme; rachilla terminating in a bristle which occasionally bears a rudimentary floret
Spikelets: 3 spikelets per node, central one usually fertile and sessile, the lateral ones pediceled and usually staminate or sterile; central spikelet 1 flowered; lateral spikelets often represented by glumes only
Disarticulation: above each node at maturity, the short internodes falling as a triad of spikelets
Glume shape: narrow, usually subulate or awned and rigid
Lemma shape: firm, rounded on the back and dorsally flattened
Lemma awns: tapering into an awn
Lemma nerves: 5, usually obscure
Palea: shorter than the lemma, usually adnate to caryopsis
Habitat: Temperate regions of both hemispheres
Sprangletop_(Leptochloa_Pal.)
Sprangletop (Leptochloa Pal.)
Common name: Sprangletop
Life span: annuals and perennials
Growth form: cespitose, none with rhizomes or stolons
Culms: usually leafy to well above the base
Ligule: membranous, more or less entire to jagged
Blade Shape: flat, linear blades
Inflorescence: panicle, with few to numerous unbranched primary branches distributed along the upper portion of the culm or clustered near the tip
Spikelets: 2-several flowered, overlapping and closely spaced on the branches
Disarticulation: above the glumes and between the florets
Glume shape: thin, acute
Glume awns: awnless or mucronate
Glume nerves: 1 or the second occasionally 3
Lemma shape: apex of lemma acute to obtuse or notched
Lemma awns: awnless, mucronate, or awned
Lemma nerves: 3, frequently puberulent on the nerves
Palea: well-developed, occasionally puberulent on the nerves
Habitat: Found in the warmer parts of both hemispheres. 11 native to US. Most species are plants of moist or marshy sites; many are weedy.
Ryegrass_(Lolium_L.)
Lolium L.
Life span: annuals and short-lived perennials
Culms: usually succulent culms
Ligule: membranous, obtuse to truncate
Blade Shape: flat or folded blades
Inflorescence: spike
Spikelets: several-flowered, borne solitary and oriented edgewise at the nodes of a continuous rachis
Disarticulation: above the glumes and between the florets
Glumes: the first glume absent except on terminal spikelet; second glume usually large
Glume shape: (Second) glume large, broad
Glume awns: (Second glume) usually awnless
Glume nerves: usually several nerved
Lemma shape: rounded on the back
Lemma awns: awnless or awned usually from broad apex
Lemma nerves: 5-9 nerved
Palea: large
Habitat: Temperate regions
Muhly_(Muhlenbergia_Schreber)
Muhly (Muhlenbergia Schreber)
Common name: Muhly
Life span: annuals and perennials
Growth form: delicate, tufted annuals to large, coarse, cespitose perennials; several species with creeping rhizomes
Culms: simple to much branched
Ligule: usually with well-developed membranous ligules
Blade Shape: various; usually narrow, flat or involute blades
Inflorescence: an open or contracted panicle, spikelike in a few species
Spikelets: typically 1-flowered, a second floret occasionally produced
Disarticulation: above the glumes
Glumes: mostly shorter than the lemma
Glume shape: obtuse, acute, acuminate or short-awned
Glume awns: acuminate or short-awned
Glume nerves: usually 1-nerved or nerveless, occasionally 3-nerved
Lemma shape: as firm as, or firmer than, the glumes
Lemma awns: single, flexuous awn at the apex, less frequently mucronate or awnless
Lemma nerves: 3; indistinct in some species
Lemma other: short, usually bearded callus at the base
Palea: well-developed, shorter than or about equaling the lemma
Habitat: Plants of diverse habitats
Caryopsis: elongate, cylindrical or slightly dorsally compressed, usually not falling free from the lemma and palea
Panicum,_Vine_Mesquite,_Maidencane_(Panicum_L.)
Panicum, Vine Mesquite, Maidencane (Panicum L.)
Common names: Panicum, Vine Mesquite, Maidencane
Life span: annuals and perennials
Ligule: membrane or ring of hairs
Inflorescence: an open or contracted panicle
Spikelets: lowermost floret sterile or occasionally staminate
Disarticulation: below glumes
Glumes: usually both present, the first commonly short
Lemmas: lemma similar to the glumes in texture and usually as long as, or slightly longer than, the second glume; lemma of upper floret shiny and glabrous (in US species), smooth, firm or indurate, tightly clasping the palea with thick, inrolled margins
Palea: palea of upper floret like the lemma in texture
Habitat: Largest of grass genera. Extremely diverse habitat. Distributed through warmer parts of the world. P. virgatum is tall, robust bunchgrass, adapted to low pririe sites, riverbanks, and swale areas.
Paspalum,_Dallisgrass,_Knotgrass_(Paspalum_L.)
Paspalum, Dallisgrass, Knotgrass (Paspalum L.)
Common names: Paspalum, Dallisgrass, Knotgrass
Life span: annuals and perennials (In US, perennial)
Growth form: many rhizomes or stolons
Ligule: membranous
Blade Shape: usually flat, often thin and broad
Inflorescence: 1 to many unilateral spikelike branches, these scattered or, in a few species, paired at the culm apex; rachis, flattened, occasionally broadly winged; back of lemma of fertile floret turned towards rachis
Spikelets: subsessile or short-pediceled, solitary or in pairs on the rachis
Disarticulation: at base of spikelet
Glumes: 1st typically absent; 2nd glume and lemma of sterile floret usually about equal
Glume shape: 2nd glume of sterile floret usu. about equal, broad and rounded at the apex, infrequently acute
Lemma shape: lemma of fertile floret with rounded back; lemma of fertile floret firm or indurate, usually obtuse, with inrolled margins
Palea: broad, flat or slightly convex, the margins entirely enfolded by the lemma
Habitat: Distributed throughout the warmer regions of the world. A number of stoloniferous species (P. distichum) grow in wet, marshy, or shoreline habitats.
Rabbitfoot_grass_(Polypogon_Desf.)
Rabbitfoot grass (Polypogon Desf.)
Life span: annuals and perennials
Growth form: low to moderately tall
Culms: weak, decumbent-erect, often rooting at lower nodes
Ligule: thinly membranous, more or less ovate to oblong, obtuse to truncate, minutely ciliate to toothed
Blade Shape: thin and flat
Inflorescence: dense, contracted panicle of small, 1-flowered spikelets
Disarticulation: below the glumes and falling entire
Glumes: about equal
Glume awns: abruptly awned from and entire or notched apex
Glume nerves: 1-nerved
Lemma shape: broad, much shorter than the glumes; apex broad; toothed, often minutely
Lemma awns: awnless or with a short, delicate awn from the apex
Lemma nerves: mostly 5 nerved
Palea: slightly shorter than the lemma
Habitat: Throughout temperate regions but mostly in Europe and Asia. Present in moist areas along streams, ditches, spring seeps, and lakes almost throughout the US.
Caryopsis: narrowly oblong; free or somewhat adherent to the lemma and palea
Stamens: 1-3
Canary_grass_(Phalaris_L.)
Canary grass (Phalaris L.)
Common name: Canary grass
Life span: annuals and perennials
Growth form: perennials coarse, densely cespitose or in small clusters from rhizomatous bases
Ligule: membranous
Blades: mostly hairless
Blade Shape: flat
Inflorescence: contracted, usually spikelike panicle
Spikelets: 1 terminal perfect floret and 1 or 2 reduced florets below, the latter reduced to scales
Disarticulation: above the glumes
Glumes: about equal
Glume shape: large, usually laterally flattened and dorsally keeled, the keel often with a thin, membranous wing
Glume awns: awnless
Lemmas: lemma of fertile floret coriaceous and glossy
Lemma shape: shorter and firmer than the glumes
Lemma awns: lemma of fertile floret awnless
Lemma other: often more or less hairy, permanently enclosing
Palea: faintly 2-nerved
Habitat: P. arundinaceae a tall, rhizomatous perennial, grass of moist meadows
Caryopsis: plump
Timothy_(Phleum_L.)
Timothy (Phleum L.)
Common name: Timothy
Lifespan: annuals and perennials
Growth form: tufted
Ligule: membranous to 6 mm long or more
Blade Shape: flat blades
Inflorescence: short, cylindrical, tightly contracted
Spikelets: 1 flowered
Disarticulation: above or occasionally below the glumes
Glumes: equal
Glume shape: laterally flattened, broad, abruptly narrowed at the apex
Glume awns: a mucro or short, stout awn
Glume nerves: 3 nerved
Lemmas: membranous
Lemma shape: broad and blunt, much shorter than the glumes
Lemma awns: awned
Lemma nerves: 3-7 nerved
Palea: membranous, narrow, about as long as the lemma
Stamens: 3
Meadow_grass,_Blue_grass_(Poa_L.)
Meadow grass, Blue grass (Poa L.)
Common names: Meadow grass, Blue grass
Life span: annuals and perennials
Growth form: many with rhizomes
Ligule: membranous, thin flexible
Blade Shape: mostly flat or folded, with boat-shaped tips
Inflorescence: open or contracted panicle or occasionally reduced to a raceme
Spikelets: mostly small, 2-7 flowered
Disarticulation: above the glumes and between the florets
Glumes: relatively broad
Glume awns: awnless
Glume nerves: 1-3 nerved
Lemmas: thin, obtuse or broadly acute at the apex Base of lemma hairless or with long, kinky, cottony hairs
Lemma shape: broad, usually keeled and with a membranous border
Lemma awns: awnless
Lemma nerves: 5, often puberulent below
Palea: hairless
Habitat: Temperate and cold regions of the world, Extending into the subtropics and tropics as cool-season and as montane grasses
Bristlegrass_(Setaria_Pal.)
Bristlegrass (Setaria Pal.)
Common name: Bristlegrass
Life span: annuals and perennials
Growth form: cespitose
Culms: erect or geniculate, these often branching at the base
Ligule: short-hairy or membranous, ciliate
Blade Shape: flat and thin
Inflorescence: slender, usually contracted and densely flowered; bristly panicle
Spikelets: subsessile on main axis and short branches; some or all of the spikelets subtended by 1 to several persistent bristles (reduced branches)
Disarticulation: spikelets disarticulating above the bristles
Glumes: 1st glume short, the 2nd glume and lemma of the sterile floret equal, or more frequently the second glume 1/2 to 2/3 as long
Glume shape: glumes of sterile floret typically glabrous, acute or obtuse
Glume nerves: prominent
Lemma shape: lemma of sterile floret typically glabrous, acute or obtuse; lemma of fertile floret indurate, rounded at the apex, usually finely or coarsely transverse-rugose
Lemma nerves: prominent
Palea: palea of fertile floret indurate, rounded at the apex, usually finely or coarsely transverse-rugose
Habitat: Mostly in tropical Africa but some in the warmer parts of all the continents. (ca 43 sp in N. Am.) Many of US species are weedy. S. geniculata is a weedy perennial with short, knotty rhizomes, common in moist soils throught the southern and eastern portions of the US and through Mexico.
Johnsongrass_(Sorghum_Moench.)
Johnsongrass (Sorghum Moench.)
Common name: Johnsongrass
Life span: annuals and perennials
Culms: Many with tall, stout culms
Ligule: membranous
Blade Shape: long, flat, narow or broad
Inflorescence: large, open or contracted panicle
Spikelets: spikelets clustered on short racemose branchlets; spikelets in threes at the branchlet tips, 1 sessile and fertile and 2 pediceled and staminate or neuter, and below the tips in pairs of 1 sessile and perfect and 1 pediceled and reduced
Disarticulation: below the sessile spikelet, the rachis section and the pedicel or pedicels falling attached to the sessile spikelet
Glumes: about equal in length
Glume shape: coriaceous
Glume awns: awnless
Lemma shape: lemma of the sterile floret and lemma and palea of the fertile floret membranous
Lemma awns: lemma of the fertile floret usually with a geniculate and twisted awn, this readily deciduous in S. halepense
Habitat: Mostly in the warmer parts of America. S. halepense has become widely established as a pasture grass and weed of roadsides and cultivated fields throughout the southern and eastern states. Has been reported from as far north as maine, Michigan, Iowa, and Wyoming, but probably does not persist in the cooler regions. S. halepense develops cyanogenetic compound under certain conditions of growth.
Needlegrass_(Stipa_L.)
Needlegrass (Stipa L.)
Common name: Needlegrass
Lifespan: perennial
Growth form: cespitose
Ligule: membranous, in many species between 1-4 mm
Blade Shape: long, narrow, involute, usually in a basal clump
Inflorescence: large or small, usually contracted, often drooping panicle
Spikelets: 1-flowered
Spikelet length: variable in size, but relatively large in most species
Glume shape: thin, acute, acuminate or ingrequently aristate, longer than the body of the lemma
Glume nerves: 1-5 nerved
Lemmas: tightly enclosing the palea and caryopsis
Lemma shape: firm or indurate, relatively slender, terete or angular
Lemma awns: awned; usually stout, geniculate and twisted, scabrous or pubescent below in many species
Lemma other: base of lemma and rachilla forming a sharp-pointed callus, this bearded with stiff hairs
Habitat: Widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions of the world. Hybridize freely.
*Vulpia_C._Gmelin
Vulpia C. Gmelin
Lifespan: annual
Growth form: tufted
Ligule: less than 1 mm, membranous, minutely fringed
Blade Shape: narrow blades
Inflorescence: spikelike panicle
Spikelets: 3 to many flowered
Disarticulation: above the glumes and between the florets
Glumes: the first often very short
Glume shape: narrow, lanceolate or acuminate
Glume nerves: 1-3 nerved
Lemma shape: rounded on the back
Lemma awns: tapering to a fine awn or merely acuminate
Lemma nerves: inconspicuously 5 nerved
Caryopsis: cylindrical and elongate
Anthers: usually 1, infrequently 3, per flower
Rice_(Oryza_L.)
Rice (Oryza L.)
Common name: Rice
Life span: annual or perennials
Blades Shape: flat blades
Inflorescence: open or contracted panicles
Spikelets: spikelets 1-flowered, laterally compressed
Disarticulation: below the glumes
Glume shape: glumes narrow, much shorter than the lemma
Lemma: lemma indurate, rigid, kelled, 3-nerved, awned or sometimes awnless, sparsely to rather densely hispid
Palea: palea similar to the lemma but narrower and with no midnerve on the back, the two nerves close to the margins
Stamens: stamens 6
Rice_Cutgrass_(Oryza_sativa_L.)
Rice Cutgrass (Oryza sativa L.)
Common name: Rice Cutgrass
Life span: annual
Height: 1-2 m tall
Ligule: membranous, firm, 2-6 mm long
Inflorescence: panicle rather dense, drooping, 1,5-4 dm long
Spikelet length: spikelets 7-10 mm long
Lemma awns: lemma mucronate to awned
*Rhynchelytrum_Nees.
Rhynchelytrum Nees.
Life span: slender annual
Growth form: slender
Inflorescence: open or somewhat contracted but not dense panicles
Spikelets: silky spikelets on short, capillary pedicels
Glumes: first glume minute, the second glume short-stipitate
Lemma: sterile lemma equaling the second glume; fertile lemma shorter than the spikelet, smooth, obtuse, the margins thin, not inrolled
Palea: palea well-developed in both florets
*Rhynchelytrum_repens_(Willd.)_C._E._Hubbard
Rhynchelytrum repens (Willd.) C. E. Hubbard
Growth form: culms geniculate, decumbent at base, ascending rooting at lower nodes
Height: culms to 1 m tall, usually less
Blades: blades flat linear-attenuate
Sheaths: sheaths shorter than internodes, pilose-papillose
Ligule: ligule pilose
Inflorescence: panicle overtopping the leaves, white in early anthesis, fading brilliant red or purple
Chromosome number: 2n = 36
Itchgrass_(Rottboellia_L.f.)
Itchgrass (Rottboellia L.f.)
Common name: Itchgrass
Life span: annual
Growth form: robust, leafy, branching
Leaves: broad linear from rhizomatous base
Inflorescence: rachis joints thickened, hollow, cylindrical, flanked by the adnate pedicel of sterile spikelet and by the sessile fertile spikelet
Glumes: outer glume coriaceous, the inner glume thinner
Lemmas: sterile and fertile lemmas and paleae hyaline
*Rottboellia_exaltata_L.
Rottboellia exaltata L.
Growth form: glabrous, solid, at least above
Height: to 3 m tall
Sheaths: sheaths loose, papillose-hirsute
Ligule: membranous, 1 mm, hairy
Leaves: blades to 3 cm wide, elongate, with scabrous margins and a prominent white midrib
Inflorescence: racemes long peduncled to 10 cm long; bases concealed by spathes
Glumes: outer glumes papillose
Spikelets: apical spikelets abortive; sessile spikelets 5-7 mm long
Hornwort_Family_(CERATOPHYLLACEAE_S._F._Gray)
Hornwort Family (CERATOPHYLLACEAE S. F. Gray)
Common name: Hornwort Family
Growth form: Herbaceous, submersed aquatics
Leaves: leaves whorled, dichotomously dissected
Flowers: flowers imperfect, solitary, sessile in leaf axils, each subtended by a calyxlike involucre of 8-14 bracts, lacking a perianth
Stamens: stamens 12-16
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, of 1 carpel
Fruit: fruit an achene
Chromosome number: x = 12 (mostly)
Hornwort_(Ceratophyllum_L.)
Hornwort (Ceratophyllum L.)
The family consists of a single genus.
Common_hornwort_(Ceratophyllum_demersum_L.)
Common hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum L.)
Common name: Common hornwort
Height: stems to 10 dm long or more
Growth form: freely branched and forming tangled masses
Leaves: leaves whorled 5-12 per node, each usually dichotomously 1 or 2 times divided, the segments linear and flat, antrorsely toothed
Fruit: achenes 4-5 mm long, ellipsoidal, provided with 2 basal spines
Chromosome number: 2n = 24, 28, 38, 48
Habitat: Ponds, reservoirs, lakes, and slowly flowing streams; cosmopolitan.
Note: This plant simulates the algal genus Chara, which has whorled branches, not dichotomously branched whorled leaves. Because of this similarity it seems probable that the common hornwort has not been collected when it was assumed to be Chara, which is widespread and common.
Jewelweed_Family_(BALSAMINACEAE_A._Rich.)
Jewelweed Family (BALSAMINACEAE A. Rich.)
Common name: Jewelweed Family
Growth form: usually delicate, succulent herbs, with swollen nodes
Leaves: alternate, simple, dentate
Flowers: mostly axillary, perfect, irregular
Sepals: sepals usually 3, the posterior one petal-like, strongly saccate or spurred at the base
Petals: petals 5, or only 3 with 2 of them unequally 2-cleft
Stamens: stamens 5, the anthers more or less united aroung the stigma
Fruit: fruit a 5-celled capsule without a style
Jewelweed_(Impatiens_L.)
Jewelweed (Impatiens L.)
Growth form: tall herb
Leaves: coarsely toothed
Flowers: clustered, often of 2 kinds, large showy one which are seldom fertile, and small ones which are fertilized early in the bud and produce capsules which are elastically dehiscent into 5 spirally coiled valves
Legume_Family_(FABACEAE_Lindl.)
Legume Family (FABACEAE Lindl.)
Common name: Legume Family
Growth form: herbs, shrubs, or trees
Leaves: leaves alternate, pinnately or palmately compound, or simple, stipulate
Flowers: flowers perfect, irregular or regular, usually borne in racemes
Calyx: calyx 5-lobed
Petals: petals 5 (a banner, 2 wings, and 2 keels) or fewer, less commonly reduced to 1 (banner), or lacking
Stamens: stamens 10 or 5, or numerous, diadelphous, monadelphous, or distinct
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 1- or 2-loculed, 1-carpelled, the style and stigma 1
Fruit: fruit (pod) a legume or loment, sessile, subsessile, stipitate, or with a gynophore, dehiscent or indehiscent
Chromosome number: x = 5-14
*Cassia_L.
Cassia L.
Growth form: herbs
Leaves: evenly pinnate
Flowers: racemose or clustered
Sepals: 5, scarcely united at base
Petals: 5, nearly equal
Stamens: mostly 10, sometimes 5, often unequal
Fruit: legume many-seeded
Sicklepod_(Cassia_obtusifolia_L.)
Sicklepod (Cassia obtusifolia L.)
Common name: Sicklepod
Life span: annual
Height: 1.5 m tall
Leaves: leaflets 4-6, terminal pair largest, obovate, widely rounded apically, 2-7 cm long, with an elongate gland about 2 mm long between, or just above, the petiolules of the lowest pair of leaflets; stipules tardily deciduous
Flowers: 1-2, or rarely several in a pedunculate, axillary cluster
Sepals: sepals unequal, 5-10 mm long, 2-5 mm wide
Petals: petals yellow, 8-17 mm long
Stamens: perfect stamens 6-7, staminodes 3-4
Fruit: legume narrowly linear, strongly curved, tetragonal, 1-2 dm long, 3-5 mm broad
Chromosome number: n = 7
Flowering: August - November
Coffee_Senna_(Cassia_occidentalis_L.)
Coffee Senna (Cassia occidentalis L.)
Common name: Coffee Senna
Life span: annual
Height: 2 m tall
Leaves: leaflets 8-12, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute to acuminate, 1-9 cm long, 1.5-3 cm wide with a globose, sessile gland 3-5 mmm from base of petiole; stipules caducous
Flowers: axillary, solitary or in few-flowered racemes
Sepals: sepals 6-9 mm long
Petals: petals yellow, 1-2 cm long
Stamens: perfect stamens 6-7, often of 2 distictly unequal sizes, sterile stamens 3-4
Fruit: legume linear, straight to slightly curved, 8-14 cm long, 5-9 mm broad
Chromosome number: n = 14
Flowering: August - November
Rattleseed_(Crotalaria_L.)
Rattleseed (Crotalaria L.)
Growth form: herbs
Leaves: simple
Inflorescence: racemose
Sepals: calyx 5-toothed
Stamens: stamens monadelphous
Ovary: ovary sessile or short-stalked
Fruit: legume oblong or plobose, inflated, the seeds loose at maturity
Tick-trefoil,_Sticktights_(Desmodium_Desv.)
Tick-trefoil, Sticktights (Desmodium Desv.)
Common names: Tick-trefoil, Sticktights
Life span: perennial
Growth form: erect ascending or trailing herbs
Leaves: 3-foliolate leaves
Flowers: small
Inflorescence: raceme or panicle
Calyx: calyx-tube short, the teeth somewhat united into 2 lips
Stamens: stamens monadelphous or diadelphous
Ovary: ovary with 2-many ovules
Fruit: loment flat, several jointed, the joints readily separable
Bush_Clover_(Lespedeza_Michx.)
Bush Clover (Lespedeza Michx.)
Life span: perennial
Growth form: herbs (or woody at the base) from a caudex
Leaves: leaves alternate, pinnately trifoliolate
Stipules: stipules inconspicuous
Inflorescence: axillary raceme or subpaniculate
Flowers: flowers papilionaceous, each subtended by a bract
Bracts: bracteoles 2, attached at base of calyx
Calyx: calyx 5-toothed
Petals: petals 5, pink purple
Stamens: stamens 10, diadelphous
Ovary: ovary 1-ovuled, the style incurved and beardless, the stigma small and terminal
Fruit: pod short, partially included in the calyx
Trefoil_(Lotus_L.)
Trefoil (Lotus L.)
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs or suffrutescent, caulescent
Roots: taproot and caudex
Leaves: leaves alternate, pinnately (or appearing palmately) compound
Stipules: stipules foliaceous, scarious, or glandlike
Flowers: flowers papilionaceous, in axillary pedunculate umbels or solitary
Bracts: bracts leaf-like
Calyx: calyx 5-toothed
Petals: petals 5, yellow or white, sometimes suffused with red, the keel long-attenuate
Stamens: stamens 10, diadelphous
Ovary: ovary enclosed in the staminal sheath, the style glabrous
Fruit: pods flattened or subterete, straight, 1- to several-seeded, dehiscent
Chromosome number: x = 6, 7, 10
Birds-foot_trefoil_(Lotus_corniculatus_L.)
Birds-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.)
Common name: Birds-foot trefoil
Life span: perennial
Height: 1-5 dm long
Growth form: with ascending or procumbent stems, glabrous or strigose
Stipules: stipules foliar, almost or quite as large as the leaflets
Leaves: alternate; leaflets 3, 5-15 mm long, 2-8 mm wide, obovate, rounded apically
Flowers: flowers (1 or 2) mostly 5-12, 8-12 mm long, yellow; peduncles 0.5-7.5 cm long; bracts 1- to 3-foliolate
Calyx: calyx 3-4 mm long, the teeth subequal to the tube
Fruit: pods linear, 20-35 mm long, 2-3.5 mm thick, subterete, straight, glabrous
Chromosome number: 2n = 12, 24, 32
Habitat: Cultivated forage plant of moist pastures; introduced from Europe.
Note: This species is very closely allied to L. tenuis (q.v.), from which it is not always distinguished by the key characters. Some plants with broad leaflets have as few as 3-5 flowers, and some of those with narrow, acute leaflets have more than 5 flowers. Probably they would be best put together.
Lupine_(Lupinus_L.)
Lupine (Lupinus L.)
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs
Leaves: leaves alternate, palmately compound
Stipules: stipules slender, persistent
Flowers: flowers borne in terminal racemes, perfect
Calyx: calyx bilabiate, the lips entire or toothed, commonly with bracteoles
Petals: petals usually blue or blue purple, less commonly whitish, yellow, or reddish, the banner variously reflexed, glabrous or variously hairy dorsally, the wings mostly glabrous, the keel glabrous or ciliate on upper (less commonly lower) edges
Stamens: stamens 10, monadelphous, with 5 long filaments alternating with 5 short ones
Fruit: pods laterally compressed, 2- to several-seeded
Synonyms: Refer to Barneby (1989).
Note: The genus is notoriously difficult because of lack of clear diagnostic features. Taxa tend to grade morphologically into each other, probably due to hybridization. The basic chromosome number is x = 12, but most of ours are polyploids, and numerous aneuploids are known. Wide ranging perennial taxa tend to intergrade with all others they contact. Because of these problems, and the likelihood of cleistogamy in some taxa, it is not possible to assign all specimens to described entities.
Toxins: Several of the species have been implicated in poisoning of livestock. Quinolizidine alkaloids and other kinds of alkaloids have been extracted from the plants. Sheep are the most affected, but horses, cattle, and other animals have also been poisoned.
Alfalfa_(Medicago_L.)
Alfalfa (Medicago L.)
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Growth form: caulescent
Roots: from a taproot or caudex
Leaves: leaves alternate, pinnately trifoliolate, the leaflets serrate in the distal half or less
Stipules: stipules herbaceous, often toothed
Flowers: flowers papilionaceous, borne in axillary, pedunculate racemes or heads
Bracts: bracts subulate
Calyx: calyx 5-toothed
Petals: petals 5, yellow, white, blue, pink, lavender, or purple
Stamens: stamens 10, diadelphous
Ovary: ovary enfolded by the staminal sheath, the style subulate, irritable
Fruit: pods curved to spirally coiled, 1- to several-seeded, indehiscent, reticulate or spiny.
Alfalfa,_lucern_(Medicago_sativa_L.)
Alfalfa, lucern (Medicago sativa L.)
Common name: Alfalfa, lucern
Life span: perennial, or functionally annual
Height: the stems 4-12 dm long or more
Growth form: ascending to erect, finally sprawling, strigulose
Stipules: stipules entire or toothed, 4-12 mm long, persistent
Leaves: alternate; leaves short-petiolate, the leaflets elliptic to oblanceolate, 8-40 mm long, 2-15 mm wide, apically few-toothed, pubescent
Inflorescence: racemes 6- to 25-flowered, 10-35 mm long or more; peduncles often surpassing the subtending leaves
Flowers: flowers 6-10 mm long, blue, lavender, pink, purple, or white
Calyx: calyx campanulate to short-cylindric, the tube 1.5-2.5 mm long, the lance-subulate teeth 2-4 mm long
Fruit: pods spirally coiled, unarmed, several-seeded
Chromosome number: 2n = 16, 32, 64
Habitat: Forage plant introduced to the U. S., escaping and persisting, now almost or quite cosmopolitan; introduced from Europe.
Note: Alfalfa has been grown since antiquity in the Old World. Despite its wide use for forage, both cattle and sheep have been poisoned by alfalfa, especially when the plants are young and growing actively, or by tender, leafy, second and third crop hay.
Sweet_Clover_(Melilotus_L.)
Sweet Clover (Melilotus L.)
Life span: annual or biennial herbs
Growth form: caulescent
Roots: stout taproot
Leaves: leaves alternate, pinnately trifoliolate, the leaflets dentate- serrate in the distal half or more
Stipules: stipules herbaceous, distinct, subulate, entire or hastately lobed
Flowers: flowers papilionaceous, borne in axillary, pedunculate racemes
Bracts: bracts subulate
Calyx: calyx 5-toothed
Petals: petals 5, white or yellow, the keel obtuse
Stamens: stamens 10, diadelphous
Ovary: ovary enfolded by the staminal sheath, the style subulate, not irritable
Fruit: pods straight, ovoid, reticulately veined or cross-ribbed, unarmed, glabrous, 1- to 2-seeded, indehiscent
Chromosome number: x = 8
Kudzu_(Pueraria_DC.)
Kudzu (Pueraria DC.)
Growth form: twining herbs or shrubs
Leaves: 3-foliolate
Flowers: large, in long and dense racemes
Calyx: campanulate, 5- toothed
Petals: standard usually spurred at the base
Stamens: monadelphous
Fruit: legume flat, linear, many-seeded
Kudzu_Vine_(Pueraria_lobata_(Willd.)_Ohwi)
Kudzu Vine (Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi)
Common name: Kudzu Vine
Life span: perennial
Roots: large tuberous starchy roots, making a very vigorous growth (to 18 m. in a single season) of slender hairy stems
Leaves: leaflets rhombic-ovate to nearly orbicular, variously lobed, entire, ciliate
Flowers: dark purple, not showy
Legume: large and flat
Sesbania_Scop.
Sesbania Scop.
Life span: annual
Surface: plants glabrous; stems tall, erect sparingly branched, leafy
Leaves: bright green, elongate, pinnate, the leaflets numerous, narrow, oblong or elliptic
Flowers: in axillary few-flowered racemes; corolla pale yellow, usulaly streaked and spotted with brown-purple
Fruit: pods long, very slender, dehiscent, with cross partitions between numerous oblong seeds
*Sesbania_exaltata_(Raf.)_Rydberg_ex_A._W._Hill
Sesbania exaltata (Raf.) Rydberg ex A. W. Hill
Life span: annual
Stem: glabrous, 0.7-2 m tall
Leaves: even-pinnate, 1-3 dm long; leaflets 20-70, entire, narrowly oblong to linear-elliptic or linear, mostly 1-3 sm long, glabrous, somewhat glaucous beneath, estipellate
Inflorescence: racemes axillary, few-flowered, 2-8 cm long, shorter than the subtending leaves; pedicels 0.5-1 cm long; bracts linear-subulate, 4-6 mm long; bractlets paired, linear, 3-4 mm long
Calyx: calyx glabrous, tube campanulate, 3-4 mm long, lobes 1-1.5 mm long, nearly equal
Petals: petals yellow and often streaked or spotted with purple, to 1.5 cm long
Stamens: stamens diadelphous, 9 and 1 Legume septate, linear, slender, compressed, 1-2 dm long, 3-4 mm broad, short-stipitate, beaked, 30-40 seeded, glabrous
Chromosome number: n = 6
Flowering: July - September
Clover_(Trifolium_L.)
Clover (Trifolium L.)
Life span: perennial or short-lived perennial or annual
Stem: caulescent or acaulescent
Roots: from taproot and caudex, rhizome, or stolon
Leaves: leaves alternate, palmately to pinnately 3-foliolate, or rarely 4- to 7-foliolate, commonly serrate throughout, rarely entire
Stipules: stipules membranous to foliaceous, often connate
Flowers: flowers papilionaceous, borne in terminal or axillary, pedunculate to sessile, subcapitate heads or racemes
Calyx: calyx 5-toothed
Petals: petals 5, pink, white, or red purple, withering and persistent, finally investing the pod
Stamens: stamens 10, diadelphous
Fruit: pods usually shorter than the calyx, indehiscent, 1- to several-seeded.
Red_clover_(Trifolium_pratense_L.)
Red clover (Trifolium pratense L.)
Common name: Red clover
Stem: caulescent
Life span: short-lived perennial
Height: 18-60 cm tall or more
Roots: from a taproot
Growth form: erect or ascending
Leaves: petioles 0.8-19 cm long; leaflets 3, 11-54 mm long, 8-28 mm wide, elliptic to lanceolate, ovate, or obovate, flat, toothed from near the base (the teeth inconspicuous), long-pilose beneath, glabrous above, obtuse to retuse
Stipules: stipules scarious to subherbaceous, 11-24 mm long; heads closely subtended by one or more foliose bracts, these often 3-foliolate, sessile, or spreading hairy peduncles to 3 cm long, many-flowered, 22-36 mm long, 20-34 mm wide, axillary, erect
Flowers: flowers 13-20 mm long, deep red
Calyx: calyx 7.5-9.7 mm long, the tube 3.2-4.1 mm long, strigose, scarious, the teeth 4.3-5.6 mm long, subulate, pilose
Fruit: pods 2-seeded
Chromosome number: 2n = 14, 28, 48
Habitat: Cultivated forage plant, escaping and at least locally established; introduced from Europe;
Note: This important agronomic crop plant is a common component of seed mixtures for pasture and hay lands. It is of importance as a forb in meadows cut for wild hay, and is commonly found established along roadsides. Bees utilize its nectar to produce fine quality honey. Poisoning of livestock has been reported for this plant.
White_clover_(Trifolium_repens_L.)
White clover (Trifolium repens L.)
Common name: White clover
Stem: caulescent; stems stoloniferous, creeping and rooting at the nodes
Height: 8-35 cm tall
Leaves: leaflets 3, 5-22 (38) mm long, 4-18 (30) mm wide, obcordate or obovate to oval or elliptic, flat, toothed from near the base, glabrous on both sides, truncate to emarginate; petioles 1.8-24 cm long; petioles and peduncles often arising at right-angles to the stem axis, radiating from a root crown
Stipules: stipules scarious, 3-10 mm long
Inflorescence: heads without an involucre, many-flowered, 10-32 mm long, 15-30 mm wide, axillary, on peduncles 6-33 cm long, these glabrous or sparingly pilose, erect; peduncles often arising at right-angles to the stem axis, radiating from a root crown; pedicels 1-6.4 mm long
Flowers: flowers 5-9 (10) mm long, white or pinkish, fading brown, the lower reflexed in age
Calyx: calyx 3.2-5.4 mm long, the tube 2.2-2.7 mm long, scarious, glabrous, the teeth 1-2.7 mm long, subulate, glabrous
Fruit: pods 1- to 3-seeded
Chromosome number: 2n = 16, 22, 30, 32
Habitat: Commonly grown forage and pasture plant now established both in weedy open sites and in native plant communities; introduced from Europe
Note: White clover has also been implicated in animal poisoning
Vetch_(Vicia_L.)
Vetch (Vicia L.)
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs; clambering, trailing, or climbing
Leaves: leaves alternate, even-pinnately compound, the rachis terminating in a usually prehensile tendril; leaflets 4-12 or more, very variable
Stipules: stipules herbaceous, entire to semisagittate
Flowers: flowers solitary, axillary, or in axillary racemes, papilionaceous
Calyx: calyx 5-toothed, obliquely campanulate to short-cylindric
Petals: petals 5, pink to white, the wings adnate to the keel
Stamens: stamens 10, diadelphous
Style: style filiform, bearded around the circumference below the stigma
Fruit: pods oblong, 2- to several-seeded, the valves coiling upon dehiscence
Common_Vetch_(Vicia_sativa_L.)
Common Vetch (Vicia sativa L.)
Common name: Common Vetch
Life span: annual
Growth form: herbs
Roots: taproot
Stems: 0.3-1 m long, simple or branched, erect-ascending or climbing, glabrate to strigulose-villous
Leaves: alternate; with 8-16 leaflets, terminating in a branched tendril; leaflets oblong to elliptic or linear, obovate, or oblanceolate, 1.5-3(5) cm long, emarginate to rounded or turncate, apiculate, glabrate or sparsely strigose
Stipules: stipules semisagittate, often sharply lobed or serrate, lower surface with or without a purplish glandular spot beneath
Flowers: 1-3 in upper axils, subsessile or very short pedunculate; calyx tube 4-7 mm long, teeth 3-7 mm long, the lower longer than upper; corolla blue, violet, purple, or whitish, wings wither bluish or reddish; flowers 1-1.8 cm long or 1.8-3 cm long
Fruit: pods pale brown or almost black at maturity, 4- to 12-seeded
Seeds: seeds 3-5 mm in diameter, olivaceous, yellowish or brownish-black
Chromosome number: n = 6, 7
Hairy_vetch_(Vicia_villosa_Roth)
Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth)
Common name: Hairy vetch
Life span: annual or biennial
Height: 5-20 dm tall
Stem: the stems spreading-hairy
Stipule: stipules toothed or entire, 5-15 mm long
Leaves: alternate; leaves (excluding tendrils) 2.3-8 cm long
Inflorescence: peduncles 1.8-7.5 cm long; racemes mainly 15- to 25-flowered, the flowers declined at anthesis
Calyx: calyx 7-7.8 mm long, the gibbous tube 3.8-4.7 mm long, the teeth 3.1-4.3 mm long, subulate, pilose
Flowers: flowers 15-17 mm long, pink purple or reddish violet
Fruit: pods 20-30 mm long, 7-10 mm wide, glabrous
Chromosome number: 2n = 14
Habitat: Weedy introduction in cultivated lands and other disturbed sites, often along fence-rows; adventive from Europe.
Loosestrife_Family_(LYTHRACEAE_J._St._Hil.)
Loosestrife Family (LYTHRACEAE J. St. Hil.)
Common name: Loosestrife Family
Growth form: herbs, shrubs, or trees
Leaves: leaves opposite or alternate, simple, entire
Flowers: flowers perfect, regular or occasionally irregular, solitary or clustered
Calyx: calyx 4- to 6-toothed, often with many accessory ones in the sinuses, the tube free from the ovary but closely investing it
Petals: petals 4 or 5 (7), borne on the throat of the hypanthium
Stamens: stamens 4 to many, borne on the hypanthium margin
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 2- to 6-loculed, becoming 1-loculed
Style: style 1
Stigma: stigma capitate
Fruit: fruit a capsule
Chromosome number: x = 5-11
Loosestrife_(Lythrum_L.)
Loosestrife (Lythrum L.)
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Stems: stems mostly 4-angled
Leaves: leaves opposite, alternate, or whorled, entire
Flowers: flowers usually solitary in the upper axils; hypanthium cylindrical, 8- to 12-ribbed, 4- to 7-toothed, with an equal number of alternating teeth in the sinuses
Petals: petals 4-7, attached to the hypanthium margin
Stamens: stamens 4-14, borne on the hypanthium margin
Fruit: capsules cylindrical, included in the calyx tube, 2-loculed, regular, dehiscent
Purple_loosestrife_(Lythrum_salicaria_L.)
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L.)
Common name: Purple loosestrife
Life span: perennial
Growth form: herbs; erect, much branched
Roots: from creeping rhizomes
Height: stems 7-30 dm tall
Stem: green, with coarse hairs
Leaves: leaves opposite or whorled, 2-10 cm long, 4-20 mm wide, lanceolate to rounded or cordate at the base, acute to attenuate apically, hairy
Calyx: calyx tube 5-8 mm long, cylindrical, coarsely hairy, the appendage of the calyx twice or more longer than the teeth
Petals: petals rose purple, 5-10 mm long
Stamens: stamens 10-14
Fruit: capsule cylindroid to club shaped
Chromosome number: 2n = 30, 60
Habitat: Cultivated ornamental, escaping and established in moist sites; introduced from Europe.
Madder_Family_(RUBIACEAE_Juss.)
Madder Family (RUBIACEAE Juss.)
Common name: Madder Family
Growth form: woody or herbaceous plants
Leaves: opposite or whorled, entire
Flowers: perfect, regular, nearly symmetrical
Calyx: calyx-tube adherent to the 2-4 celled ovary
Corolla: corolla various, 4-5 lobed, often pubescent within
Fruit: fruit a capsule, berry or drupe
Bedstraw_(Galium_L.)
Bedstraw (Galium L.)
Growth form: slender herbs with square stems
Leaves: whorled
Corolla: corolla wheel-shaped valvate in bud, white, green, yellow, or purple
Stamens: stamens 4 (rarely 3), short
Styles: styles 2
Fruit: dry or fleshy, globose, splitting when ripe into two seed-like indehiscent 1-seeded carpels
*Galium_aparine_L.
Galium aparine L.
Life span: annual
Stems: lax and spreading or growing upward among other supporting plants, retrorsely prickly on the angles, more or less hispid-pilose at the nodess
Leaves: in whorls of 6-8, mostly 2-6 cm long, linear-oblanceolate to linear-oblong, attenuate-apiculate, the margins and midribs below retrorsely prickly
Flowers: in sparse leafy clusters; corolla 2 mm across, greenish white
Fruit: fruit 2-3 mm long, dry, hispid with short hooked bristles
*Richardia_L.
Richardia L.
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Leaves: opposite
Flowers: in involucrate cymes, axillary or terminal, sepals four to eight, fused at the base, foliaceous, corolla four- to eight-lobed, funnelform tube short, stamens as many as the corolla lobes, fused near the top of the tube
Fruit: fruit dry, mature carpels separating from one another
*Richardia_scabra_L.
Richardia scabra L.
Life span: annual
Corolla: corolla 5-6 mm long, lobes less than 1/3 the length of the tube
Fruit: fruit tuberculate
Chromosome number: n = 14, 28
Flowering: June - frost
Habitat: savannahs, fields, roadsides and waste places
Mallow_Family_(MALVACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Mallow Family (MALVACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Mallow Family
Growth form: herbs or less commonly shrubs with mucilaginous juice
Surface: usually pubescent with branched or stellate hairs
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial
Leaves: leaves alternate, simple, mostly palmately veined, stipulate
Flowers: flowers perfect (or imperfect), regular, solitary or in thyrsoid cymes or more or less racemose or paniculate, sometimes with an involucel of sepaloid bractlets
Sepals: sepals 5, more or less persistent
Petals: petals 5, separate, adnate to the staminal sheath
Stamens: stamens numerous, united by the filaments (monadelphous)
Ovary: ovary superior, 3- to many-loculed
Fruit: fruit a capsule or schizocarp
Chromosome number: x = 6-17+, 20+
Velvet-leaf_(Abutilon_Miller)
Velvet-leaf (Abutilon Miller)
Growth form: herbaceous
Life span: annual or perennial
Surface: with stellate or simple hairs
Leaves: leaves alternate, petioled, cordate at base, not or only obscurely lobed
Flowers: flowers solitary and axillary or in leafy panicles; involucel lacking
Calyx: calyx 5-cleft
Petals: corolla yellow to orange pink or red
Fruit: fruit truncate-cylindric or subglobose, the carpels smooth sided, dehiscent nearly to the base
Ovules: ovules 2 or more per carpel.
Velvet-leaf_(Abutilon_theophrasti_Medicus)
Velvet-leaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medicus)
Common name: Velvet-leaf
Life span: annual
Surface: velvety and cinereous with short, soft hairs
Stems: stems robust
Growth form: erect
Height: 5-15 dm tall or more
Leaves: alternate; leaves long-petiolate, the blades 3-25 cm long (from sinus to apex) and almost as broad or broader, orbicular-ovate, cordate at the base, abruptly acuminate at the apex, prominently veined, velvety pubescent with small, mostly 3-rayed hairs
Calyx: calyx lobes broadly ovate-acuminate
Petals: petals yellow, 6-12 mm long; peduncles shorter than the leaves, 1- or few-flowered
Pistil: carpels 10 or more, each with a divergent awn 3-5 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 42
Habitat: Adventive weedy species of roadsides, ditch banks, and other open sites, or of cultivated areas; widespread in North America; native to Europe.
*Acanthospermum_Schrank
Acanthospermum Schrank
Life span: annual
Growth form: herb
Roots: taproot
Leaves: opposite, blades lance-ovate to cuneate-ovate, serrate or dentate
Inflorescence: heads radiate, ligule small
Involucre: pyllaries few in one series, becoming prickly
Flowers: outer whorl of florets pistillate, central discoid, sterile, corollas campanulate, tubes short
Pappus: pappus absent, achene somewhat compressed, angled, smooth
*Acanthospermum_hispidum_DC.
Acanthospermum hispidum DC.
Growth form: erect herb
Stem: branching
Surface: coarse
Height: up to 1 m tall, usually less
Leaves: 3-6 cm long, ovate-elliptic, shallowly serrate, densely pubescent, sessile, base cuneate
Involucre: involucre narrowly campanulate, outer phyllaries elliptic, becoming spinescent and prickly at maturity
Flowers: ligules short, yellow, disk corollas about 1 mm long
*Anoda_Cav.
Anoda Cav.
*Anoda_cristata_(L.)_Schlecht.
Anoda cristata (L.) Schlecht.
Lifespan: annual
Growth form: herb
Surface: sparsely hirsute to hirsute with mostly simple hairs
Stem: branched from near base, to 1 m tall
Leaves: leaf blades deltoid to trinagular-ovate, triangular-lanceolate or hastate, exceedingly variable even on the same individual, some or all leaves with shallow to deep lobes or division, 4.5-10 cm long, acute to acuminate, irregularly dentate, crenate or entire, truncate to broadly cuneate; stipules linear
Flowers: solitry, axillary; peduncles long; involucel none
Calyx: often purplish-red, explanate under the fruit, in fruit 2-3 cm wide, calyx lobes narrowly ovate to triangular-lanceolate, acuminate
Corolla: corolla pale blue or lavender to violet, petals commonly cuneate, 1-2.5 cm long, retuse
Stamens: stamen-column bearing anthers at the summit
Pistil: carpels 8-20, united in a ring around a central axis, dark green, the backs separated by pale bands, conspicuously beaked with an elongate dorsal spur
Fruit: fruit a schizocarp, flattened and disklike, lateral walls
*Hibiscus_L.
Hibiscus L.
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbaceous or woody
Surface: stellate or simple hairs
Leaves: alternate, petiolate, obtuse to truncate or cordate basally, lobed to incised
Flowers: axillary, solitary; involucel of 5-10 distinct bractlets
Calyx: 5-cleft, more or less accrescent in fruit
Fruit: loculicidal capsule, the carpels 5
Seeds: several in each locule
Flower-of-an-hour_(Hibiscus_trionum_L.)
Flower-of-an-hour (Hibiscus trionum L.)
Common name: Flower-of-an-hour
Height: 1.5-5 dm tall
Growth form: the lower branches often prostrate
Surface: coarsely hispid-stellate to glabrate
Leaves: 3-lobed or more commonly 3- to 5-parted, the main lobes cuneate basally, the middle lobe the largest
Flowers: solitary, axillary, mostly 3-6 cm wide
Bractlets: usually 10, linear, often coarsely hispid, much shorter than the fruiting calyx
Petals: corolla cream colored to yellowish, with a purple center, closing in shade
Chromosome number: 2n = 28, 56
Habitat: weedy species of cultivated land; widespread in North America; adventive from central Africa.
*Malva_L.
Malva L.
Growth form: herbaceous
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial
Roots: from taproots, the pubescence simple to branched or stellate
Leaves: leaves alternate, petiolate, usually more or less cordate basally, commonly lobed
Inflorescence: flowers in axillary clusters (sometimes solitary) or in subterminal panicles; involucel of 3 narrow to broad persistent bractlets
Calyx: calyx 5-cleft
Pistil: carpels mostly 10-15
Fruit: fruit a schizocarp
Cheeses,_mallow_(Malva_neglecta_Wallr.)
Cheeses,_mallow (Malva neglecta Wallr.)
Common name: Cheeses, mallow
Life span: annual or biennial
Growth form: the stems prostrate spreading, commonly 1-6 dm long
Surface: stellate hairy
Leaves: alternate; leaf blades reniform-orbicular, 0.6-3 cm long (from sinus to apex) or more, and much broader, crenate and not at all to only shallowly 5- to 7-lobed, the petioles to 20 cm long or more
Inflorescence: flowers clustered (or solitary) in the axils; bractlets linear
Calyx: calyx (3) 4-6 mm long at anthesis, the lobes acuminate
Petals: petals white to pink or lilac, about twice as long as the sepals
Pistil: carpels hairy, rounded on the back
Chromosome number: 2n = 42
Habitat: Weeds of disturbed sites and cultivated land, and likely universal; widespread in North America; adventive from Eurasia
Note: Two similar species are M. parviflora L. and M. rotundifolia L. They are similar to M. neglecta, but have petals subequal to the sepals. Malva parviflora has glabrous petal claws, whereas in M. rotundifolia the claws are bearded.
Milkweed_Family_(ASCLEPIADACEAE_R._Br.)
Milkweed Family (ASCLEPIADACEAE R. Br.)
Common name: Milkweed Family
Life span: perennial
Growth form: herbs, vines, or shrubs with milky juice
Leaves: leaves opposite, whorled, or sometimes alternate, without stipules
Flowers: flowers perfect, regular, umbellate, 5-merous
Sepals: calyx deeply lobed, the lobes mostly imbricate
Petals: corolla 5-lobed or -cleft, the lobes commonly valvate in bud, a 5-lobed crown (corona) usually present between the corolla and stamens and adnate to either or both
Stamens: stamens 5, inserted on the corolla tube near its base, the filaments monadelphous or distinct, the anthers united and tipped with a scarious membrane inflexed on the summit of the stylar disk; pollen grains united into waxlike or granular pollinia
Pistil: carpels 2, with superior ovaries and styles but united above by the peltate discoid stigma
Fruit: fruit of 2 follicles
Seeds: seeds many, usually with a long coma
Chromosome number: x = 9-12
*Ampelamus_Raf.
Ampelamus Raf.
Growth form: slender herbaceous vine
Leaves: broad or very narrow, or stems leafless
Flowers: in cymes or in umbel-like clusters, corolla obconic, lobes ovate-triangular, somewhat longer than the tube, corona present, forming a fleshy cup with shallow-toothed margin ascending around the gynostegium
Ovary: ovary smooth, follicles glabrous, lance-linear
Honeyvine,_Sandvine,_Dog's-collar_(Ampelamus_albidus_(Nutt.)_Britton)
Honeyvine, Sandvine, Dog's-collar (Ampelamus albidus (Nutt.) Britton)
Common names: Honeyvine, Sandvine, Dog's-collar
Growth form: stem slender, high climbing
Leaves: slender-petioled, ovate, gradually acuminate, deeply cordate, palmately veined, entire, 7.5-17.5 cm long, 3.5-12.5 cm wide; petioles 2.5-10 cm long
Inflorescence: cymes numerous, densely flowered
Flowers: flowers 4-6 mm long; corolla-segments lanceolate, acute
Fruit: follicles on ascending fruiting pedicels, 10-15 cm long, somewhat angled, smooth when mature
Habitat: flood plains, riverbanks, and thickets
Milkweed_(Asclepias_L.)
Milkweed (Asclepias L.)
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs, with milky juice; stems prostrate to erect
Leaves: leaves usually opposite, infrequently whorled or irregularly approximate
Inflorescence: inflorescence terminal or lateral, umbelliformly cymose
Sepals: calyx lobes 5, equal, divided nearly to the receptacle
Petals: corolla rotate, 5-lobed, the lobes reflexed, spreading or rarely erect, the gynostegium stipitate to subsessile, the corona of 5 hoods attached to the column and subtending the fused anthers, the hoods cucullate to clavate with various modifications, more or less stipitate to sessile and deeply saccate at the basal attachment to the column, usually bearing an internal horn or crest
Anthers: anthers 2-locular, with more or less prominent corneous marginal wings enclosing the stigmatic chambers and with membranous apical appendages; pollinia paired and pendulous from the translator arms, flat and uniformly fertile, enclosing granular pollen with thin hyaline intine
Stigma: stigma head peltate, more or less pentagonal
Fruit: fruit a follicle containing many compressed comose or rarely naked seeds
Common_Milkweed_(Asclepias_syriaca_L.)
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.)
Common name: Common Milkweed
Growth form: stem stout, mostly simple, finely soft-pubescent at least above
Height/length: 9-15 dm high
Leaves: opposite; oblong, oval or ovate, 1-2 dm long, 5-10 cm wide
Inflorescence: umbels several or numerous
Flowers: corolla green-purple or greenish-white, its segments oblong-lanceolate, 6-9 mm long; hoods ovate, obtuse, with a tooth on each side of the short stout claw-like horn
Fruit: follicles erect on recurved pedicels, tomentose and covered with short soft processes, 7.5- 12.5 cm long
Habitat: fields and waste places
*Sarcostemma_R._Br.
Sarcostemma R. Br.
Growth form: suffrutescent twining or trailing vines
Leaves: leaves opposite
Flowers: flowers umbellate or cymose
Calyx: calyx deeply 5-lobed
Petals: corolla rotate to campanulate or salverform, 5-lobed
Stamens: stamens 5, the filaments fused into a column, each filament bearing an inflated vesicular segment (corona-vesicle) just below the anther
Anthers: anthers 2-celled, the membranous dorsal appendage ovate to deltoid; pollinia solitary in each anther sac, pendulous
Fruit: follicles fusiform to clavate
Climbing_milkweed_(Sarcostemma_cynanchoides_Decne._in_DC.)
Climbing milkweed (Sarcostemma cynanchoides Decne. in DC.)
Common name: Climbing milkweed. [Funastrum heterophyllum (Engelm.) Standley]
Growth form: stems twining or trailing
Height/Length: 1 m or more long, much branched
Surface: glabrous to puberulent
Leaves: leaves to 6 cm long and 3.5 cm wide, broadly to narrowly ovate-lanceolate to triangular- lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acute to acuminate apically, cordate to hastate or round-cuneate basally, sparsely puberulent both surfaces, with one or more glands on the midrib near the base
Inflorescence: inflorescence umbellate, to 20 flowered
Peduncle: peduncle slender to 60 cm long
Bracts: bracts linear, minute
Pedicels: pedicels slender, to 17 mm long
Calyx: calyx lobes ovate to narrowly ovate, 2-3 mm long, pilosulose without, glabrous within
Petals: corolla rotate-campanulate, greenish white to purple or pinkish, the tube 1-2 mm long, the lobes ovate, acute to acuminate 5-7 mm long, glabrous within, fimbriate-ciliate, ring of the crown thin, revolute, not adnate to the base of the crown-vesicles, these 1.5 mm long
Fruit: follicles fusiform to 7 cm long, attenuate apically, puberulent
Habitat: creosote bush, yucca, desert shrub, and hanging garden communities; Texas to California and Mexico
Mint_Family_(LAMIACEAE_Lindl.)
Mint Family (LAMIACEAE Lindl.)
Common Name: Mint Family
Aroma: often aromatic
Life Span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs or shrubs
Stems: ordinarily with square or 4-angled stems
Leaves: leaves simple, opposite or rarely whorled
Flowers: flowers perfect, mostly irregular, borne in various types of cymose inflorescence
Calyx: calyx of 5 united sepals, regular or irregular, usually 5-lobed, or the lobes obscure
Petals: corolla of 5 united petals, usually bilabiate, 5-lobed, or apparently 4-lobed by fusion of the upper 2 lobes
Stamens: stamens 4, in 2 unequal pairs, or only 2 by abortion
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 2-carpelled, falsely 4-loculed and 4-lobed
Style: style 1, usually bifid apically
Fruit: fruit a schizocarp, breaking at maturity into 4, 1-seeded, nutlets
Chromosome number: x = 5-11+
Hemp_nettle_(Galeopsis_L.)
Hemp nettle (Galeopsis L.)
Life span: annual
Growth form: erect with several-many-flowered whorls in the axils of floral leaves
Calyx: about 5-nerved, with 5 nearly equal teeth, spine-tipped
Corolla: dilated at the throat, upper lip oval, arched, entire; the lower 3-cleft, the middle lobe obcordate, emarginate
Hemp_Nettle_(Galeopsis_tetrahit_L.)
Hemp Nettle (Galeopsis tetrahit L.)
Common name: Hemp Nettle
Growth form: herb
Surface: coarse, rough-hairy
Stem: stem rather stout, 3-0 dm high, swollen under the joints
Leaves: ovate, membranous, slender-petioled, acuminate, coarsely dentate, 5-12.5 cm long, 1-6.5 cm broad
Calyx: calyx-teeth needle-pointed, bristly
Corolla: 1.6-2.4 cm long, pink or pale purple variegated with white, about twice the length of the calyx
Habitat: waste places mostly in high elevations in the mountains
*Glecoma_L.
Glecoma L.
Growth form: low, creeping
Life span: perennial herbs
Stems: stems leafy
Leaves: leaves long-petiolate, the blades orbicular or reniform, crenate
Flowers: flowers rather large, blue or purple, in small axillary clusters
Calyx: calyx tubular, somewhat unequally 5-toothed
Corolla: corolla tube exserted, enlarged above, 2-lipped, the upper lip erect, 2-lobed or emarginate
Stamens: stamens 4, paired, the upper pair longer
Anthers: anther sacs divergent.
Ground-ivy_(Glecoma_hederacea_L.)
Ground-ivy (Glecoma hederacea L.)
Common name: Ground-ivy
Synonym: [Nepeta glecoma Benth.; N. hederacea (L.) Trev.]
Roots: fibrous-rooted
Life span: perennial
Roots: from slender stolons and rhizomes
Stems: stems lax, 1-4 dm long, retrorsely scabrous to glabrous or nearly so, pilose at the nodes
Leaves: opposite; leaves rotund-cordate to reniform, glabrous to hirsute, the margins crenate, 1-3 cm long
Flowers: flowers shortly pedicellate
Calyx: calyx narrow, tubular, 5-6 mm long, hirtellous, scabrous, the upper teeth the longer
Petals: corolla blue violet, purple-maculate, (9) 13-23 mm long, those with reduced anthers the shorter
Chromosome number: 2n = 18, 36
Habitat: Cultivated, escaping, and established in moist disturbed habitats; native of Eurasia, now well established in the U. S.; adventive from Eurasia
Note: The species is regarded as poisonous to horses.
Dead_nettle_(Lamium_L.)
Dead nettle (Lamium L.)
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Stems: stems leafy, branching
Leaves: leaves mostly toothed, orbicular to ovate
Flowers: flowers verticillate in axillary or terminal clusters, purplish red
Calyx: calyx tubular-campanulate, usually 5-nerved, 5-toothed, the teeth sharp-pointed, equal or the upper longer
Petals: corolla 2-lipped, the tube somewhat longer than the calyx, the upper lip erect, concave and usually entire, more or less hairy, lower lip spreading, 3-lobed, the middle lobe enlarged and notched, the lateral lobes small
Stamens: stamens 4, the upper pair shorter
Anthers: anthers divergent, with 2 sacs, ascending under upper lip
Dead-nettle_(Lamium_amplexicaule_L.)
Dead-nettle (Lamium amplexicaule L.)
Common name: Dead-nettle
Life span: annuals
Stems: stems branched from the base; square in cross-section
Growth form: more or less decumbent, weedy
Height: 1-4 dm tall
Surface: sparsely pubescent
Leaves: leaves broadly ovate to rounded, truncate, or cordate basally, coarsely crenate, the lower petioled, the upper sessile, 1-2.5 cm wide
Flowers: flowers in axillary and terminal clusters
Calyx: calyx pubescent, 4-5 mm long, the teeth erect
Petals: corolla purplish red, 12-16 mm long, the tube very slender, the upper lip pubescent
Chromosome number: 2n = 18
Habitat: Lawns, fields, roadsides, and other disturbed sites; adventive from Europe, now widely established in much of the U. S.
Toxins: The species is considered as poisonous to horses, cattle, and sheep.
Catnip_(Nepeta_L.)
Catnip (Nepeta L.)
Aroma: aromatic
Life span: perennial herbs
Stems: stems leafy and branched
Leaves: leaves truncate or subcordate basally, rather coarsely toothed
Flowers: flowers cymose, white to purplish mottled, borne in interrupted spikes
Calyx: calyx tubular or campanulate, the tube somewhat constricted above, the 5 teeth deltoid, subulate, subequal in length, but the lower 3 basally joined
Corolla: corolla tube longer than the calyx, 2-lipped, the upper lip erect, notched, the lower lip spreading and 3-lobed, the middle lobe larger
Stamens: stamens 4, paired, the upper pair longer, exserted
Anthers: anthers with 2 divergent sacs
Fruit: nutlets smooth
Catnip_(Nepeta_cataria_L.)
Catnip (Nepeta cataria L.)
Common name: Catnip
Growth form: stems erect
Height: 3-10 dm tall
Stems: with ascending branches, canescent-tomentose; square in cross-section
Leaves: opposite; leaves ovate to oblong, 2-9 cm long, 0.8-6 cm wide, usually cordate basally, having an overall spade-shape; coarsely crenate-serrate, with petioles 1-4 cm long
Calyx: calyx urceolate, very pubescent, about 6 mm long, the teeth subulate
Petals: corolla whitish, spotted with purple, 7-12 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 18, 30, 34, 36
Habitat: Usually in moist sites in sagebrush, mountain brush, and pinyon-juniper communities; adventive from Europe, now widely distributed in North America.
*Prunella_L.
Prunella L.
Life span: perennial herbs
Roots: from tap or fibrous roots and often with rhizomes
Surface; pubescent with multicellular hairs
Leaves: leaves petiolate, crenate to entire
Flowers: flowers short-pedicellate, borne in clusters aggregated into dense spikelike inflorescences, the bracts entire, ciliate
Calyx: calyx 2-lipped, the upper lip shallowly 3-toothed, the lower lip deeply cleft into 2 narrow teeth
Corolla: corolla bilabiate, the upper lip entire or nearly so, the lower lip 3-lobed
Stamens: stamens with anthers 4, the filaments notched near the apex, the anthers glabrous.
Heal-all_(Prunella_vulgaris_L.)
Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris L.)
Common name: Heal-all
Height: stems 0.6-5 dm tall
Growth form: ascending to erect or simple; often has rhizomes
Stem: square in cross-section; 6 cm to .5 m tall
Leaves: opposite; leaf blades lance-ovate to oblong or elliptic, 2-9 cm long, 0.7-4 cm broad, minutely hairy to not at all hairy
Inflorescence: spikes 1-2 cm broad, 2-8 cm long
Calyx: calyx 6-10 mm long, sparsely villous, purplish, the lower teeth subequal to the tube
Petals: corolla pink purple to pink or white, 12-18 mm long, glabrous
Habitat: Wet meadows, streamsides, and other moist sites in ponderosa pine, cottonwood, lodgepole pine, aspen, and spruce communities; widespread in temperate North America; Eurasia.
Morningglory_Family_(CONVOLVULACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Morningglory Family (CONVOLVULACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common Name: Morningglory Family
Lifespan: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs, vines, or shrubs
Leaves: leaves simple or compound, alternate, entire or lobed, without stipules
Flowers: flowers solitary or cymose, axillary or terminal, perfect
Sepals: sepals 5, equal or unequal, separate or united near the base
Petals: corolla sympetalous, regular or nearly so, 5-angled to deeply 5-lobed
Stamens: stamens 5, epipetalous
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 2 (1-5) -loculed
Fruit: fruit a capsule, with 1 to several seeds
Chromosome Number: x = 7-15+
*Calystegia_R._Br.
Calystegia R. Br.
Life span: perennial
Growth form: prostrate or twining herbs
Leaves: leaves petiolate, glabrous, entire or lobed, sagittate to hastate basally
Flowers: flowers axillary, usually solitary
Bracts: bracts 2, mostly large and leaflike
Sepals: sepals 5, enclosed by bracts
Petals: corolla campanulate to funnelform, white or pink, with 5 stripes on the outside
Stigma: stigmas 2-lobed, lobes mostly oblong or elliptic; ovary 1-loculed
Fruit: fruit a capsule
Hedge_Bindweed_(Calystegia_sepium_(L.)_R._Br.)
Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium (L.) R. Br.)
Common Name: Hedge Bindweed
Synonym: [Convolvulus sepium L.]
Life span: perennial
Growth form: herbs
Roots: elongate rootstocks
Stems: stems trailing and twining
Height: stems to 2 m long
Leaves: leaves long-petiolate, cordate at base, acuminate apically
Flowers: flowers axillary, solitary or paired, peduncle short at anthesis, later elongating
Bracts: floral bracts 2, elliptic-ovate, laterally overlapping, 12-25 mm long, about twice as long as the calyx and enclosing it
Petals: corolla funnelform, 5-angled, 4-8 cm long, white
Ovary: ovary 1-loculed; style simple
Fruit: capsule 2- to 4-seeded
Chromosome Number: n = 11, 12
Habitat: Moist sites along streams and lakes; adventive from Europe, now widely naturalized in the U. S.
Bindweed_(Convolvulus_L.)
Bindweed (Convolvulus L.)
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Stems: stems ascending to trailing or twining
Leaves: leaves petiolate to subsessile, entire or lobed
Flowers: flowers axillary, solitary or in loose or congested cymes, both pedunculate and pedicellate
Calyx: calyx with small slender bracts or none
Petals: corolla funnelform, 5-angled or shallowly lobed, white or suffused with purple
Stigmas: stigmas 2, linear, more or less flattened
Ovary: ovary 2-loculed
Style: style simple
Fruit: capsule 2- to 4-seeded
Bindweed_(Convolvulus_arvensis_L.)
Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis L.)
Common name: Bindweed
Life span: perennial
Roots: deeply rooted
Stems: trailing or twining stems
Height: stems to 1 m or more long
Surface: glabrous or somewhat hairy
Leaves: leaves variable in form, but usually oblong-elliptic to deltoid-ovate, mostly 1.5-3.5 cm long, the petioles slender
Flowers: flowers solitary, on peduncles subequal to the leaves
Inflorescence: pedicels shorter than the peduncles
Sepals: sepals elliptic-orbicular, obtuse, about 3 mm long
Petals: corolla open funnelform, white or occasionally pink or lavender pink on the outside with broad vertical stripes, 1.5-2 cm long
Choromosome number: n = 12, 24, 25
Habitat: This is a pestiferous weed of roadsides, railroads, fields (especially so in dry farming grain areas), gardens, and waste places; adventive from Eurasia, of cosmopolitan distribution; 72 (iii).
Morningglory_(Ipomoea_L.)
Morningglory (Ipomoea L.)
Life Span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs or vines
Stems: stems usually trailing, creeping, or twining
Leaves: leaves sessile to petiolate, simple or palmately compound, entire or toothed to lobed
Flowers: flowers axillary or terminal, solitary to numerous
Sepals: sepals 5, commonly laterally overlapping
Petals: corolla 5-angled or shallowly 5-lobed, salverform to funnelform, or campanulate, showy; variously colored
Stigma: stigma globose or with 2 or 3-lobes
Stamens: stamens included or exserted
Ovary: ovary 1- to 3-loculed
Style: style simple
Fruit: capsule 1- to several-seeded.
Ivyleaf_morningglory_(Ipomoea_hederacea_(L.)_Jacq.)
Ivyleaf morningglory (Ipomoea hederacea (L.) Jacq.)
Common name: Ivyleaf morningglory
Life span: annual
Roots: taproot
Height: stems up to 20 feet long
Growth form: plant trailing, hairy
Leaves: on 2- to 4- inch petioles, various shapes from angular to 3-lobed, 1 ´ to 4 inches long, heart-shaped bases
Flowers: blue, purple, or whitish, 1 ti 1 3/4 inches long, in clusters of 1 to 5
Calyx: 5-lobed, hairy at base, 1/3 to ´ inch long and can be 1 inch in length
Fruit: globe-shaped seedpod is yellowish and contains 4 seeds
Habitat: native of tropical America, found throughout the southwestern U. S. states
Morningglory_(Ipomoea_purpurea_(L.)_Roth)
Morningglory (Ipomoea purpurea (L.) Roth)
Common Name: Morningglory
Synonym: [Convolvulus purpureus L.]
Life span: annual
Growth form: twining hairy herbs
Leaves: leaves broadly cordate-ovate, 7-12 cm long, entire, short-acuminate, pubescent
Inflorescence: 1-5 flowers
Sepals: sepals lanceolate to oblong, acute, 12-16 mm long, pubescent
Petals: corolla funnelform, purple to blue, pink, or white, 5-6 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 30, 32
Habitat: Cultivated ornamental, persisting, escaping, and established along fence rows, city dumps, and waste places; widely grown in the U. S.; 7 (i).
*Jaquemontia_Choisy
Jaquemontia Choisy
Life span: annual or perennial
Surface: often suffruticose, pubescent with forked or stellate hairs
Leaves: petioled, entire, rounded or subcordate at base
Flowers: long-peduncled, solitary or in small, loose inflorescences, the corolla funnelform, blue or lavender
Sepals: sepals all alike or the outer ones much broader than the inner ones
*Jaquemontia_tamnifolia
Jaquemontia tamnifolia
Mustard_Family_(BRASSICACEAE_Burnett.)
Mustard Family (BRASSICACEAE Burnett.)
Common name: Mustard Family
Growth form: herbs or occasionally woody at the base, with acrid juice
Leaves: alternate, entire to finely dissected
Flowers: racemose or corymbose, perfect, regular or nearly so, with 4 sepals and usually 4 petals these usually clawed
Stamens: stamens 6, rarely 2 or 4, tetradynamous
Pistil: pistil of 2 carpels, mostly 2-loculed, the two valves usually separating at maturity from the replum, or occasionally indehiscent
*Barbarea_R._Br.
Barbarea R. Br.
Surface: plants glabrous to sparsely hirsute
Life span: biennials or rarely annuals
Roots: taproots
Leaves: leaves alternate, lyrate-pinnatifid to pinnately compound, the cauline ones auriculate-clasping and often falsely petiolate above a clasping base
Flowers: flowers ebracteate racemes, the pedicels erect
Sepals: sepals 4, deciduous
Petals: petals 4, yellow, truncate to rounded apically
Stamens: stamens 6, the filaments lacking glandular processes
Style: style stout, abruptly contracted to capitate stigma
Fruit: fruit a silique, many times longer than broad, linear, only slightly compressed, more or less contracted between the seeds; valves 1-nerved
Seeds: seeds numerous, uniseriate.
European_wintercress_(Barbarea_vulgaris_R._Br.)
European wintercress (Barbarea vulgaris R. Br.)
Common name: European wintercress.
Synonym: [Erysimum barbarea L.]
Growth form: stems erect
Height:1.5-10 dm tall
Surface: glabrous
Leaves: basal leaves generally lobed, mostly 2-15 cm long and 1-3 cm wide, glabrous; cauline leaves reduced upward, auriculate clasping; pedicels 2-5 mm long, glabrous, ascending
Sepals: sepals 3-4 mm long, yellowish, glabrous
Petals: petals 6-8 mm long, yellow, spatulate, to oblanceolate, ascending-spreading
Fruit: siliques 10-30 mm long, 1-2 mm thick, erect or ascending, the valves glabrous, prominently nerved
Style: style definitely beaklike, 2-3 mm long
Chromosome number: n = 8
Habitat: Riparian or other moist sites in shadscale, sagebrush, sedge-rush, and aspen communities; adventive from Eurasia.
Note: This plant is potentially poisonous to livestock.
Mustard_(Brassica_L.)
Mustard (Brassica L.)
Surface: glabrous or hirsute
Life span: annual
Roots: taproot
Leaves: leaves alternate and basal, variously lobed to entire, basal ones often lyrate-pinnatifid, reduced upwardly and petiolate to sessile or auriculate
Flowers: flowers in ebracteate racemes, the pedicels erect or ascending
Sepals: sepals 4, deciduous
Petals: petals 4, yellow
Stamens: stamens 6, the filaments lacking glandular processes
Style: style slender to thick, mostly well developed
Stigma: stigma capitate; fruit a silique, several to many times longer than broad, linear, terete or nearly so, often more or less constricted
Fruit: valves 1- to 3-nerved, the apical portion produced into a stout 1- to 3 (5) -nerved beak
Seeds: seeds several to many, uniseriate
Note: The genus Brassica as a whole contains mustard oils and the plants are occasionally poisonous to livestock.
Rape_(Brassica_campestris_L.)
Rape (Brassica campestris L.)
Common name: Rape
Synonym: [B. rapa authors, not L.; B. napus authors, not L.]
Growth form: stems erect
Surface: glabrous or with very few hairs
Height: 2.5-10 dm tall or more
Stems: simple or branched
Leaves: basal leaves lyrate-pinnatifid, 5-18 cm long, the terminal lobe mostly 2-5 cm wide, crenate-dentate; lower cauline leaves similar to the basal ones, reduced upwards, becoming auriculate-clasping and dentate to entire; pedicels 7-20 mm long, slender, ascending, glabrous
Sepals: sepals 4.5-6 mm long, yellowish to greenish
Petals: petals 6-10 mm long, yellow
Fruit: siliques 30-70 mm long, (1.5) 2.5-3.5 mm thick, the beak 8-15 mm long, 1-nerved; valves conspicuously 1-nerved and with 2 more or less delicate lateral nerves, glabrous
Chromosome number: n = 10, 11
Habitat: Cultivated fields, roadsides, fence rows, saline saltgrass meadows, sedge-rush, and other plant communities; widespread in temperate regions of the world; adventive from Europe.
Charlock_(Brassica_kaber_(DC.)_L._Wheeler)
Charlock (Brassica kaber (DC.) L. Wheeler)
Common name: Charlock
Synonym: [Sinapis arvensis L.; B. arvensis Rabenh., not L.; S. kaber DC.]
Life span: annual
Growth form: erect
Surface: pubescent with coarse spreading hairs at least below
Height: 3-10 dm tall or more
Stems: simple or branched
Leaves: basal leaves lyrate-pinnatifid to merely dentate, 5-20 cm long, 3-10 cm wide; cauline leaves reduced upwards, short-petiolate or sessile, not auriculate-clasping or, if apparently so, falsely petiolate or leaves sinuate-dentate; pedicels 2-6 mm long, ascending, stout, glabrous
Sepals: sepals 4-5 mm long, yellowish, glabrous
Petals: petals 8-14 mm long, yellow
Fruit: siliques 30-50 mm long, 2-3 mm thick, the beak 7-15 mm long, 3-veined; valves 3 (5) -nerved, glabrous
Chromosome number: n = 9
Habitat: Roadsides, fields, and ditch banks; widespread in temperate portions of the world; adventive from Europe
*Camelina_Crantz
Camelina Crantz
Surface: pubescent with forked or stellate hairs
Life span: annual
Roots: taproots
Leaves: leaves alternate, simple, entire, auriculate-clasping basally; some genus members with lanceolate leaves
Flowers: flowers racemose in ebracteate racemes, the pedicels ascending
Sepals: sepals 4, deciduous
Petals: petals 4, pale yellowish to whitish
Stamens: stamens 6, (4 long, 2 short) the filaments lacking glandular processes
Style: style slender, the stigma capitate
Fruit: fruit a silicle less than twice longer than broad, obovoid, somewhat compressed parallel to the septum; valve 1-nerved
Seeds: seeds several per locule, biseriate
Shepherd's_purse_(Capsella_Medicus)
Shepherd's purse (Capsella Medicus)
Surface: stellate-pubescent and often with coarse simple hairs also
Life span: annual
Roots: taproot
Leaves: leaves alternate or basal, simple, dentate or variously toothed or lobed to entire, the cauline ones auriculate- clasping
Flowers: flowers in ebracteate racemes the pedicels spreading-ascending
Sepals: sepals 4, deciduous
Petals: petals 4, white
Stamens: stamens 6, the filaments lacking glandular processes
Style: style short, the stigma capitate
Fruit: fruit a silicle, less than twice longer than broad, cuneate-obcordate in outline, compressed at right angles to the septum; valves reticulately veined, strongly keeled
Seeds: seeds many per locule.
Shepherds_purse_(Capsella_bursa-pastoris_(L.)_Medicus)
Shepherds purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medicus)
Common name: Shepherds purse
Synonym: [Thlaspi bursa-pastoris L.; Bursa pastoris Weber in Wiggers; B. bursa-pastoris (L.) Britt.]
Growth form: stems erect
Height: 1-5 dm tall
Surface: stellate-pubescent and more or less hirsute
Leaves: basal leaves oblanceolate in outline, 2.5-16 (20) cm long, 0.5-2.8 (4) cm wide, lyrate-pinnatifid to merely toothed or subentire; cauline leaves alternate; much reduced upwards, sessile and auriculate
Sepals: sepals 1.2-2.5 mm long, often reddish, pubescent or glabrous
Petals: petals 2-4 mm long, white to pinkish, apex rounded
Fruit: silicles 4.5-8 mm long, 3-5 (6) mm wide, cuneate-obcordate, glabrous
Style: style 0.3-0.6 (1) mm long, persistent
Chromosome number: n = 8, 16, 20
Habitat: Disturbed sites at 850 to 2930 m probably in all Utah counties; widespread in North America; introduced from Europe
Annual,_biennial,_or_perennial_(Cardamine)
L. annual, biennial, or perennial (Cardamine L.)
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial
Roots: from taproots or rhizomes
Surface: glabrous or with simple hairs
Leaves: leaves alternate, sometimes with basal rosettes, simple to pinnately compound, petiolate, not auriculate
Flowers: flowers racemose or rarely subcorymbose, the pedicels spreading- ascending to ascending, not subtended by bracts
Sepals: sepals 4, deciduous
Petals: petals 4, white to pinkish
Stamens: stamens 6, the filaments lacking glandular processes
Style: style stout
Stigma: stigma capitate
Fruit: fruit a silique, several to many times longer than broad, slightly compressed parallel to septum valves obscurely 1 (3) -nerved or nerveless
Seeds: seeds several to many, uniseriate
Whitetop_(Cardaria_Desv.)
Whitetop (Cardaria Desv.)
Surface: pubescent
Roots: rhizomatous
Life span: perennial
Leaves: leaves alternate, sinuate-dentate, auriculate-clasping
Flowers: flowers in ebracteate clustered (paniculate) racemes; pedicels spreading-ascending
Sepals: sepals 4, caducous
Petals: petals 4, white, the apex rounded
Stamens: stamens 6, the filaments lacking glandular processes
Style: style slender, prominent
Stigma: stigma capitate
Fruit: fruit a silicle, usually broader than long, compressed at right angles to septum, indehiscent or tardily so; valves reticulately veined
Seeds: seeds 1 (rarely 2) per locule.
Whitetop_(Cardaria_draba_(L.)_Desv.)
Whitetop (Cardaria draba (L.) Desv.)
Common name: Whitetop
Synonym: [Lepidium draba L.; Cochlearia draba (L.) L.; Physolepidium repens Schrenk ex Fisch. & Mey.; Lepidium repens (Schrenk) Boiss.; C. repens (Schrenk) Jarm.]
Growth form: plants decumbent to ascending or erect
Height: stems (1.2) 1.5-6 dm tall
Surface: puberulent to hirtellous with usually descending simple hairs
Leaves: alternate; leaves elliptic to oblong, ovate, or oblanceolate, 0.9-9.8 cm long, 0.6-3.5 cm wide, sinuate-dentate to irregularly toothed, the lower ones petiolate, the upper sessile and auriculate, puberulent to hirtellous with usually retrorse simple hairs; pedicels 5-12 mm long in fruit, spreading-ascending, glabrous or puberulent
Sepals: 4 sepals, 1.2-2 mm long, greenish, usually glabrous
Petals: 4 petals, 2-3.5 (4) mm long, white, broadly spatulate, spreading
Fruit: silicles (excluding the style) 2-3.8 mm long, 3.5-5.7 mm wide, erect, glabrous
Stamens: 6 (4 long, 2 short)
Style: style 0.6-1.2 mm long
Seeds: seeds 1-2 mm long
Chromosome number: n = 31, 32
Habitat: Cultivated and waste places; widespread in the U. S. and Canada; adventive from Europe
Tansy_mustard_(Descurainia_Webb)
Tansy mustard (Descurainia Webb)
Surface: stellate-pubescent, stipitate-glandular, or glabrate
Life span: annuals or biennials
Roots: from slender to stout taproots
Leaves: leaves basal and cauline, alternate, 1-3 times pinnately compound or pinnatifid, not auriculate basally
Flowers: flowers in ebracteate racemes
Sepals: sepals 4, deciduous
Petals: petals 4, yellow to cream
Stamens: stamens 6, the filaments lacking glandular processes
Style: style short or obsolete
Stigma: stigma capitate
Fruit: fruit a silique more than (3) 5 times longer than broad, linear to oblong or clavate, terete or nearly so; valves 1-nerved, glabrous
Seeds: seeds several to many, uniseriate or biseriate
Flixweed,_bedground-weed_(Descurainia_sophia_(L.)_Webb_ex_Prantl)
Flixweed, bedground-weed (Descurainia sophia (L.) Webb ex Prantl)
Common name: Flixweed, bedground-weed
Synonym: [Sisymbrium sophia L.; Sophia sophia (L.) Britt.; S. parviflora Standley]
Life span: annual or infrequently winter annual
Height: stems 1.7-8.5 (10) dm tall or more
Stems: simple or more commonly branched above
Surface: softly dendritic-hairy or with mixed simple and dendritic trichomes at least below
Leaves: leaves basal and cauline, alternate; 1-12 cm long, the lower 2-3 times pinnately compound to pinnatifid, with 2-6 pairs of pinnatifid pinnae, the upper ones smaller and usually twice pinnately compound or pinnatifid; pedicels 4-17 mm long, ascending, puberulent or glabrous
Sepals: sepals erect, 2-3.1 mm long, yellowish, glabrous or hairy
Petals: petals 2.2-3 mm long, cream-white
Fruit: siliques (10) 12-27 (30) mm long, 0.8-1.2 mm wide, ascending-erect
Style: style 0.1-0.3 mm long; seeds uniseriate, mostly 10-25 mm long
Chromosome number: n = 10, 14, 28
Habitat: Roadsides, corrals, agricultural lands, sheep bedgrounds, and other disturbed sites in various indigenous plant communities; adventive from Europe
Note: This plant was moved readily in sheep's wool. Their bedgrounds in desert areas of the state are often marked by yellow patches when the plant is in flower. The plant moved from summer grazing lands in the mountains to the low winter grazing lands and return. It is a very successful weed.
Pepperweed_(Lepidium_L.)
Pepperweed (Lepidium L.)
Surface: plants glabrous or with simple hairs
Life span: annual, biennial or perennial
Roots: taproots
Leaves: leaves alternate or basal and still alternate, simple, entire or variously toothed or bi- or tripinnatifid, petiolate or sessile, auriculate in some
Inflorescence: flowers in ebracteate racemes
Sepals: sepals 4, caducous or persistent
Petals: petals 4, yellow or white, infrequently lacking
Stamens: stamens 6, rarely 2 or 4, the filaments lacking glandular processes
Style: style obsolete or well developed
Stigma: stigma capitate
Fruit: fruit a silicle, usually less than twice longer than broad, compressed at right angles to septum, dehiscent; valves more or less reticulately veined
Seeds: seeds 1 per locule.
Note: Measurement of silicle length includes the style.
Fieldcress_(Lepidium_campestre_(L.)_R._Br.)
Fieldcress (Lepidium campestre (L.) R. Br.)
Common name: Fieldcress.
Synonym: [Thlaspi campestre L.]
Life span: annual
Growth form: lacks a caudex
Height: stems 1.5-6 dm tall
Surface: hirtellous throughout with simple hairs
Leaves: alternate; basal leaves 3-12 cm long, 8-15 mm wide, oblanceolate, entire or variously lobed; cauline leaves numerous, reduced upwards, becoming sessile and auriculate, usually denticulate pedicels mostly 4-7 mm long, spreading, slightly flattened, hirtellous
Sepals: sepals 1.3-2 mm long, greenish or varously tinged, hirtellous
Petals: petals 1.7-2.5 mm long, white, spatulate, ascending
Stamens: stamens 6
Fruit: silicles 5-6 mm long, oblong-ovate, glabrous or puberulent, concave, wingless, slightly emarginate
Style: style 0.2-0.6 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 16, 32
Habitat: Roadsides and other disturbed sites; widely established in North America; Asia
Virginiacress_(Lepidium_virginicum_L.)
Virginiacress (Lepidium virginicum L.)
Common name: Virginiacress
Life span: annual
Growth form: lacking a caudex
Height: stems 1.5-7 dm tall
Surface: pubescent throughout or glabrous above
Leaves: basal leaves 1.3-15 cm long, 0.3-3.5 (5) cm wide, coarsely toothed to lobed; cauline leaves reduced upwards, uppermost usually entire; pedicels 2-6 mm long, spreading, terete or nearly so, pubescent or glabrous
Sepals: sepals 0.6-1 mm long
Petals: petals 0.7-1.5 (3) mm long, white, spatulate, rarely lacking
Fruit: silicles 2.5-4 mm long, 2.2-3.5 mm broad, elliptic to orbicular, usually glabrous, plane, notched apically
Style: style lacking
Chromosome number: n = 16
Habitat: Joshua tree, creosote bush, other warm desert shrub, mixed desert shrub, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa pine, white fir, and spruce-fir communities; widely distributed in North America.
Radish_(Raphanus_L.)
Radish (Raphanus L.)
Surface: pubescent with simple hairs
Life span: annual
Roots: from tuberous taproots
Leaves: leaves alternate and basal, simple, lyrate-pinnatifid, cauline ones petiolate to subsessile, not auriculate
Flowers: flowers in ebracteate racemes
Sepals: sepals 4, deciduous
Petals: petals 4, white, yellow, or pink to lavender
Stamens: stamens 6, filaments lacking glandular processes
Style: style apical on a tapering sterile beak, the stigma minute, bilobed
Fruit: fruit a silique, many times longer than broad, terete, indehiscent, breaking irregularly at maturity into segments; valves several-grooved
Seeds: seeds uniseriate
Wild_Radish_(Raphanus_raphanistrum_L.)
Wild Radish (Raphanus raphanistrum L.)
Common name: Wild Radish
Growth form: erect or ascending from a slender root
Height: 3-7.5 dm
Leaves: basal leaves lyrate-pinnatifid, 10-20 cm long; upper leaves alternate; few, small
Flowers:12-18 mm broad, yellow or sometimes white
Fruit: silique 2.5-4 cm long, constricted between the seeds when dry
Mustard_(Sinapis_L.)
Mustard (Sinapis L.)
Common name: Mustard
Life span: annual or biennial
Growth form: weedy with simple stems branched above
Leaves: simple, lobed or divided
Inflorescence: inflorescence racemose; sepals oblong or obovate, petals spatulate, yellow; silique linear, usually with a tapering beak
Seeds: seeds globose, wingless
White_Mustard_(Sinapis_alba_L.)
White Mustard (Sinapis alba L.)
Common name: White Mustard
Life span: annual
Surface: rough-hairy
Height: 3-7 dm tall
Leaves: obovate in outline, deeply lyrate-pinnatifid, the lobes sinuate-dentate, petiolate
Flowers:1.5 cm wide; mature pedicels divergent, 1 cm long
Fruit: siliques divergent or ascending, commonly bristly at least when young, 1.5-3.5 cm long, the valves prominently 3-nerved, beak 1-2 cm, falt, often curved
Seeds: pale, smooth, 2 mm diameter
Chromosome number: 2n = 24
Habitat: scattered locations in KS, MO, NE, SD, & ND
Wheeler,_Charlock_(Sinapis_arvensis)
Wheeler, Charlock (Sinapis arvensis)
Common name: Wheeler, Charlock
Surface: more or less hispid, especially at the base, to glabrous
Life span: annual
Height: 2-8 dm tall
Leaves: lower leaves on hispid petioles, obovate, lyrate-pinnatifid; middle and upper leaves nearly or quite sessile, oblong to ovate or rhombic, acute, dentate, sparsely pilose
Flowers:1.5 cm wide; mature pedicels ascending, 5(7) mm long
Fruit: siliques ascending, linear, subterete, the body 1-2 cm long, 1.5-2.5 mm in diameter, smooth or rarely bristly; beak flattened-quadrangular, commonly ´ as long as the body
Seeds: 7-13, smooth, 1-1.5 mm in diameter
Chromosome number: 2n = 18
Tumbling_mustard_(Sisymbrium_L.)
Tumbling mustard (Sisymbrium L.)
Surface: Glabrous or hirsute
Life span: annuals or rarely biennials
Roots: taproot
Leaves: leaves alternate and basal, variously lobed to entire, the lower ones usually pinnatifid, reduced upwards, petiolate to sessile, not auriculate
Flowers: flowers racemose; pedicels spreading to erect, not subtended by bracts
Sepals: sepals 4, deciduous
Petals: petals 4, yellow
Stamens: stamens 6, the filaments lacking glandular processes
Style: style almost lacking, the stigma bilobed
Fruit: fruit a sessile silique many times longer than broad, linear to tapering, terete, the valves usually 3-nerved
Seeds: seeds several to many, uniseriate
London_mustard_(Sisymbrium_irio_L.)
London mustard (Sisymbrium irio L.)
Common name: London mustard
Synonym: [Norta irio (L.) Britt.]
Life span: annual
Height: 2-8 dm tall
Growth form: erect
Surface: glabrous
Leaves: alternate; leaves 1.5-10 (20) cm long, runcinate-pinnatifid, reduced upwardly
Sepals: sepals 2-2.5 (3) mm long, greenish or yellowish
Petals: petals 3-4 mm long, yellow, oblanceolate, spreading-ascending; pedicels 6-10 mm long, slender, ascending
Fruit: siliques (20) 25-45 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, ascending
Chromosome number: 2n = 14, 21, 28
Habitat: Weed of disturbed sites; adventive from Europe
Hedge_mustard_(Sisymbrium_officinale_(L.)_Scop.)
Hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.)
Common name: Hedge mustard
Synonym: [Erysimum officinale L.]
Life span: annual
Height: stems 2.5-8 dm tall or more
Surface: hispid-hirsute throughout
Leaves: alternate; leaves 1.5-20 cm long or more, lyrate-pinnatifid to pinnatifid, not especially dimorphic, the upper ones merely reduced
Flowers: pedicels 2-3 mm long, stout, erect, the tip about as thick as the silique
Sepals: sepals 1.5-2.2 mm long, green or yellow
Petals: petals 3-4 mm long, yellow, fading white, narrowly oblanceolate, ascending; siliques 8-15 mm long, appressed-erect, tapering to a beaklike tip
Fruit: valves 3-nerved
Chromosome number: 2n = 14
Habitat: Uncommon weedy plant of disturbed sites; widespread in North America; adventive from Europe.
Penny_cress_(Thlaspi_L.)
Penny cress (Thlaspi L.)
Surface: glabrous
Life span: annual or perennial
Roots: arising from taproots
Leaves: leaves cauline or cauline and basal alternate, simple, entire to dentate or lobed; elliptic, lanceolate or oblanceolate
Flowers: flowers in ebracteate racemes
Sepals: sepals 4, deciduous
Petals: petals 4, white, sometimes pinkish or lavender
Stamens: stamens 6, (4 long, 2 short) the filaments lacking glandular processes
Fruit: fruit a sessile silicle, compressed contrary to septum, often more or less wing-margined
Style: style obsolete or slender and conspicuous
Stigma: stigma capitate
Seeds: seeds 2 to several per locule, uniseriate
Penny-cress_(Thlaspi_arvense_L.)
Penny-cress (Thlaspi arvense L.)
Common name: Penny-cress
Life span: annual
Height: the stems mostly 1-7 dm tall
Leaves: alternate; basal leaves usually deciduous by anthesis; cauline leaves 1-8 cm long, 2-25 mm wide, elliptic to lanceolate or oblanceolate, sinuate-dentate to pinnatifid or subentire, the uppermost sessile and auriculate
Flowers: pedicels 5-12 mm long or more, spreading to curved-ascending
Sepals: 4 sepals, 1.5-2.5 mm long, green with whitish margins
Petals: 4 petals, 3-4.5 mm long, white
Fruit: silicles 10-17 mm long, 7-12 mm wide, strongly compressed, wing-margined all around
Stamens: 6 (4 long, 2 short)
Style: style almost obsolete
Chromosome number: n = 7
Habitat: Weedy species of roadsides, meadows, fields, and other disturbed places, almost ubiquitous; widespread in North America; adventive from Europe
Note: This species is potentially poisonous to livestock.
Nettle_Family_(URTICACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Nettle Family (URTICACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Nettle Family
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs
Leaves: leaves opposite or alternate, simple, with or without stinging hairs
Flowers: flowers monoecious or dioecious; hypogynous, imperfect, inconspicuous, arranged in spicate cymes or small cymose clusters; staminate flowers with 3-6 sepals and 3-6 stamens; pistillate flowers with 4 or 5 sepals or the perianth lacking
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 1-loculed
Style: style 1
Stigma: stigma 1
Fruit: fruit an achene
Chromosome number: x = 6-14
Nettle_(Urtica_L.)
Nettle (Urtica L.)
Life span: perennial or annual
Growth form: herbs
Surface: armed with stinging hairs (and otherwise pubescent)
Leaves: leaves simple, opposite, toothed, stipulate
Flowers: flowers monoecious or dioecious; in axillary spicate and rudimentary pistil
Ovary: ovary superior, the stigmas tufted
Fruit: fruit a lenticular achene
Stinging_nettle_(Urtica_dioica_L.)
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L.)
Common name: Stinging nettle
Life span: perennial
Roots: rhizomatous
Growth form: herbs
Height: stems 6-20 dm tall
Surface: bearing stinging hairs and otherwise hairy to subglabrous
Leaves: opposite; leaves 4-18 cm long, the petioles 1-6 cm long, the blades 3-15 cm long and 1-8 cm wide, linear-lanceolate or lanceolate to ovate, coarsely serrate, acute apically, the base cordate to truncate or acute
Stipules: stipules 5-15 cm long
Flowers: flowers inconspicuous, the perianth 1-2 mm long, greenish
Chromosome number: 2n = 26
*Urtica_urens_L.
Urtica urens L.
Life span: annual
Growth form: erect
Height: up to 6 dm
Surface: stinging bristles
Stem: most often branched
Leaves: opposite; elliptical/ ovate; all leaves approximately the same shape
Petals: actually white, but so small that they appear greenish
Habitat: native of Europe, but widespread over much of North America
Niad_Family_(NAJADACEAE_Juss.)
Niad Family (NAJADACEAE Juss.)
Growth form: Small aquatics
Life span: annual
Leaves: narrow, opposite
Flowers: unisexual
*Najas_L.
Najas L.
Growth form: small branching herbs, completely submerged
Leaves: crowded, dilated at base
Flowers: very small, imperfect, solitary, but often clustered on short branches in the axils; staminate flowers consisting of a single stamen, the pistillate of a single pistil
Parsley_Family_(APIACEAE_Lindl.)
Parsley Family (APIACEAE Lindl.)
Common name: Parsley Family
Life span: annual biennial or perennial
Growth form: acaulescent or caulescent herbs
Roots: from taproots, rhizomes, fibrous or tuberous roots, or caudices
Leaves: leaves simple to decompound, petioles typically sheathing basally or the upper leaves reduced to dilated sheaths
Inflorescence: inflorescence of compound umbels, the primary umbels with or without a subtending involucre of bracts, the secondary umbels (umbellets) with or without a subtending involucel of bractlets
Flowers: flowers mostly regular, perfect or some of them staminate or sterile
Sepals: sepals 5 or lacking
Petals: petals 5, small, usually inflexed at the tip, white, yellow, or purple
Stamens: stamens 5, small, alternate with the petals
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary inferior, bicarpellate, 2-loculed, with 1 ovule per locule, the two styles with or without a conical base (stylopodium)
Fruit: fruit a schizocarp of 2 mericarps united by their faces (the commissure) nearly terete, dorsally or laterally compressed; mericarps separating at maturity and apically attached to and pendulous on a fine wirelike entire or bifid to divided carpophore or remaining adherent and then the carpophore usually lacking or poorly developed and usually adnate to the commissural faces, each mericarp usually 5-nerved, 3 of the nerves dorsal and 2 on the lateral margins, the nerves filiform to winged, or obscure or lacking, the internerve areas commonly with 1 or more oil-tubes, the commissural faces often with 2 or more oil-tubes
Chromosome number: x = 4-12
Water_Hemlock_(Cicuta_L.)
Water Hemlock (Cicuta L.)
Life span: perennial
Growth form: caulescent, violently poisonous herbs,
Surface: glabrous
Roots: from clusters of fibrous roots, some of these commonly tuberous-thickened; base of stem thickened, with hollow chambers separated by transverse septa; internodes of stems hollow
Leaves: leaves 1-3 times pinnate or ternate-pinnate, with well-developed leaflets
Inflorescence: umbels several, compound; involucre wanting or of a few inconspicuous narrow bracts; involucel of several narrow bractlets or rarely lacking
Petals: petals white or greenish
Calyx: calyx teeth evident
Stylopodium: depressed or low-conic
Carpophore: divided to the base, deciduous
Fruit: fruit ovate or orbicular, compressed laterally, the ribs usually prominent and corky.
Water_Hemlock,_Spotted_Cowbane,_Beaver_Poison_(Cicuta_maculata_L.)
Water Hemlock, Spotted Cowbane, Beaver Poison (Cicuta maculata L.)
Common names: Water Hemlock, Spotted Cowbane, Beaver Poison
Stem: stem stout, streaked with purple
Height: 1.2-2 m high
Leaves: alternate; 2-3-pinnate; leaflets lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 3-12 cm long, acuminate; pedicels very unequal
Flowers: white
Fruit: 3-3.5 mm. long
Habitat: very common in swamps and low grounds
Toxins: The roots are very poisonous and are responsible for death of livestock, especially in early spring when the ground is soft.
Carrot_(Daucus_L.)
Carrot (Daucus L.)
Life span: annual or biennial
Growth form: caulescent herbs
Roots: taproots
Leaves: pinnately dissected
Inflorescence: umbels compound; involucre of pinnatifid bracts or lacking; involucel of toothed or entire bracts or lacking
Calyx: calyx teeth evident to obsolete
Petals: petals white or those of the central flower of the umbel or umbellet often purple or rarely all the flowers pink or yellow
Stylopodium: conic
Carpophore: entire or bifid at the apex
Fruit: fruit oblong to ovoid, slightly compressed and evidently ribbed dorsally, with 2 ribs on the commissure, beset with stout spreading glochidiate or barbed ribs.
Carrot_(Daucus_carota_L.)
Carrot (Daucus carota L.)
Common name: Carrot
Height: Plants 6-10 dm tall
Roots: taproot
Surface: herbage glabrous or hirsute
Leaves: leaves in rosettes and cauline, mostly 1-2 times pinnate and then pinnatifid, with about 4-9 opposite or offset pair of lateral primary leaflets, basal and lower cauline petioles to 15 cm long, basal and lower blades 5-15 cm long or more, the upper ones reduced and sessile on dilated sheaths, the lowest pair of primary leaflets 1/3-1/2 as long as the leaf blade, on petiolules 4-15 mm long, ultimate segments 1-10 mm long, 0.5-2 mm wide, elliptic, narrowly deltoid, or linear, often acute
Inflorescence: peduncles mostly 8-30 cm long; umbels 4-10 or more; involucre of pinnatifid bracts 1-5 cm long, the segments linear and narrow; rays about 15-60 or more, (0.5) 1-6 cm long; involucels similar to the involucre but smaller, or the bractlets entire, 2-16 mm long
Fruit: fruit 3-4 mm long, bristly hirsute in rows, the hairs or bristles about 2 mm long, minutely glochidiate apically, the intervals often with shorter simple hairs
Chromosome number: 2n = 18.
Habitat: introduced from Eurasia
Note: The wild plants (ssp. carota) differ from the cultivated ones [ssp. sativus (Hoffm.) Arcangeli] primarily in the size and flavor of the root.
*Hydrocotyle_L.
Hydrocotyle L.
Life span: perennial herbs
Growth form: herbs; stems creeping or floating, rooting at the nodes
Leaves: leaves petiolate, often peltate
Inflorescence: sessile, or borne on axillary peduncles involucres small or lacking
Petals: petals white, greenish, or yellow
Calyx: calyx minute or lacking
Stylopodium: conic to depressed
Fruit: fruit orbicular to ellipsoid, more or less flattened laterally, the dorsal surfaces rounded or acute, the ribs obsolete or narrow and acute
Carpophore: lacking
Marsh_Pennywort_(Hydrocotyle_umbellata_L.)
Marsh Pennywort (Hydrocotyle umbellata L.)
Common name: Marsh Pennywort
Leaves: peltate, orbicular, 1-4 cm wide, crenate; petioles 5-15 cm long
Inflorescence: umbels simple, 15-50 pedicellate flowers, 1-2 cm broad, peduncle equaling or, more often, exceeding the length of the petioles
Chromosome number: n = 24
Parsnip_(Pastinaca_L.)
Parsnip (Pastinaca L.)
Life span: biennial or perennial
Growth form: caulescent herbs
Roots: large taproots
Leaves: leaves pinnately compound, with broad toothed to pinnatifid leaflets
Inflorescence: umbels compound; involucre and involucel usually lacking
Calyx: calyx teeth obsolete
Petals: petals yellow or red
Stylopodium: depressed-conic
Carpophore: divided to the base
Fruit: fruit elliptic to obovate, strongly flattened dorsally, the dorsal ribs filiform, the lateral ones narrowly winged
Parsnip_(Pastinaca_sativa_L.)
Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa L.)
Common name: Parsnip
Life span: biennial
Growth form: caulescent aromatic herbs
Height: 8-15 dm tall
Root: taproot
Leaves: alternate; leaves pinnate or partly bipinnate in some of the lower leaflets, with 3-6 opposite or offset pair of lateral leaflets; petioles 3-15 mm long or lacking and the blade sessile on a dilated sheath; blades 12-35 cm long or longer, oblong in outline; leaflets sessile and sometimes confluent or the lower ones sometimes on petiolules to 1.7 cm long, the blades 2.5-12 cm long, lanceolate to ovate, coarsely serrate, and often lobed
Inflorescence: umbels 6-15 or more, the terminal one sessile or pedunculate but shorter than the 2 immediately lateral ones, the lateral umbels alternate or opposite or on opposite branches supporting 2 or more umbels; involucre lacking or of 1 to few linear entire or occasionally toothed or lobed bracts to 2 (4) cm long; rays 9-25, 0.8-8.5 cm long; involucels lacking or infrequently of 1-2 linear bractlets to 2 mm long; pedicels 4-20 mm long
Petals: greenish yellow or reddish
Styles: 0.4-1 mm long
Fruit: 5-8 mm long, 3-6 mm wide, broadly elliptic to orbicular or obovate, strongly flattened dorsally the dorsal ribs filiform and the lateral ones slightly winged
Chromosome number: 2n = 22.
Habitat: Ditchbanks, roadsides, fencelines, gardens, fields, margins of ponds and lakes, and moist flood plains at 850 to 2365 m; introduced from Europe, now widely established in North America
Note: The cultivated plants, ssp. sativa, differ from the wild plants, ssp. sylvestris (Miller) Rouy & Camus, in having larger roots. Some of the apparently wild plants might be recent escapees from cultivation.
Pickerel-Weed_Family_(PONTEDERIACEAE_Kunth.)
Pickerel-Weed Family (PONTEDERIACEAE Kunth.)
Common name: Pickerel-Weed Family
Life span: perennial
Growth form: aquatic herb
Leaves: petioled
Flowers: perfect, subtended by leaf-like spathes
Perianth: 6-parted, corolla-like
Stamens: 3 or 6
Fruit: capsule
Water-Hyacinth_(Eichhornia_Kunth.)
Water-Hyacinth (Eichhornia Kunth.)
Common name: Water-Hyacinth
Growth form: floating or rooting at node on mud
Leaves: floating or immersed, obovate, cordate to lanceolate
Flowers: spicate, rarely paniculate; perianth funnelform with long or short tube
Stamens: stamens 6, unequally inserted, some of them exserted
Ovary: ovary sessile, 3-celled, many-ovuled
Style: style filiform
*Eichhornia_crassipes_(Mart.)_Solms.
Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms.
Leaves: 1-12 cm wide, ovate to rounded, slightly scabrous above; petioles inflated at base
Stem: scape 1-4 dm high, sheathed near middle
Flowers: many, showy; perianth ca. 5 cm. Long, 6-lobed, violet, the upper lobe enlarged and with patch of blue having yellow center
Chromosome number: n = 16
Habitat: in sloughs and sluggish water
*Heteranthera_R._&_P.
Heteranthera R. & P.
Growth form: aquatic herbs with creeping, ascending or floating stems
Leaves: petioled
Bracts: spathes 1-several-flowered
Flowers: flowers small; perianth-parts linear, nearby or quite equal
*Heteranthera_limosa_(Sw.)_Willd.
Heteranthera limosa (Sw.) Willd.
Growth form: plant submersed with stems elongate, or emersed with stems contracted
Leaves: erect or the blades floating; petioles 5-20 cm long; blades lanceolate to mostly ovate, the base subcordate or tuncate but tapering on narrower blades, the tip rounded
Inflorescence: inflorescence pedenculate, the sheathing spathe 2-4 cm long, acuminate, enclosing a single flower
Flower: 1-3 cm wide, salverform, 1-4 cm long; perianth lobes linear-lanceolate, white or blue with the base of the upper 1-3 yellow
Stamens: 3, unequal, 2 with short yellow anthers, the third with an elongate, light blue or yellow anther
Ovary: ovary incompletely 3-celled, the 3 parietal placentae intruding; ovules numerous
Fruit: fruit a many-seeded cylindrical capsule retained in the spathe
Habitat: in shallow water or on mud, erratically abundant from year to year, MN to CO, south to Mex. & MS
Mud-Plantain_(Heteranthera_dubia_(Jacq.)_Mac_M.)
Mud-Plantain (Heteranthera dubia (Jacq.) Mac M.)
Common name: Mud-Plantain
Stem: slender, forked, 6-9 dm long
Leaves: linear, flat elongated
Bracts: spathes 1-flowered
Flowers: pale yellow, tube of perianth thread-like, 2.5-3.5 cm long
Habitat: in still waters of ponds and streams
Pink_Family_(CARYOPHYLLACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Pink Family (CARYOPHYLLACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Pink Family
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs
Leaves: leaves opposite, entire, simple, with or without stipules
Flowers: flowers usually perfect, regular
Sepals: sepals 4 or 5, connate or persistent
Petals: petals 4 or 5 or lacking
Stamens: stamens 4-10, distinct
Anthers: anthers 2-loculed
Pistil: pistil 1, the ovary superior, 1-loculed, with free-central placentation, or incompletely 3- to 5-loculed
Styles: styles 2-5 (rarely connate into 1)
Fruit: fruit a capsule or a utricle
Chromosome number: x = 5-19
Corn_cockle_(Agrostemma_L.)
Corn cockle (Agrostemma L.)
Common name: Corn cockle
*Agrostemma_githago_L.
Agrostemma githago L.
Height: 3-9 dm tall
Calyx: sepals extend longer than petals; many whitish hairs on the sepals
Leaves: opposite; spear-shaped; 5-10 cm long
Petals: purple or red, spotted with black
Flowering time: July/September
Habitat: introduced to North America from Europe; found in grain fields and waste places
Chickweed_(Cerastium_L.)
Chickweed (Cerastium L.)
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial
Growth form: herbs, with prostrate to erect stems
Leaves: leaves opposite, ovate to lanceolate, oblong, or linear, lacking stipules
Flowers: flowers solitary and terminal or more commonly in terminal, open or congested cymes
Sepals: sepals 5, distinct to the base, 1 (or 3-5) -veined
Petals: petals 5, white, showy to inconspicuous, the blade notched or bilobed, or sometimes lacking
Stamens: stamens commonly 10, inserted at the base of the ovary; styles usually 5, opposite the sepals
Ovary: ovary 1-loculed
Fruit: capsule opening by 10 teeth
Campion_(Lychnis_L.)
Campion (Lychnis L.)
Growth form: erect herb
Inflorescence: cymose or solitary
Calyx: 5-toothed
Petals: 5, narrowly clawed, generally crowned
Stamens: 10
Styles: 5
Fruit: capsule generally 10-valved
White_Campion_(Lychnis_alba_Mill.)
White Campion (Lychnis alba Mill.)
Synonym: Melandrium album
Common name: White Campion
Life span: biennial
Surface: clammy-hairy
Stems: loosely branching
Height: 3-6 dm high 20 veined
Leaves: opposite; ovate-oblong, 2.5-7.5 cm long; leaves towards the plant base have a leaf stalk, while the leaves along the main stem have no leaf stalks; leaves on the main stem are larger at the bottom and become gradually smaller towards the top; along the stem there are 4-10 leaf pairs
Flowers: often dioecious, few, 1.8-2.4 cm wide, opening in the evening, fragrant; 25-35 mm long
Calyx: calyx-teeth attenuate; sepals 15-30 mm long; has between 10-20 veins
Petals: petals white or pinkish; petal blade 8-12 mm long
Fruit: capsule ovoid-conical
Habitat: waste grounds or roadsides
Note: often confused with Silene noctiflora which has perfect flowers and 3 styles
Soapwort_(Saponaria_L.)
Soapwort (Saponaria L.)
Life span: perennial
Growth form: herbs, stems erect, leafy
Leaves: leaves opposite, palmately 3-veined
Inflorescence: flowers numerous, in usually contracted cymes
Flowers: perfect
Calyx: calyx tubular, obscurely 15- to 25-veined
Petals: petals clawed, appendaged at juncture of blade and claw
Stamens: stamens 10
Styles: styles 2
Fruit: capsule opening by 4 teeth
Seeds: seeds reniform
Bouncing-bet,_soapwort_(Saponaria_officinalis_L.)
Bouncing-bet, soapwort (Saponaria officinalis L.)
Common name: Bouncing-bet, soapwort
Life span: perennial
Height: mainly 30-80 cm tall
Growth form: herbs, forming clumps, robust
Surface: glabrous or nearly so
Leaves: opposite; leaves 3-12 cm long, 0.8-4 cm wide, lanceolate to elliptic or ovate-lanceolate; leaves towards the top of the plant are smaller and with very short to almost no leaf stalk; each leaf has 3 prominent veins extending from base to leaf tip
Flowers: flowers numerous, usually in compact cymes
Calyx: calyx 15-25 mm long, the tube subcylindric or tapering toward the apex, the lobes ovate or triangular, acuminate
Petals: petals 3-4 cm long, white or pink, showy, the claw usually surpassing the calyx, the lobes spreading, obovate-cuneate, retuse
appendages 2, 1-2 mm long
Seeds: seeds black, 1.6-1.8 mm long, pitted
Chromosome number: 2n = 28
Habitat: Cultivated ornamental, escaping; widely established in North America; introduced from Europe. Double flowered forms occur in cultivation.
Toxins: This plant is considered to be poisonous to livestock due to the presence of saponins, the soapy substances in the juice.
*Scleranthus_L.
Scleranthus L.
Life span: annual
Growth form: low weed
Stems: stiff branching stems
Leaves: opposite, subulate
Flowers: small
Calyx: deeply 5-lobed with a cup-like hardened tube
Stamens: 10 or 5
Ovary: ovoid
Styles: 2
Fruit: utricle enclosed by the calyx
Knawel_(Scleranthus_annus_L.)
Knawel (Scleranthus annus L.)
Common name: Knawel
Life span: annual
Growth form: much-branched prostrate or spreading plant
Stems: 7-12 cm long
Leaves: 0.4-2.4 cm long, connate at the base
Flowers: greenish
Note: the common name means a ball of string, referring to the appearance of the plant
Catchfly_(Silene_L.)
Catchfly (Silene L.)
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs with prostrate, decumbent, ascending, or erect stems
Leaves: leaves opposite, lanceolate to lance-oblong or linear, lacking stipules
Flowers: flowers solitary or few to many in open to contracted cymes
Sepals: sepals 5, united to near the apex, each 2 (or more) -veined; petals 5, white to pink, red, or purplish, the blade ascending or spreading, entire or several lobed apically, often appendaged at juncture of blade and claw
Stamens: stamens 10, adnate to base of petals
Styles: styles commonly 3 (or less commonly 4 or 5)
Ovary: ovary 1 ( or incompletely 3-5) -loculed, stipitate
Fruit: capsule opening by 6 (rarely 8 or 10) teeth
Night-flowering_catchfly_(Silene_noctiflora_L.)
Night-flowering catchfly (Silene noctiflora L.)
Common name: Night-flowering catchfly
Life span: annual
Stem: growing erect with only one stem, or the stem sometimes branching towards the tope of the plant
Flower: perfect or occasionally dioecious
Roots: taproot
Length: the stems 2-8 dm tall
Growth form: erect
Leaves: leaves 2-10 cm long, 0.6-2.5 (4) cm broad, lanceolate to elliptic or the lower ones oblanceolate, several-veined, slightly connate basally, acute to attenuate or obtuse apically, hairy above and beneath, ciliate
Flowers: flowers erect, solitary or few to several in open or contracted cymes
Inflorescence: pedicels 0.3-1 cm long, glandular-hairy
Calyx: calyx tubular, 12-25 mm long, greenish or pinkish, or papery between the veins, glandular-hairy, the teeth 4-9 mm long, ciliate; there are 10 green veins extending up the sepals, with white between the veins
Petals: petals white to pinkish, yellow below, pink above; 20-35 mm long, the blades bilobed, the appendages 0.5-1.5 mm long; there are
Fruit: capsule 3-locular, 1.5-2.5 cm long (including the stipe)
Seeds: seeds 0.8-1.2 mm long, brown, roughened
Chromosome number: 2n = 24
Habitat: Reported from Cache and Weber counties; widely distributed in North America; introduced from Asia
Sand_Spurry_(Spergula_L.)
Sand Spurry (Spergula L.)
Common name: Sand Spurry
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: small branching herbs
Leaves: fleshy, linear; scarious stipules
Flowers: pink or whitish, axillary or in leafy cymes; sepals 5; petals 5 or fewer, entire
Stamens: stamens 2-10
Style: styles 3
Corn_spurry_(Spergula_arvensis)
Corn spurry (Spergula arvensis)
Common name: Corn spurry
Habitat: Europe, widely naturalized.
Starwort_(Stellaria_L.)
Starwort (Stellaria L.)
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs with prostrate to decumbent, ascending, or erect stems
Leaves: leaves opposite (rarely whorled), linear-lanceolate to ovate, lacking stipules
Flowers: flowers solitary in leaf axils, or few to many and borne in axillary or terminal cymes
Sepals: sepals (4) 5, distinct, obscurely 1- to 3-veined
Petals: petals (4) 5, white, deeply to shallowly bilobed, or sometimes reduced or lacking
Stamens: stamens usually 10, inserted at the base of the ovary
Styles: styles usually 3 (rarely 4 or 5)
Ovary: ovary 1-loculed
Fruit: capsule opening by 6 (rarely by 8 or 10) teeth
Common_chickweed_(Stellaria_media_(L.)_Vill.)
Common chickweed (Stellaria media (L.) Vill.)
Common name: Common chickweed. [Alsine media L.]
Life span: annual or biennial (over wintering)
Growth form: herbs, forming loose mats or clumps; plant stems lie on the ground and then curve upwards at the tips; rooting at the nodes
Roots: taproot
Height: the stems mostly 1-5 dm long
Surface: pubescent with multicellular hairs in longitudinal line
Leaves: opposite; leaves 10-50 (60) mm long, 5-25 (30) mm wide, the blades ovate to elliptic or broadly lanceolate, abruptly acuminate, glabrous above and beneath, ciliate, at least the lower ones with distinctive leaf stalks to 2 mm long, the leaf stalks with small hairs
Flowers: flowers axillary, or commonly few to several in short, leafy bracted cymes
Inflorescence: pedicels 2-60 mm long, hairy like the stems
Sepals: sepals 3-6 mm long, 3-veined, scarious-margined, ciliate basally, hairy dorsally
Petals: petals white, 2-6 mm long
Fruit: capsules 4-8 mm long, straw colored or greenish, opening by 6 valves
Seeds: seeds 0.8-1.2 mm long, uniformly warty
Chromosome number: 2n = 40, 42, 44
Habitat: Weedy plants of open sites, usually associated with cultural activities; widely established in North America; adventive from Eurasia
Cowcockle_(Vaccaria_Medicus)
Cowcockle (Vaccaria Medicus)
Life span: annual
Growth form: herbs with erect or ascending stems
Leaves: leaves opposite, lanceolate to oblong, lacking stipules
Flowers: flowers few to numerous in open cymes
Sepals: sepals 5, united nearly to the apex
Calyx: calyx tube 10-veined and sharply angled
Petals: petals 5, pinkish, the blade retuse
Stamens: stamens 10
Styles: styles 2 (rarely 3)
Ovary: ovary 1-loculed
Fruit: capsules opening by 4 teeth
Cowcockle_(Vaccaria_pyramidata_Medicus)
Cowcockle (Vaccaria pyramidata Medicus)
Common name: Cowcockle
Synonyms: [Saponaria vaccaria L.; S. segetalis Necker; V. segetalis (Necker) Garcke ex Asch.]
Life span: annual
Roots: taproot
Length: the stems 15-80 cm tall
Stems: glabrous
Leaves: leaves 3-8 cm long, 5-25 mm wide, lanceolate to lance-ovate or oblong, 1- to 3-veined, attenuate to acute apically, connate-clasping and sessile or short-petiolate basally
Flowers: flowers few to many in open cymes, erect to spreading
Inflorescence: pedicels 5-60 mm long, glabrous
Calyx: calyx constricted apically, 11-15 mm long in flower, the veins purplish or green, glabrous, inflated and strongly 5-angled in fruit, the teeth 1-2 mm long
Petals: petals pink, the blades 5-8 mm long, flexed backwards, with a tiny notch at the end
Seeds: seeds 1.7-2.1 mm long, reddish black
Chromosome number: 2n = 20, 24, 30, 60
Habitat: Open habitats and in sagebrush-bunchgrass and mountain brush communities; widespread in the U. S.; introduced from Europe
Plantain_Family_(PLANTAGINACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Plantain Family (PLANTAGINACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Plantain Family
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs
Stems: acaulescent or short-stemmed
Leaves: leaves all basal or nearly so
Flowers: flowers sympetalous, small, perfect or imperfect, regular, borne in bracteate spikes or in heads
Sepals: sepals 4
Petals: corolla scarious, 4-lobed; stamens 4, alternate with the corolla lobes, or only 2
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, with 1-4 locules, the carpels 2
Style: style 1
Fruit: fruit a circumscissile capsule
Chromosome number: x = 4-12+
Wart-Cress_(Coronopus_Trev.)
Wart-Cress (Coronopus Trev.)
Common name: Wart-Cress
Aroma: strong-smelling diffuse or prostrate annuals or biennials
Surface: pubescent with simple hairs
Leaves: pinnately parted
Flowers: minute, greenish-white, the capitate clusters elongating in front into short racemes
Calyx: sepals oval, spreading
Stamens: stamens 2 or 4
Fruit: silicles flattened contrary to the narrow partition, the 2 valves strongly wrinkled or tuberculate, 1-seeded, indehiscent
Styles: styles not evident
Seeds: seeds with narrow incumbent cotyledons
*Coronopus_didymus_(L.)_Sm.
Coronopus didymus (L.) Sm.
Stems: 1.5-2 dm long, leafy, somewhat hairy
Leaves: 1-2 cm long, with narrow divisions
Flower: pedicels rough-wrinkled
Chromosome number: 2n = 32
Plantain_(Plantago_L.)
Plantain (Plantago L.)
Roots: plants from taproots
Leaves: leaves simple, entire or variously lobed
Flowers: flowers several to many, inconspicuous, each subtended by a bract
Calyx: calyx sometimes irregular
Petals: corolla scarious or membranous, persistent
Stamens: stamens included or exserted
Fruit: fruit included in the calyx or exserted.
English_plantain,_ribgrass,_buckhorn_(Plantago_lanceolata_L.)
English plantain, ribgrass, buckhorn (Plantago lanceolata L.)
Common name: English plantain, ribgrass, buckhorn.
Life span: perennial
Surface: not woolly at the base but sometimes long white-pilose; scapes strigose
Height: 1.5-5 dm tall
Leaves: leaves elliptic to narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate, 5-30 cm long, 0.3-4 cm broad, somewhat expanded but not membranous at the base, 3- to several-veined, entire to obscurely denticulate
Inflorescence: inflorescence dense, 1-8 cm long
Bracts: bracts ovate, the apex sometimes acuminate and slightly surpassing the flowers, dorsally pubescent to glabrous, ciliate
Petals: corolla lobes 2-2.5 mm long, spreading
Stamens: stamens 4
Fruit: capsule 2-4 mm long, circumscissile below the middle, the seeds usually 2
Chromosome number: 2n = 12, 24
Habitat: Widely distributed weedy plants in numerous vegetative types; adventive from Eurasia, now widely naturalized in the U. S.
Broadleaf_plantain,_common_plantain_(Plantago_major_L.)
Broadleaf plantain, common plantain (Plantago major L.)
Common name: Broadleaf plantain, common plantain
Synonym: [P. major var. pachyphylla Pilger, type from Salt Lake City]
Life span: plants perennial
Surface: not woolly at the base
Height: mostly 1-5 dm tall
Leaves: leaves ovate to lanceolate or broadly elliptic, acute to cordate basally, short- to long-petiolate, the blades 3-15 cm long, 2-12 cm broad, expanded and often somewhat membranous basally, 5- to several-veined, denticulate to entire
Inflorescence: inflorescence dense to lax (especially below), 3-25 cm long, essentially glabrous
Bracts: bracts ovate, shorter than the flowers, glabrous, not ciliate
Petals: corolla lobes spreading to reflexed, about 1 mm long
Stamens: stamens 4
Fruit: capsules 3-4 mm long, circumscissile below the middle, the seeds several to many
Chromosome number: 2n = 12, 24, 36
Habitat: Widespread weedy species of lawns, fields, and other disturbed sites; adventive from Europe, now widely established in North America
Common_Plantain_(Plantago_rugelii_Dcne.)
Common Plantain (Plantago rugelii Dcne.)
Common name: Common Plantain
Life span: perennial
Leaves: elliptic or ovate, 5-30 dm long, the petioles crimson at the base
Flower: scapes 1.5-9 dm high
Inflorescence: spikes long and slender, attenuate at the apex
Sepals: sepals oblong
Fruit: pyxis oblong-cylindric, 4-6 mm long, circumscissile much below the middle, 4-10 seeded
Habitat: a bad weed of waysides and dwellings, also in fields and woods
Pokeweed_Family_(PHYTOLACCACEAE_R._Br.)
Pokeweed Family (PHYTOLACCACEAE R. Br.)
Common name: Pokeweed Family
Growth form: herbs
Leaves: alternate, entire leaves
Flowers: regular perfect flowers
Calyx: calyx of 5 rounded sepals
Petals: none
Stamens: stamens 10
Ovary: ovary superior, several-celled
Fruit: fruit a berry
*Phytolacca_L.
Phytolacca L.
Life span: perennial
Growth form: tall
Leaves: exstipulate leaves
Inflorescence: raceme
Flowers: small flowers
Calyx: calyx petal-like
Ovary: ovary of 5-15 carpels
Fruit: fruit a 5-15-celled juicy berry
Potato_Family_(SOLANACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Potato Family (SOLANACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Potato Family
Growth form: herbs, shrubs, or trees
Leaves: leaves alternate or fascicled, occasionally opposite, entire to odd-pinnate
Flowers: flowers in umbels, cymes, panicles, or solitary, perfect, regular or nearly so, 4- to 6-merous
Calyx: calyx usually 5-lobed or -cleft, rotate, campanulate, or tubular, usually persistent
Petals: corolla usually 5-lobed, tubular, campanulate, or rotate, the lobes valvate or imbricate and usually plicate in bud
Stamens: stamens 5, distinct or slightly united by the anthers; filaments distinct, inserted on the corolla tube alternate with the lobes
Anthers: anthers opening by slits or pores
Ovary: ovary superior, usually 2-loculed
Style: style 1
Stigma: the stigma entire or 2-lobed
Fruit: fruit a berry or capsule
Chromosome number: x = 7-12
Jimsonweed_(Datura_L.)
Jimsonweed (Datura L.)
Aroma: rank, ill-scented
Growth form: herbs, stems stout, mostly erect, branched
Leaves: leaves large, ovate to elliptic, petioled
Flowers: flowers large, showy, white to lavender, solitary in axils of branches
Calyx: calyx prismatic or cylindrical, funnelform, 5-lobed
Petals: corolla funnelform to tubular with a spreading, 5- to 10-toothed, plaited limb
Stamens: stamens 5, included
Ovary: ovary 2-loculed or falsely 4-loculed
Fruit: fruit a large, globose or ovoid, normally spiny capsule
Seeds: seeds flat
Note: poisonous
Jimson_weed,_Jamestown_weed_(Datura_stramonium_L.)
Jimpson weed, Jamestown weed (Datura stramonium L.)
Common name: Jimson weed, Jamestown weed
Life span: annual herbs
Height: stems 3-10 dm tall
Surface: glabrous or nearly so
Leaves: alternate; leaves 1-2 dm long, ovate to oblong, repand to coarsely sinuately toothed, nearly lobed, glabrous or nearly so
Calyx: calyx 3-6 cm long, the lobes 3-7 mm long, triangular-lanceolate
Petals: corolla 5-11 cm long, white to violet
Fruit: fruit erect, ovoid, regularly dehiscent into 4 valves
Chromosome number: 2n = 24
Habitat: Waste places and cultivated land, often in barnyards and corrals; widespread in North America.
Note: The plant is much more common in the eastern U.S., where it has been known to poison hogs. It is likewise poisonous to humans, as are the other species as well. They contain a series of alkaloids (hyocyamine, atropine, scopolamine), all physiologically active drugs and deleterious in even very small quantities.
Ground_chery_(Physalis_L.)
Ground cherry (Physalis L.)
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs
Stems: leafy
Leaves: leaves entire to sinuate-dentate
Flowers: flowers solitary in leaf axils, or in clusters of 2-5; pedicels slender
Calyx: calyx campanulate to tubular-campanulate, 5-toothed, enlarging and bladdery-inflated in fruit
Petals: corolla rotate or open-campanulate, obscurely 5-lobed, yellowish or whitish to purplish
Stamens: stamens 5, inserted near the base of the corolla tube
Style: style slender
Stigma: stigma faintly 2-lobed
Fruit: fruit a berry
Seeds: seeds few to many
Cutleaf_Ground_Cherry_(Physalis_angulata_L.)
Cutleaf Ground Cherry (Physalis angulata L.)
Common name: Cutleaf Ground Cherry
Life span: annual
Growth form: herbs
Roots: taproot
Stems: 1-5 dm tall, erect, branched from base or above, sometimes decumbent, glabrous or with a few short antrorsely appressed hairs especially on younger plants
Leaves: variable, principal blades 4-10 cm long, 3.5-8 mm wide, ovate to lance-ovate, or broadly to narrowly elliptic, sometimes oblongish, margins deeply and irregularly toothed, incised-toothed to undulate-toothed or entire, surfaces glabrous or rarelywith sparse appressed hairs; petioles 1-4 cm long
Flowers: flowering pedicels 5-15 or 15-40 mm long, 20-30 or 20-45 mm long in fruit
Calyx: calyx at anthesis 3-5 mm long, lobes 1-3 mm long; fruiting calyx 20-35 mm long, inflated 10-angled or 10-ribbed
Corolla: corolla yellowish, 4-10 mm long, immaculate, or with indistinct spots
Anthers: anthers bluish or violet, 2-2.5 mm long , filaments slender, 3-4 mm long
Fruit: berry 10-12 mm in diameter
Seeds: seeds yellowish, flattened, ovate or broadly elliptical, subsmooth
Habitat: alluvial soils along streams and valleys, roadsides, moist open woodlands, fields and waste areas
Nightshade_or_volato_(Solanum_L.)
Nightshade or volato (Solanum L.)
Growth form: herbs or shrubs; sometimes clambering or twining
Surface: glabrous to pubescent or tomentose, often glandular; armed or unarmed
Leaves: leaves simple and entire to lobed or parted
Flowers: flowers mostly in umbels or cymes, white or yellow to blue or purple
Calyx: calyx 5-cleft or -toothed, rotate to campanulate
Petals: corolla 5-angled or -lobed, plaited in bud
Stamens: stamens 5, inserted on the corolla tube; filaments short
Anthers: anthers connivent around the style, dehiscent by a terminal pore or short slit
Ovary: ovary 2-loculed
Stigma: stigma small, capitate or bilobed
Fruit: fruit a globose berry with several to many flattened seeds
Carolina_nightshade_(Solanum_carolinense_)
Carolina nightshade (Solanum carolinense L.)
Common name: Carolina nightshade
Life span: perennial
Roots: from creeping underground rhizomes
Growth form: stems erect, branched; coarse herb
Height: mainly 3-10 dm tall
Surface: spiny and loosely pubescent throughout with 4- to 8-rayed, stellate hairs
Leaves: alternate; leaves ovate to ovate-elliptic or lanceolate, to 14 cm long, the blades rounded basally, usually with several large teeth or shallow lobes on each side, more or less spiny along the main veins, the petiole to 3 cm long
Flowers: flowers several, racemose
Calyx: calyx 5-7 mm long, the lobes lance-acuminate
Petals: corolla pale violet to white, 2-3 cm wide
Fruit: fruit globose, yellow at maturity, 1-2 cm wide
Chromosome number: 2n = 48
Habitat: eastern U. S. and adventive
Black_nightshade_(Solanum_nigrum_L.)
Black nightshade (Solanum nigrum L.)
Common name: Black nightshade
Synonym: [S. americanum Miller]
Life span: plants annual
Stems: stems slender, usually divergently much-branched,
Height: mainly 1.5-10 dm tall
Surface: glabrous or nearly so
Leaves: alternate; leaves petioled, the blades ovate to oval or ovate-lanceolate, entire to sinuate-dentate, pale green, to 10 cm long
Inflorescence: umbels with 2-4 flowers, on slender peduncles to 3 cm long
Flowers: pedicels reflexed
Calyx: calyx of unequal acutish to obtuse spreading lobes 1-1.5 mm long
Petals: corolla white or purplish tinged, the lobes 4.5-7 mm long
Fruit: berry black, glossy, 5-9 mm wide
Habitat: Roadsides, gardens, and other cultivated or open lands; adventive from Europe and now widespread in the U. S.
Note: This species is often mistaken for S. sarrachoides (q.v.).
Black_Nightshade_(Solanum_ptycanthum_Dun._ex_DC.)
Black Nightshade (Solanum ptycanthum Dun. ex DC.)
Common name: Black Nightshade
Life span: annual
Growth form: herbs
Roots: taproot
Stems: erect or more commonly divergently branching from base and above, (1)3-6(12) dm tall or long, unarmed, glabrous or sparsely strigose, often rather densely strigose in youn branchlets, eglandular
Leaves: alternate, highly variable in shape and size; blades usually membranaceous, ovate to oval, ovate-lanceolate, triangular-ovate, lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate 5-10(17) cm long, margins entire, undulate, or sinuate-dentate, bases cuneate, rounded to subtruncated or subcordate, apex acute, obtuse, or short acuminate, surfaces glabrous to sparsely pubescent especially along veins and near the margins; petioles (0.1)3-7(10) cm long, usually winged at least above
Inflorescence: inflorescences axillary, umbellate or rarely corymbiform, usually strigose on all parts; peduncles filiform to rather stout, 1-3 cm long; pedicels often unequal, (1)3-7(10) mm long, soon relaxed
Calyx: calyx campanulate, lobes often unequal, 1-1.5 mm long, lanceolate to oblong, acute to obtuse
Corolla: corolla white, sometimes with a yellow star, rarely bluish or streaked with purple; petals fused together; (3)4.5-7(9) mm long, lobes 3-6 mm long, often reflexed
Anthers: anthers 1.5-2 mm long, pollen 18-22 in diameter
Style: style 2.5-3.3 mm long
Fruit: mature berries purplish-black, shiny or dull, 5-9 mm in diameter, usually detaching at junction of pedicel and peduncle but sometimes at the recpetacle
Habitat: moist open woodlands, prairie ravines, stream banks & valleys, fields, gardens, roadsides, & waste places
Buffalobur_(Solanum_rostratum_Dunal)
Buffalobur (Solanum rostratum Dunal)
Common name: Buffalobur
Life span: plants annual
Height: stems to 7 dm tall
Surface: somewhat hoary or yellowish with copious, wholly stellate pubescence, also abundantly armed with straight prickles
Leaves: alternate; 1- to 2-pinnatifid
Inflorescence: racemes with ascending pedicels
Calyx: calyx nearly hidden by the numerous, spinelike prickles
Petals: corolla yellow, 20-25 mm broad, the short lobes broadly ovate
Stamens: stamens and style much declining, the lowermost anther much longer and exceeding the others, and with an incurved beak
Fruit: berry wholly enclosed by the investing calyx
Seeds: seeds coarsely undulate-rugose
Chromosome number: 2n = 24
Habitat: Occasional weed of cultivated and otherwise disturbed sites, and in adjacent plant communities; indigenous in the central United States, adventive elsewhere.
Hairy_nightshade_(Solanum_sarrachoides_Sendt._ex_Martius)
Hairy nightshade (Solanum sarrachoides Sendt. ex Martius)
Common name: Hairy nightshade
Synonym: [S. villosum Miller, S. nigrum var. villosum (Miller) Miller]
Life span: annual
Growth form: stems much-branched, ascending to decumbent
Height: 1-5 dm long
Surface: shortly viscid-villous
Leaves: alternate; leaves ovate, 2.5-6 cm long, gradually to abruptly narrowed basally, apically acute to obtuse, entire to sinuately toothed, the petioles 1-1.5 cm long
Inflorescence: peduncles 5-10 (20) mm long
Calyx: calyx 2-2.5 mm long at anthesis, accrescent in fruit
Petals: corolla white, 3-5 mm wide, the lanceolate lobes villous outside
Fruit: berry 6-7 mm wide, globose, yellow when ripe
Chromosome number: 2n = 24
Habitat: Weedy plants of fields, roadsides, gardens, and other open sites; adventive from South America; widely established in North America.
Primrose_Family_(PRIMULACEAE_Vent.)
Primrose Family (PRIMULACEAE Vent.)
Common name: Primrose Family
Growth form: herbs
Leaves: simple
Flowers: perfect, regular, gamopetalous
Calyx: calyx free from ovary, 4-9-parted
Corolla: corolla 4-9-lobed
Stamens: stamen of same number as corolla lobes and opposite them
Ovary: ovary superior, 1-celled, with central, free placenta
Pimpernel_(Anagallis_L.)
Pimpernel (Anagallis L.)
Common name: Pimpernel
Growth form: low spreading annual herb
Leaves: opposite or whorled, entire
Flowers: solitary, axillary, peduncled
Corolla: corolla rotate, with a very short tube, the lobes broad
Stamens: stamens 5; filaments bearded
Fruit: capsule circumscissile, many-seeded
*Anagallis_arvensis_L.
Anagallis arvensis L.
Life span: annual
Stems: decumbent or ascending, 10-20 cm high
Leaves: ovate, sessile; peduncles exceeding the leaves
Flowers: orange-scarlet, sometimes white; petals obovate, minutely glandular-ciliate
Habitat: Introduced from Europe in waste places
Purslane_Family_(PORTULACACEAE_Juss.)
Purslane Family (PORTULACACEAE Juss.)
Common name: Purslane Family
Growth form: shrubs and herbs often with smooth, succulent leaves
Leaves: simple, alternate, opposite or basal, stipules tufted or scarious
Inflorescence: inflorescence axillary or terminal, the flowers solitary, cymose, racemose, or paniculate
Flowers: bisexual
Sepals: sepals two, bractlike
Petals: petals four to five, fused at base or free
Stamens: stamens opposite the petals, as many as the petals, fewer, or more, usually free
Pistil: pistil one, ovary superior to inferior, styles and stigmas one to nine
Fruit: fruit a capsule or sometimes nutlike, seeds one to many
*Calandrinia_Kunth.
Calandrinia Kunth.
*Calandrinia_caulescens
Calandrinia caulescens
*Claytonia_L.
Claytonia L.
Growth form: low succulent herbs
Surface: glabrous
Life span: annual
Roots: fibrous roots or perennial from corms or thickened rootstocks
Leaves: basal, petioled, the cauline opposite or alternate
Flowers: small, white, pinkish, or yellowish, in loose terinal racemes, lasting more than one day
Sepals: sepals 2, ovate, herbaceous, persistent
Petals: petals 5
Style: style 3-notched or cleft
Seeds: seeds flattened
Miner's_Lettuce_(Claytonia_perfoliata_Donn.)
Miner's Lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata Donn.)
Common name: Miner's Lettuce
Life span: annual
Growth form: branched from the base, erect
Height: 1-5 dm high
Leaves: basal, long-petioled, the blades usually rhombic-ovate, but varying to spatulate-linear; cauline leaves united, forming an orbicular or somewhat angle disk, 3-5 cm broad
Inflorescence: racemes 1-sided, usually interrupted, with the flowers fascicled; petals 3-5 mm long, white
Seeds: seeds black, shiny, minutely cellular reticulate, kidney-shaped
Habitat: moist shady places
Purslane_(Portulaca_L.)
Purslane (Portulaca L.)
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: succulent herb
Leaves: alternate or approximate terete or flat
Inflorescence: inflorescence near the end of stem, axillary, flowers solitary or small clusters
Sepals: sepals two, fused at base
Petals: petals four to six
Stamens: stamens four to many fused to base of petals
Ovary: ovary half to wholly inferior, syles three- to nine-parted
Fruit: fruit a circumscissile capsule, seeds numerous
Purslane_(Portulaca_oleracea_L.)
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.)
Common name: Purslane
Growth form: forming mats, prostrate and radially spreading, somewhat ascending
Surface: glabrous; leaf axils without pubescence
Roots: fibrous roots
Leaves: 1-3 cm long, elliptic to obovoid, or spatulate, flattened
Flowers: sessile, crowded, sepals ovate 3-5 mm long, strongly keeled; petals yellow or orange yellow
Stamens: stamens six to fifteen
Fruit: capsule ovoid, 6-9 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 24
Habitat: disturbed sites, pinelands, sandy soil, cosmopolitan weed
Rose_Family_(ROSACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Rose Family (ROSACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Rose Family
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial
Growth form: herbs, shrubs, or trees
Leaves: leaves alternate or basal (and still alternate) or less commonly opposite, simple or pinnately to palmately compound, mostly deciduous, stipulate or rarely estipulate
Flowers: flowers perfect or imperfect, regular, complete or incomplete, perigynous to epigynous, borne singly or in racemose, corymbose, umbellate or cymose clusters
Sepals: sepals usually 5 (more in some), often bearing bracteoles alternate with the lobes, borne with petals and stamens on margin of a hypanthium
Petals: petals usually 5 (lacking or more in some), commonly showy
Stamens: stamens 5 to numerous
Pistils: pistils 1 to many, of 1 carpel, or of 5 connate or distinct carpels enclosed in the hypanthium
Fruit: fruit an achene, follicle, drupe, pome, aggregate, hip, or accessory
Chromosome number: x = 7-9, 17+
Note: The rose family is both large and complex. The diversity of fruit type reflects the many morphological differences in structure of the gynoecium. Suggestions by some workers that the group should be segregated into more than one family is not without merit. It is held together by the presence of the hypanthium on which the perianth and stamens are displayed. This is a complex structure, with several possible origins, and might fail ultimately as a diagnostic character.
Cinquefoil,_Five-Finger_(Potentilla_L.)
Cinquefoil, Five-Finger (Potentilla L.)
Common names: Cinquefoil, Five-Finger
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial herbs
Leaves: compound; serrate or cleft leaflets
Flowers: in terminal cymes, yellow or white, with petals, sepals and bractlets 5 each
Stamens: stamens usually 20 or more, with filiform filaments
Fruit: achene usually numerous
Cinquefoil_(Potentilla_recta_L.)
Cinquefoil (Potentilla recta L.)
Common name: Upright Cinquefoil
Growth form: erect, stout
Surface: villous-pubescent
Height: 3-7 dm high
Leaves: alternate; numerous, 5-7-foliolate; leaflets oblanceolate, 3-14 cm long, hirsute on both surfaces
Flower: numerous, 1.2-2.5 cm broad, yellow, showy
Stamens: stamens 20-30
Pistil: carpels wrinkled
Habitat: fields, roadsides, and waste places
Sedge_Family_(CYPERACEAE_Juss.)
Sedge Family (CYPERACEAE Juss.)
Common name: Sedge Family
Growth form: grass-like or rush-like herbs, with fibrous roots, mostly solid clums
Leaves: leaves with closed sheaths
Flowers: perfect or imperfect, arranged in spikelets, one in the axil of each scale, the spikelets solitary or clustered, 1-many-flowered
Perianth: hypogynous, composed of bristles or scales, or none
Stamens: usually 1-3
Ovary:1-celled
Style: style 2-3 cleft
Fruit: an achene
nut-Grass,_Flat-Sedge_(Cyperus_L.) <CF 000 100 000><S20>Nnut-Grass, Flat-Sedge (Cyperus L.)
Common names: nut-Grass, Flat-Sedge Growth form: subscapose annual or perennial grass-like herbs Stems: triangular, solid Inflorescence: inflorescence subtended by and exceeded by 1-several leaf-like bracts Spikelets: spikelets in simple or compound umbels or heads Stamens: stamens 1-3
Nut-Grass_(Cyperus_esculentus_L.)
Nut-Grass (Cyperus esculentus L.)
Common name: Nut-Grass
Culm: culms mostly solitary, stout, 3-3 dm tall
Leaves: 4-8 mm wide, sometimes as long as the culms or a little longer, rough-margined
Bracts: bracts much surpassing the inflorescence; umbel 2-8-rayed, sometimes compound
Spikelets: spikelets linear, diverging, mostly 2-ranked, arranged in spikes, the rachilla winged
Scales: scales yellow to reddish-brown, scarious-margined, the green midribs mucronate
Fruit: achenes ovoid
Note: the tubers are edible, but the plant becomes a noxious weed in many places
*Cyperus_rotundus_L.
Cyperus rotundus L.
Surface: glaucous
Life span: gregarious perennial
Stems: tuberous creeping rhizomes present; culms to 5 dm tall
Leaves: spreading, basal; blades linear, exceeded by the culms, 3-4 mm wide; sheath loose, purplish
Involucre: involucral leaves four to five, usually one as long or longer than the umbel
Spikelets: rays two to three, with a few spikelets to 25 mm long, ovate, appressed
Fruit: achene 1.5-1.9 mm long, obovate
Spilbrush_(Eleocharis_R._Br.)
Spilbrush (Eleocharis R. Br.)
Life span: annual or perennial sedges
Stems: culms simple, triangular, quadrangular or terete
Leaves: leaves reduced to sheaths
Spikelets: solitary, terminal, erect, several-flowered
Scales: concave, spirally imbricated in several ranks
Perianth: of 1-12 bristles, sometimes lacking
Stamens: 2-3
Style: 2-3-cleft, the bulbous base persistent upon the apex of the achene, forming a terminal tubercle
Sesame_Family_(PEDALIACEAE_R._Br.)
Sesame Family (PEDALIACEAE R. Br.)
Common name: Sesame Family
Growth form: herbs
Surface: coarse with glandular or eglandular trichomes
Leaves: leaves opposite or the upper sometimes alternate, simple, entire to variously lobed
Flowers: flowers perfect, racemose or solitary
Calyx: calyx lobes usually 5, distinct or mostly united
Corolla: corolla irregular, sympetalous, slightly spurred or saccate at the base, the oblique limb with 5 imbricate lobes
Stamens: stamens 4, paired, the fifth rudimentary, or stamens 2, with 3 rudimentary ones
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 2-loculed
Fruit: fruit with a soft exocarp when young, at maturity the hard endocarp splitting apically into 2 lateral, curved beaks
Chromosome number: x = 8, 13, 14, 15, 18
Unicorn_plant_(Proboscidea_Schmidel)
Unicorn plant (Proboscidea Schmidel)
Life span: annual
Growth form: spreading on the ground; herbs
Leaves: leaves opposite or the upper sometimes alternate; varying somewhat in shape from cordate to orbicular
Stems: 30-80 cm long
Flowers: flowers racemose, terminal, but appearing lateral
Bracts: bracts small and deciduous or lacking
Calyx: calyx unequally 5-lobed, cleft to near the base, membranous
Petals: corolla 5-lobed, slightly bilabiate, the limb oblique
Stamens: stamens 4, paired, the fifth a staminodium
Ovary: ovary 2-loculed
Fruit: fruit a drupaceous capsule with fleshy exocarp and woody, reticulate, dehiscent endocarp, which gradually tapers and splits into 2 long, stout, incurved beaks.
Habitat: Delaware to Colorado and California, southward to Mexico
Unicorn-plant_(Proboscidea_louisianica_(Mill.)_Thell.)
Unicorn-plant (Proboscidea louisianica (Mill.) Thell.)
Common name: Unicorn-plant
Life span: annual
Stems: stout, much-branched, 3-9 dm high
Leaves: opposite at least on the lower stem, broadly ovate to orbicular-cordate, 7-30 cm in diameter
Calyx: calyx cleft on the lower side
Corolla: corolla whitish or yellowish, mottled with purple or yellow within, 4-5 cm long
Fruit: 10-15 cm long, splitting into 2 diverging segments
Smilax_Family_(SMILACACEAE_Vent.)
Smilax Family (SMILACACEAE Vent.)
Growth form: herbs or occasionally woody plants
Roots: rhizomes, corms, bulbs, or other fleshy structures often present
Leaves: alternate or whorled or very rarely opposite, sometimes all basal
Flowers: bisexual or rarely unisexual, radially symmetrical or rarely tending to be bilaterally symmetrical, hypogynous or rarely perigynous or epigymous, rarely other than 3-merous; perianth nearly always large and conspicuous, both sepals and petals corolla-like, usually white or conspicuously colored
Stamens: stamens rarely of other number than 6
Styles: styles rarely separate
Fruit: fruit a capsule or sometimes a berry
*Smilax_L.
Smilax L.
Growth form: chiefly climbing plants with woody or herbaceous stems
Surface: often armed with spines or prickles
Leaves: leathery, the petioles bearing a pair of coiling appendages (stipules) that serve in climbing as the attaching organs of the plant
Flowers: regular but imperfect, borne in umbels, on stout pedicels; perianth-segments 6, greenish
Stamens: stamens 6; pistillate flowers with 1-6 abortive stamens
Fruit: fruit a berry, and important food for ruffed grouse, aslo eaten by black bears
Soapberry_Family_(SAPINDACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Soapberry Family (SAPINDACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Soapberry Family
Growth form: trees or large shrubs
Leaves: alternate, pinnately or bipinnately compound
Inflorescence: panicle
Flowers: perfect or imperfect, irregular; disk borne between the petals and the stamens
Sepals: 4 or 5, distinct or connate at the base
Petals: 4-5, inserted below an annular fleshy disk, with 2 upturned appendages at the base of the blade
Stamens: 8 or fewer, the filaments distinct
Pistil:1, the ovary superior, 3-loculed, with 2 ovules per locule, the placentation axile
Style: 1
Fruit: fruit a loculicidal capsule
Chromosome number: x = 10-16
Balloon_Vine_(Cardiospermum_L.)
Balloon Vine (Cardiospermum L.)
Common name: Balloon Vine
Growth form: herbaceous or semiwoody vines with slender stems and bearing axillary tendrils
Leaves: biternate or twice compound, sometimes trifoliolate leaflets coarsely serrate or crenate often with pellucid dots
Flowers: unisexual or occasionally bisexual in axillary racemes or corymbs, white, bilaterally symmetrical; sepals four or five, petals four, stamens eight, disk with two glands
Pistil: ovary three-locular, stigmas three
Fruit: fruit a large, inflated, bladdery capsule
Balloon_Vine_(Cardiospermum_halicacabum_L.)
Balloon Vine (Cardiospermum halicacabum L.)
Common name: Balloon Vine
Life span: annual
Growth form: much-branched vine with axillary tendrils
Leaves: alternate, usually ternate or twice ternate; leaflets ovate-lanceolate to rhombic-lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, acuminate at apex, decurrent on petiolules, toothed or incisely lobed, to 8 cm long
Flowers: irregular, 4 mm long; sepals 4, 2 large and 2 small; petals 4, whitish, often somewhat unequal, each with a petaloid appendage at base; disk extra-staminal
Stamens: stamens 8
Ovary: ovary 3-celled, 1 ovule per cell
Fruit: fruit a bladdery-inflated, 3-celled and 3-lobed cpsule, 3-4.5 cm in diameter
Seeds: seeds black, about 5mm in diameter
Habitat: moist thickest, riverbanks, waste places
Spiderwort_Family_(COMMELINACEAE_R._Br.)
Spiderwort Family (COMMELINACEAE R. Br.)
Common name: Spiderwort Family
Life span: herbacious perennials
Growth form: stems erect, mostly glabrous, stout
Leaves: typically cauline, alternate, narrow, distinctly parallel-veined
Flowers: perfect, showy, 3-merous, diferentiated into spepals and petals
Sepals: distinct, imbricate, green
Petals: free, alternate with the sepals and colored
Stamens: 6, in 2 series, the filaments flattened basally
Anthers: basifixed
Ovary: superior, sessile, 3-loculed, with 1 or 2 ovules per locule
Style: 1
Fruit: loculicidal capsule, enclosed by fleshy sepals
Seeds: 1-6
Chromosome number: x = 4-19
Dayflower_(Commelina_L.)
Dayflower (Commelina L.)
Growth form: branching herbs, erect, ascending, or procumbent
Flowers: regular or irregualr
Sepals: sepals unequal
Stamens: stamens unequal, the 3 sterile smaller
Dayflower_(Commelina_communis_L.)
Dayflower (Commelina communis L.)
Common name: Dayflower
Growth form: erect or repent annual
Stems: 1.5-10 dm long, glabrous to somewhat pubescent at nodes, often rooting at nodes; internodes to 13 cm long
Roots: fibrous
Leaves: lance-ovate, 1.6-9 cm long, 1.1-3.2 cm wide, acute to acuminate, glaucous beneath, scabrous white hairy above; sheaths 4-20 mm long, throat of sheath more or less hairy
Bract: spathes solitary ro congested, 12-29 mm long, 6-14 mm wide; margins open across top and down side to spathe stalk
Flower: corolla blue with 1 smaller lanceolate white petal
Stamens: sterile anthers 3; fertile anthers 3; fertile anther locule (1.2)1.4-2.0 mm long
Fruit: capsule 6-7 mm long, about ´ as wide, usually 2-celled with 1 or 2 seeds per cell, third cell abortive
Seeds: seeds foveolate to roughened, 2.5-3.0 mm long
Habitat: riverbanks and moist places
Spurge_Family_(EUPHORBIACEAE_A._L._Juss.)
Spurge Family (EUPHORBIACEAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: Spurge Family
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs or woody plants, the juice milky or watery
Leaves: leaves simple, alternate or opposite (or whorled)
Flowers: flowers imperfect
Sepals: sepals 4-6 or lacking (a calyxlike involucre, a cyathium, present in Euphorbia)
Petals: petals 4-6, distinct, or commonly lacking
Stamens: stamens 1 to many
Pistil: pistil 1,
Ovary: the ovary superior, 3-loculed and 3-seeded or 1-loculed and 1-seeded in Eremocarpus; ovules 1 or 2 per locule
Styles: styles 3 or 3-lobed
Fruit: fruit a 2- or 3-valved capsule
Chromosome number: x = 6-14+.
*Croton_L.
Croton L.
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Surface: appressed-stellate
Leaves: leaves alternate, petioled, simple, estipulate; lanceolate
Flowers: flowers imperfect, the inflorescence racemose; flowers have no petals, but may appear yellow due to their 10-15 yellow stamens
Calyx: calyx mostly 5-lobed
Petals: petals lacking; nectary disk present, the lobes or glands alternate with the petals
Receptacle: receptacle usually hairy
Stamens: stamen mostly 5 or more
Flowers: pistillate flowers typically below the staminate
Ovary: ovary typically 3-loculed
Styles: styles as many as the locules
Fruit: capsule usually 3-lobed, 3- (or 1) -seeded
Seeds: seeds carunculate, smooth, shiny
Turkey-mullein_(Eremocarpus_Benth.)
Turkey-mullein (Eremocarpus Benth.)
Growth form: Low, gray, scented
Life span: annual herbs
Roots: from taproots, pubescent with elongate stellate and stinging hairs Leaves: leaves alternate, entire, 3-veined
Flowers: monoecious; staminate flowers in terminal cymes, with 5- or 6-lobed calyx, lacking petals, with 6 or 7 stamens, the receptacle hairy; pistillate flowers, 1-3 in stem axils, lacking a perianth
Ovary: ovary with 4 or 5 small glands at the base, 1-loculed, the style not divided
Fruit: capsule 2-valved, 1-seeded
Turkey-mullein_(Eremocarpus_setigerus_(Hook.)_Benth.)
Turkey-mullein (Eremocarpus setigerus (Hook.) Benth.)
Common name: Turkey-mullein
Synonym: [Croton setigerus Hook.]
Growth form: dichotomously branched from the base, forming cushionlike clumps 3-20 cm tall
Leaves: alternate; leaves 1.8-6 cm long, ovate to suborbicular; petioles about as long as the blades
Flowers: inconspicuous; staminate flowers pedicellate, the calyx about 2 mm long, surpassed by the stamens
Pistil: pistil pubescent
Fruit: capsules about 3-5 mm long; seeds ellipsoid, smooth or somewhat ridged, not carunculate
Habitat: Creosote bush community at about 824 m in Washington County; Washington and Idaho, south to California and Arizona
Spurge_(Euphorbia_L.)
Spurge (Euphorbia L.)
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Leaves: leaves simple, alternate, opposite, or whorled
Flowers: flowers monoecious, borne in involucres called cyathia, these simulating a single flower and often with petaloid appendages on marginal glands
Flowers: pistillate flowers solitary in center of the cyathium, pedicellate, lacking a calyx and corolla
Ovary: the ovary 3-loculed
Styles: styles 3, usually bifid
Flowers: staminate flowers without a calyx or corolla, in 5 fascicles, 1 to several per fascicle, the fascicles opposite the lobes of the involucre, each pedicel of 1 stamen often with a minute bract at base
Fruit: capsules 3-loculed, 3-seeded, usually nodding
St._Johnswort_Family_(GUTTIFERAE_A._L._Juss.)
St. Johnswort Family (GUTTIFERAE A. L. Juss.)
Common name: St. Johnswort Family
Growth form: herbs
Leaves: leaves opposite, simple, entire, glandular-punctate
Stipules: stipules lacking
Flowers: flowers perfect, regular, cymose
Sepals: sepals 5 (4)
Petals: petals distinct, 5 (4), yellow
Stamens: stamens numerous, often in 3-5 clusters, with the filaments united below
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 1- to 5-loculed
Styles: styles 3-5, distinct or united
Fruit: fruit a capsule with 3-5 parietal or axile placentae
Chromosome number: x = 7, 8, 9, 10
Synonym: [Clusiaceae Lindl.; Hypericaceae A. L. Juss.]
St._Johnswort_(Hypericum_L.)
St. Johnswort (Hypericum L.)
Life span: perennial
Growth form: herbs
Surface: glabrous
Leaves: leaves opposite, simple, lanceolate or elliptical to ovate; without leaf stalks; with smooth edges, dotted with oil glands
Flowers: flowers perfect; regular; yellow; 5 petals, often dotted with oil glands
Ovary: ovary 3-loculed or with 3 placentae
Stamens: each flower has about 3 bundles of stamens; each bundle has many stamens (too many to count)
Fruit: dehiscent capsule, between 5-10 mm long
Seeds: many-seeded
Germination: spring
Flowering time: summer or autumn
Habitat: can grow in nutrient-poor soil
Sunflower_Family_(ASTERACEAE_Dumort.)
Sunflower Family (ASTERACEAE Dumort.)
Common name: Sunflower Family
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial herbs, or shrubs
Leaves: leaves alternate, opposite, or whorled, simple, pinnatifid, or compound
Inflorescence: inflorescence of involucrate heads, these solitary or several in corymbose, racemose, paniculate, or cymose clusters
Flowers: flowers few to numerous on a common receptacle, surrounded by green bracts forming a cup-shaped, cylindrical, or urn-shaped involucre enclosing the flowers in bud
Petals: heads entirely of tubular (disk) corollas, entirely of ligulate (ray) corollas, or with tubular corollas forming a central disk and an outer radiating row of ligulate corollas
Receptacle: receptacle flat, convex, conic, or cylindric, naked or bearing chaffy bracts, scales, or hairs
Calyx: calyx lacking, or crowning the summit of the ovary and modified as a pappus of capillary bristles, scales, or awns
Stamens: stamens alternate with corolla lobes; filaments free (rarely connate)
Anthers: the anthers united and forming a tube (rarely separate)
Ovary: ovary inferior, of 2 carpels, 1-loculed and with a single ovule
Styles: styles 1, 2-cleft, exserted through the anther tube
Fruit: fruit an achene
Chromosome number: x = 2-19+ [Asteraceae Dumort.].
Yarrow_(Achillea_L.)
Yarrow (Achillea L.)
Life span: perennial
Stems: rhizomatous
Growth form: aromatic herbs, with watery juice; stems erect or ascending
Leaves: leaves alternate, 1- to 3-pinnately dissected
Inflorescence: heads several to many, borne in compact to open corymbose cymes
Involucre: involucral bracts imbricate in several series, chaffy, the margins scarious and hyaline
Receptacle: receptacle chaffy
Flowers: ray flowers present, usually 3-12, pistillate, fertile, yellow, white, pink, or pink purple; disk flowers mostly 10 or more, perfect, fertile
Pappus: pappus none
Style: style branches flattened
Fruit: achenes compressed, callus-margined, glabrous, beakless
Milfoil_yarrow_(Achillea_millefolium_L.)
Milfoil yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.)
Common name: Milfoil yarrow
Growth form: herbs; stems ascending to erect
Stems: rhizomes horizontal; villous-tomentose, simple or branched above
Height: 0.5-10 dm tall
Leaves: alternate; leaves 2-26 cm long, reduced upwards, pinnately once to thrice dissected, the segments very slender
Inflorescence: heads numerous, borne in hemispheric or flat-topped, corymbose cymes
Involucre: involucres 4-6 mm high, the bracts dark to pale margined, villous to glabrate
Flowers: rays usually about 5, 2-3.5 mm long, white to pink or pink purple; disk flowers 10-20
Fruit: achenes 1-2 mm long
Habitat: sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, cottonwood, juniper, rabbitbrush, ponderosa pine, mountain brush, aspen, Douglas fir, spruce-fir, and alpine tundra communities; widely distributed in North America; circumboreal
*Ageratum_L.
Ageratum L.
Life span: annual or perennial
Growth form: herbs with erect stems
Leaves: opposite, dentate
Inflorescence: inflorescence croymbose, heads apprearing blue, white, or pink
Flowers: corolla lobes deltoid
Pappus: pappus of obtuse or acute scales or cuplike
Ragweed_(Ambrosia_L.)
Ragweed (Ambrosia L.)
Life span: annual or perennial herbs or shrubs
Leaves: leaves alternate or opposite, pinnately or palmately lobed, toothed, or dissected
Inflorescence: heads unisexual, 3-6 mm wide, discoid; staminate heads in slender spicate, bractless racemes; pistillate heads borne below the staminate ones, mostly axillary
Involucre: involucre 5- to 12-lobed; involucre of pistillate heads closed, nutlike, armed with prickles arranged in one or more series
Receptacle: receptacle flat, bearing flattened filiform-setose bracts
Stamens: staminal filaments monadelphous, the anthers scarcely united
Pistil: pistil naked, the corolla lacking
Pappus: pappus lacking
Common_ragweed_(Ambrosia_artemisiifolia_L.)
Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.)
Common name: Common ragweed
Synonym: [A. elatior L.]
Life span: annual
Height: mostly 3-9 dm tall
Growth form: branching from above the middle
Surface: pubescence of lax multicellular hairs, the bases not pustular
Leaves: leaves alternate, or the lower usually opposite, petiolate, the blades 2.5-8.5 cm long, 1.9-7.5 cm wide, 1- to 2-pinnatifid
Inflorescence: heads numerous in terminal or axillary racemes, the staminate above, pistillate below, clustered or solitary, with 1 series of tuberculate spines; flowers are inconspicuous, from 3-7 mm across, and do not have ray flowers. The cup-like structure below the petals appears green rather than grayish
Chromosome number: 2n = 36
Habitat: Moist disturbed sites; widespread in North America.
Giant_ragweed_(Ambrosia_trifida_L.)
Giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida L.)
Common name: Giant ragweed
Life span: annual
Growth form: robust herbs
Height: 10-15 dm tall or more
Surface: pubescence spreading-hirsute to hispid, at least above
Leaves: leaves opposite, petiolate, the blades palmately 3- to 5-lobed, or unlobed, elliptical/oval leafshape; mainly 5-20 cm long, 4-15 cm wide, scabrous on both surfaces, serrate
Involucre: staminate involucres 3-nerved; pistillate involucres 5-10 mm long, bearing short spines at the tip
Petals: white
Chromosome number: n = 12
Habitat: weedy plants of disturbed sites; widely distributed in North America
Chamomile_(Anthemis_L.)
Chamomile (Anthemis L.)
Life span: annual or short-lived perennial
Growth form: aromatic herbs; stems erect, commonly branched
Roots: from taproots, the juice watery
Leaves: leaves alternate, 1-3 pinnately dissected
Inflorescence: heads solitary on the uppermost branches
Involucre: involucral bracts imbricated in several series, chaffy, the margins scarious or hyaline
Receptacle: receptacle hemispheric, chaffy at least near the middle
Flowers: ray flowers present, white or yellow, usually 10 or more, sterile; disk flowers numerous, perfect, fertile
Pappus: pappus none or a short crown
Style: style branches flattened
Fruit: achenes subterete or compressed, not callous-margined, glabrous, beakless
Field_Chamomile_(Anthemis_arvensis_L.)
Field Chamomile (Anthemis arvensis L.)
Common name: Field Chamomile
Life span: pubescent annual or biennial
Height: about 3 dm. high
Leaves: alternate; 2.5-7.5 cm. long, less finely parted
Inflorescence: heads 2.5-4 cm. broad
Flowers: rays 10-18; white
Fruit: achene smooth on the sides, obtusely 4 angled
Pappus: pappus a mere border
Burdock_(Arctium_L.)
Burdock (Arctium L.)
Life span: biennial
Growth form: coarse herbs with watery juice
Roots: from a taproot
Leaves: leaves rhubarb-like, basal and alternate, entire or toothed
Inflorescence: heads few to numerous in axillary or terminal corymbose or racemose inflorescences
Flowers: flowers all tubular, perfect
Petals: the corollas pink to purplish
Involucre: involucres urn-shaped, the bracts imbricate in many series, the tips slender and inwardly hooked
Receptacle: receptacle flat, densely bristly
Fruit: achenes slightly compressed, more or less 3-angled, many-nerved, truncate apically
Pappus: pappus of numerous, scaly, deciduous bristles.
Burdock_(Arctium_minus_(Hill)_Bernh._Burdock.)
Burdock (Arctium minus (Hill) Bernh. Burdock.)
Growth form: robust coarse plants
Height: 5-15 (18) dm tall
Leaves: basal leaves long-petiolate (resembling in form those of rhubarb), the blades commonly 1-3.5 (4) dm long, 1-3 dm wide, cordate-ovate, obtuse, thinly tomentose to glabrous beneath, glabrous above or nearly so
Inflorescence: inflorescence racemosely disposed, the peduncles short or lacking; heads 1-2.5 cm thick (rarely more), the bracts glabrous or glandular to definitely arachnoid
Chromosome number: 2n = 32, 36
Habitat: Introduced Old World weed; widespread in North America; Eurasia
Note: This is a vigorous, pestiferous weed of mesic rangelands, ditch banks, and other sites. It results in economic loss due to the burs that accumulate in hair of animals, especially wool of sheep and manes and tails of horses. The burs also attach to clothing, and break apart when one attempts to remove them.
*Artemisia_L.
Artemisia L.
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial
Growth form: herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs; stems decumbent to ascending or erect, simple or branched
Roots: from taproots, caudices, or rhizomes, the juice watery
Leaves: leaves alternate or basal, entire or toothed, lobed, or divided
Inflorescence: heads several to numerous, borne in spicate, racemose, or paniculate clusters
Involucre: involucral bracts imbricate in several series, dry, at least the inner with scarious margins
Receptacle: receptacle naked or beset with long hairs, often glandular
Flowers: corollas of disk flowers only (rarely with minute bilabiate ray flowers in A. bigelovii), perfect, or sometimes the central ones sterile, the marginal merely pistillate; marginal corollas tubular (or bilabiate), the central ones tubular-funnelform
Pappus: pappus lacking, or a short crown
Style: style branches flattened
Fruit: achenes subterete or angular, glabrous
Mugwort_(Artemisia_vulgaris_L.)
Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris L.)
Common name: Mugwort
Life span: perennial
Height: 0.5-2 meters tall
Leaves: alternate; green above, densely white-tomentose beneath, simple to variously dissected
Inflorescence: heads crowded in elongated panicles; flowers inconspicuous; there are no ray flowers; the flowers have a grayish appearance due to the grayish cup that is just below the petals.
Involucre: involucre gray-tomentulose
*Aster_L.
Aster L.
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Roots: from rhizomes (suffrutescent in A. spinosus), with watery juice
Growth form: stems decumbent to ascending or erect, simple or branched
Leaves: leaves alternate, simple, entire or toothed
Inflorescence: heads solitary or few to several in corymbose clusters
Bracts: involucral bracts strongly imbricate to subequal (or the outer surpassing the inner), herbaceous throughout, or with scarious margins near the base
Receptacle: receptacle flat or merely convex, naked
Flowers: rays blue, purple, pink, or white, few to numerous, pistillate; disk flowers numerous, perfect, fertile, yellow or tinged reddish or purplish
Pappus: pappus of capillary bristles
Style: style branches flattened, oblong to lanceolate, mostly more than 0.5 mm long
Fruit: achenes mostly several-nerved.
White_Aster(Aster_ericoides_L.)
White Aster (Aster ericoides L.)
Common name: White Aster
Life span: colonial perennial
Height: 5-10 dm tall
Stems: arising from an extensive system of rhizomes and stolons
Surface: herbage evenly pubescent, or glabrate below
Leaves: alternate; basal and cauline leaves mostly deciduous before flowering time; persistent leaves mostly near the inflorescence and reduced to subulate or linear, sessile bracts, somewhat grading into the involucral bracts on the peduncles
Inflorescence: inflorescence of numerous small heads, mostly secund on long, recurving branches
Involucre: involucre 2.5-4.5 mm tall, cylindrical to narrowly campanulate; involucral bracts strongly imbricated, bristly tipped
Petals: ray florets 10-18, ligule white or rarely pinkish, less that 6 mm long; disk florets rarely more that 14, corolla yellowish to purple
Fruit: achenes purplish-brown, 1-2+ mm long, appressed-puberulent; pappus of white or whitish capillary bristles, equaling the disk corolla
Chromosome number: n = 5
*Bellis_L.
Bellis L.
Growth form: scapose
Life span: perennial herbs
Roots: with fibrous roots and short stolons, the juice watery
Stems: leafless simple
Leaves: leaves all basal, simple, petiolate, toothed to entire
Inflorescence: heads solitary
Bracts: involucral bracts in 2 subequal series, herbaceous
Receptacle: receptacle conic to hemispheric, naked
Flowers: rays white, pink, or purple, numerous, pistillate; disk flowers numerous, perfect, yellow;
Pappus: pappus lacking
Style: style branches flattened
Fruit: achenes flattened, usually 2-nerved, pubescent
European_daisy_(Bellis_perennis_L.)
European daisy (Bellis perennis L.)
Common name: European daisy
Height: plants 0.2-2 dm tall
Leaves: leaves all basal, with short to long petioles, the blades 0.7-3 (4) cm long, 5-25 mm wide, obovate to oval or orbicular, dentate to entire, obtuse to rounded or emarginate apically, pubescent on both sides with coarse spreading hairs
Scape: scapes pubescent with ascending hairs
Inflorescence: heads solitary
Involucre: involucres 4-7 mm high, 9-15 mm wide, the bracts ovate to broadly lanceolate, rounded to obtuse apically, sparsely hairy dorsally, often suffused with purple, mostly 8-10 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide
Pappus: pappus lacking
Fruit: achenes flattened
Chromosome number: 2n = 18
Habitat: adventive from Europe
*Bidens_L.
Bidens L.
Life span: annual herbs
Roots: with fibrous roots, or rooting along the lower stem, the juice watery
Growth form: stems decumbent to erect, commonly branched
Leaves: leaves opposite, spear-shaped, simple or pinnately compound
Inflorescence: heads few to several in cymose inflorescences
Bracts: involucral bracts in 2 series, the outer herbaceous, the inner somewhat petaloid and striate
Receptacle: receptacle flat or slightly convex, chaffy throughout, the chaff similar to the inner involucral bracts
Flowers: ray flowers present, yellow, neutral or pistillate, or lacking; disk flowers numerous, perfect, fertile, yellow
Pappus: pappus of (1) 2-4 awns or teeth, these retrorsely barbed, persistent
Style: style branches flattened
Fruit: achenes flattened, pubescent, usually 2- to 4-awned
Spanish_Needles_(Bidens_bipinnata_L.)
Spanish Needles (Bidens bipinnata L.)
Common name: Spanish Needles
Life span: annual herb
Roots: fibrous roots
Growth form: erect, commonly glabrous
Height: 3-17 dm. tall
Leaves: petiolate, leaf stalks 2-5 cm long, normally 2-3-pinnate, membranaceous
Inflorescence: heads small, 4-6 mm. broad, obscurely radiate involucre pubescent at base
Involucre: outer phyllaries 7-10, linear, 3-5 mm long; inner ones linear-lanceolate, longer than the outer ones
Flowers: ligulate florets yellowish-white
Fruit: achenes linear, tetragonal, often black, 3- or 4-toothed, the teeth commonly 2-4 mm long
Flowering time: summer or autumn
Habitat: Found in most of the eastern U. S.; Mexico and much of South America; widespread in the Old World.
Starthistle_(Centaurea_L.)
Centaurea L.
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial herbs
Roots: with taproots or rhizomes, the juice watery
Growth form: stems erect or ascending
Leaves: leaves alternate, entire to pinnatifid
Inflorescence: heads solitary, or few to numerous, discoid
Bracts: involucral bracts imbricate in several series, spine-tipped or some of them enlarged and with scarious or hyaline erose to lacerate or pectinate appendages
Receptacle; receptacle bristly
Flowers: flowers all tubular, perfect, or the marginal ones sterile and falsely subradiate, purple, blue, yellow, pink, or white
Pappus: pappus of bristles, scales, or none
Style: style branches more or less connate, with a thickened often hairy ring at the base
Fruit: achenes obliquely or laterally attached to receptacle
Note: This is a very large genus, mainly of the Mediterranean region of the Old World, but with some indigenous to North America, Australia, and South America. All in America are introduced, and the potential for other introductions in this remarkable genus is great. In Flora Europaea, American species are treated within three genera: Amberboa (Pers.) Less. (C. moschata L.), Acroptilon Cassini (C. repens L.) and Centaurea for the others.
Yellow_starthistle_(Centaurea_solstitialis_L.)
Yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis L.)
Common name: Yellow starthistle
Life span: annual
Height: 2 to 3 feet tall
Stems: rigid branching, winged stems covered with a cottony pubescence
Leaves: alternate; basal deeply lobed, upper sharply pointed
Flowers: heads are yellow, located singly on ends of branches, and armed with sharp straw- colored thorns up to 3/4 inch long
Fruits: from ray flowers are dark-colored without bristles, from disk flowers are lighter and have a tuft of white bristles
Habitat: usually introduced on roadsides and waste areas
Note: "Chewing disease" results when horses are forced to eat the yellow starthistle. Centaurea melitensis L. (Malta starthistle) is similar to the yellow starthistle except that it has smaller seed heads having smaller spines which are branched at the base.
*Chrysanthemum_L.
Chrysanthemum L.
Life span: perennial herbs
Roots: from a rhizome or a caudex, with watery juice
Growth form: stems erect or nearly so
Leaves: leaves alternate, serrate to pinnatifid
Inflorescence: heads solitary or few to numerous in open corymbose clusters
Involucre: involucral bracts imbricate, in 2-4 series, greenish or straw colored, the margins brownish scarious
Receptacle: receptacle naked
Flowers: ray flowers white, numerous, pistillate, fertile, or lacking; disk flowers numerous, perfect, fertile, yellow
Pappus: pappus lacking or a short crown
Style: style branches flattened
Fruit: achenes several-nerved, beakless, glabrous
Note: Cultivars of one or more species (probably several) are grown as "chrysanthemums."
Oxeye-daisy_(Chrysanthemum_leucanthemum_L.)
Oxeye-daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum L.)
Common name: Oxeye-daisy
Synonym: [Leucanthemum vulgare Lam.]
Life span: perennial
Height: commonly 2-8 (10) dm tall
Stems: stems glabrous or nearly so, mainly simple; rhizomatous or subrhizomatous herbs
Leaves: alternate; leaves petiolate below, becoming smaller and sessile above, the blades 0.8-5 cm long, oblanceolate to obovate or linear, serrate, crenate, or pinnately lobed, glabrous or villosulose
Inflorescence: heads solitary; involucres 7-10 mm high, 15-23 mm wide, the bracts lance-ovate to oblong-linear, with brown margins, hyaline apically
Flowers: rays mainly 15-30, white, 10-22 mm long
Pappus: pappus none
Chromosome number: n = 9, 18
Habitat: Roadsides, fields, and other disturbed sites; widespread in North America; adventive from Eurasia
Chicory_(Cichorium_L.)
Chicory (Cichorium L.)
Life span: perennial herbs, with milky juice
Roots: from taproots
Leaves: leaves alternate, toothed to pinnatifid
Inflorescence: heads sessile or subsessile, numerous, borne in clusters at nodes of a spicate, simple, or branched inflorescence
Involucre: involucral bracts biseriate, the outer shorter
Petals: corollas all raylike, perfect
Pappus: pappus of 2 or 3 series of scales, sometimes minute
Fruit: achenes angular or somewhat compressed, glabrous
Chicory_(Cichorium_intybus_L.)
Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.)
Common name: Chicory
Height: plants 3-10 dm tall or more
Surface: hirsute or glabrous
Leaves: alternate; lanceolate, lower leaves petiolate, the blades 6-20 cm long, 1-5 (7) cm wide, sinuate-dentate to runcinate-pinnatifid, becoming smaller and sessile upwards, some finally subentire
Inflorescence: heads large and showy, 1-3 per node of inflorescence
Flowers: flowers pure blue, rarely white
Involucre: involucre 9-15 mm high, the outer bracts chartaceous at base, herbaceous apically
Fruit: achenes 2-3 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 16, 18, 20
Habitat: Roadsides and disturbed sites; widespread in North America; native of Eurasia
Thistle_(Cirsium_Miller)
Cirsium Miller
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial
Stems: caulescent or acaulescent, spiny herbs
Roots: from taproots, with caudices or rhizomes in some, the juice watery
Leaves: leaves basal and cauline, alternate
Inflorescence: heads solitary to several
Involucre: Bracts: involucral bracts in several series, subequal to imbricate, some or most of them spine-tipped
Receptacle: receptacle densely bristly
Flowers: corollas all discoid, pink, purple, red, or creamy white, perfect or imperfect
Pappus: pappus of plumose bristles (or those of the outermost flowers merely barbellate)
Style: style with a thickened minutely hairy ring below the nearly connate lobes
Fruit: achenes glabrous, flattened or 4-angled, 4- to many-nerved.
Note: This is a particularly complex genus taxonomically, with both introduced and indigenous species in America. The indigenous members are especially difficult, due in part to hybridization, mainly within species groups.
Creeping_or_Canada_thistle_(Cirsium_arvense_(L.)_Scop.)
Creeping or Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop.)
Common name: Creeping or Canada thistle.
Synonym: [Serratula arvensis L.]
Life span: perennial
Roots: rhizomatous herbs
Height: the stems mostly 5-10 dm tall
Surface: glabrous or sparingly tomentose
Leaves: alternate; leaves 3-15 cm long, 1-6 cm broad, deeply pinnatifid or lobed to merely toothed, glabrous to tomentose above and beneath
Inflorescence: heads several to many, mainly unisexual
Involucre: involucres 10-20 (25) mm high, 10-25 mm wide, the bracts lance-ovate, at least the outer ones and often all of them spine-tipped, tomentose to glabrous
Petals: corollas pink purple to white
Pappus: pappus of pistillate heads longer than the corollas, that of staminate heads shorter than the corollas
Fruit: achenes 3-5 mm long
Chromosome number: n = 17, 18
Habitat: Roadsides, fields, and other disturbed sites, but also invading native plant communities (common in the aspen zone); widespread in North America; adventive from Eurasia. Its rhizomes make it very difficult to eradicate.
Bull_thistle_(Cirsium_vulgare_(Savi)_Ten.)
Bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare (Savi) Ten.)
Common name: Bull thistle
Synonym: [Carduus vulgaris Savi]
Life span: biennial herbs
Roots: from taproots
Leaves: leaves of basal rosette mainly 5-25 cm long, 2-8 cm wide, merely doubly serrate-dentate to doubly pinnatifid, tomentose beneath, coarsely hispid above; cauline leaves alternate, mainly bipinnatifid, with vesture as in the basal ones; spiny-winged by decurrent leaf bases
Height: stems mainly 3-12 (15) dm tall
Involucre: involucres 28-40 mm high, 35-70 mm wide, the bracts narrowly lanceolate, with spreading spine-tips, tomentose marginally, the dorsal ridge not developed, the inner sometimes contorted apically
Surface: spines 1-4 mm long, yellowish
Petals: corollas rose purple
Style: style tip 4-5 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 68, 102
Habitat: Meadows, fields, roadsides, and other disturbed sites; widespread in North America; adventive from Europe
Note: This Old World thistle is a weed of rangelands and other places throughout its areal extent; it is not difficult to eradicate from small areas, however.
Horseweed_(Conyza_Less.)
Horseweed (Conyza Less.)
Life span: annual herbs
Roots: from taproots, with watery juice
Growth form: stems erect, commonly branched
Leaves: leaves alternate, simple
Inflorescence: heads numerous, in cylindric to conic panicles
Bracts: involucral bracts more or less imbricate, herbaceous medially
Receptacle: receptacle flat or nearly so, naked
Flowers: rays minute, white or purplish, scarcely surpassing the pappus; disk flowers seldom more than 20, perfect, fertile
Pappus: pappus of capillary bristles
Fruit: achenes 1- or 2-nerved or nerveless
Horseweed_(Conyza_canadensis_(L.)_Cronq.)
Horseweed (Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronq.)
Common name: Horseweed
Synonym: [Erigeron canadensis L.]
Life span: annuals
Height: mainly 0.5-10 dm tall
Surface: glabrous or spreading-hairy
Leaves: alternate; leaves 2-8 (10) cm long, 2-8 cm wide, linear to oblanceolate, ciliate-serrate, often deciduous by late anthesis
Inflorescence: heads numerous, inconspicuous
Involucre: involucres 2-3.5 (4) mm high, (2.5) 3-7 mm wide, the bracts lance-subulate, the midvein glandular-thickened, herbaceous medially, glabrous or strigose, green on the inner face when reflexed
Flowers: rays white or purplish
Chromosome number: 2n = 9, 18, 54
Habitat: Weedy species, often in riparian or other moist disturbed sites; widespread in North America; Europe
*Emilia_Cassini
Emilia Cassini
Life span: annual or perennial
Leaves: alternate, mainly basal
Inflorescence: heads discoid, solitary or in lax corymbs
Involucre: involucres somewhat swollen at base, phyllaries in a single row
Flowers: disk florets bisexual, red, lavender, purple, or dark yellow; corolla tubular, with a cylindric throat, lobes narrow-lanceolate
Pappus: pappus soft, white or purplish, setose
*Emilia_sonochifolia_(L.)_DC.
Emilia sonochifolia (L.) DC.
Stems: up to 5 dm tall, slender
Leaves: spatulate below with auricled bases, upper lanceolate to elliptic with auricled bases and somewhat pinnatifid
Inflorescence: heads small, on long peduncles; corolla purple or lilac, about 7-8 mm long
Involucre: phyllaries linear 8-10 mm, involucre cylindric, less than 1 cm long
Fruit: achene 3mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 10
Habitat: disturbed sited, old fields, roadsides
*Erechtites_Raf.
Erechtites Raf.
Growth form: erect herbs
Leaves: alternate
Inflorescence: discoid many-flowered corymbose-paniculate heads; marginal flowers pistillate, fertile; central flowers perfect, fertile
Involucre: involucre cylindric; phyllaries in 1 series
Receptacle: receptacle concave
Fruit: achenes linear-oblong
Pappus: pappus of copious capillary soft white bristles
Fireweed,_(PilewortErechtites_hieraciifolia_(L.)_Raf.)
Fireweed, Pilewort (Erechtites hieraciifolia (L.) Raf.)
Common names: Fireweed, Pilewort
Life span: annual
Surface: glabrous or sparingly hirsute
Stem: stem striate
Height: 0.3-3 m high
Leaves: lanceolate or oblong, acute, dentate, or incised, sessile, the upper sometimes auricled at base
Inflorescence: heads 1.2-2 cm long, about 6 mm in diameter
Flowers: flowers whitish
Habitat: woodlands, thickets and waste places
*Eupatorium_L.
Eupatorium L.
Life span: perennial herbs
Leaves: leaves alternate, opposite, or whorled, simple
Inflorescence: heads discoid
Flowers: the flowers all perfect and tubular
Involucre: involucres cylindric to campanulate, the bracts striate, imbricate
Receptacle: receptacle naked, mainly flat
Anthers: anthers obtuse and entire basally, or minutely sagittate
Style: style branches with short stigmatic lines and an elongate papillate appendage
Pappus: pappus of numerous capillary bristles
Fruit: achenes 10-nerved.
Dog_Fennel_(Eupatorium_capillifolium_(Lam.)_Small)
Dog Fennel (Eupatorium capillifolium (Lam.) Small)
Common name: Dog Fennel
Stems: clustered, to 2 m tall or more, branched, tending to be puberulent at least below
Leaves: lower leaves opposite, upper alternate, glabrous, glandular-punctate, pinnately divided or dissected with filiform divisions mostly 5-10 cm long, often in axillary fascicles
Inflorescence: heads many in paniculate inflorescence
Involucre: involucre 2-4 mm long, phyllaries tipped
Flowers: florets three to six per head, corollas white or greenish white
Fruit: achenes 1 mm long, smooth
Dog_Fennel_(Eupatorium_compositifolium_Walt.)
Dog Fennel (Eupatorium compositifolium Walt.)
Common name: Dog Fennel
Stems: clustered to 1 m tall or more, branched, puberulent to pilose below
Leaves: lower leaves mostly 6-12 cm long, opposite, upper alternate, pinnately divided or dissected with linear segments
Inflorescence: heads in panicle, fragrant, very numerous, three to six florets per head
Involucre: involucre 4-5 mm long, phyllaries mucronate
Flowers: corollas white
Fruit: achene 1-2 mm long
Habitat: pinelands, old fields, dry soil
*Galinsoga_Cav.
Galinsoga Cav.
Life span: annual
Leaves: simple, opposite
Flowers: head small, radiate, the rays few, short, broad, only slightly surpassing the disk, white or pink, pistillate and fertile; involucral bracts few, partly greenish, each subtending a ray; receptacle conic, chaffy throughout, its bracts membranous, narrow, and nearly flat; disk-flowers perfect, yellow
Style: style-branches flattened, with short minutely hariy appendages
Fruit: achenes 4-angled, scarcely compressed or especially the outer, somewhat flattened parallel to the involucral bracts
Pappus: pappus of several or numerous scales, often awn-tipped, that of the rays often reduced or wanting
Gumweed_(Grindelia_Wooled.)
Gumweed (Grindelia Wooled.)
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial herbs
Growth form: sometimes woody at the base
Leaves: leaves alternate, simple, more or less resinous-punctate, usually sessile, often clasping
Inflorescence: heads radiate or discoid, the rays 10-45, pistillate, fertile, yellow; involucres imbricate, more or less resinous
Involucre: bracts thickish, with pale appressed base and often squarrose or revolute herbaceous tips
Receptacle: receptacle naked, flattish
Flowers: disk flowers fertile, yellow
Style: style branches with slender hispidulous appendages
Pappus: pappus of 2-8 stiff, often curved, deciduous awns
Fruit: achenes compressed to angular, glabrous
Chromosome number: x = 6
Curlycup_gumweed_(Grindelia_squarrosa_(Pursh)_Dunal)
Curlycup gumweed (Grindelia squarrosa (Pursh) Dunal)
Common name: Curlycup gumweed
Life span: biennial or short-lived perennial
Height: 1-3 feet tall
Roots: fibrous
Leaves: alternate, 1-3 inches long, saw-toothed margins, gland-dotted and exude a sticky material (lanceolate)
Flowers: heads are bright yellow, 1 inch in diameter, borne singly on the end of the branches
Involucre: curved bracts surrounding the flower also secrete a sticky substance
Seeds: oblong, cream colored, four-angled, deeply ridged
Habitat: Found in pastures, rangelands, roadsides and waste areas sometimes forming nearly pure stands. Highly drought resistant and increase after periods of dryness
Sneezweed_(Helenium_L.)
Sneezweed (Helenium L.)
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Leaves: leaves alternate, glandular-punctate, decurrent or clasping, lanceolate
Inflorescence: heads solitary or few to numerous in corymbose clusters, radiate, yellow
Involucre: involucral bracts in 2 or 3 series, the bracts subequal or the inner shorter and narrower, herbaceous or essentially so, soon deflexed
Receptacle: receptacle naked, convex or conic
Flowers: rays pistillate or neuter; disk flowers numerous, perfect, yellow
Pappus: pappus of 5-10 scarious or hyaline scales
Fruit: achenes truncately obpyramidal, 4- or 5-angled, with as many intermediate ribs
Sunflower_(Helianthus_L.)
Sunflower_(Helianthus L.)
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Leaves: leaves simple, opposite on the lower part of the stem, usually alternate on the upper part of the stem
Inflorescence: heads radiate, showy, solitary or few in corymbs
Involucre: involucral bracts imbricate or subequal, herbaceous
Receptacle: receptacle flat to convex, chaffy throughout, its bracts clasping the achenes
Flowers: ray flowers conspicuous, yellow, neuter; disk flowers yellow or reddish, fertile
Pappus: pappus usually of 2 main awns, scalelike at base, sometimes with additional scales present
Fruit: achenes narrowly obovate in outline, 4-angled or obcompressed
Blueweed_(Helianthus_ciliaris_DC.)
Blueweed (Helianthus ciliaris DC.)
Common name: Blueweed
Life span: perennial rhizomatous herbs
Height: stems 5-7 dm tall
Surface: glabrous, glaucous
Leaves: leaves mainly opposite, sessile or very short petiolate, 3-6 cm long, 3-15 mm wide, linear to broadly lanceolate, entire or somewhat pinnately lobed, glabrous and glaucous, conspicuously 3-nerved when lanceolate
Inflorescence: heads solitary, 12-25 mm wide
Bracts: bracts 3-5 mm wide, obtuse, ovate to broadly lanceolate or obovate, conspicuously ciliate, glabrous or slightly puberulent dorsally, 4-7 mm long and 3-5 mm wide
Flowers: rays 12-18, about 1 cm long
Petals: disk corollas ;5-6 mm long, basally puberulent and yellow, the lobes reddish or sometimes the entire corolla red
Involucre: bracts entire or 3-toothed, the tips obtuse to acute
Fruit: achenes about 3 mm long, black or grayish at maturity
Pappus: pappus of the disk of 2 broadly ovate-acuminate scales; ray pappus absent or of 1 to 2 linear to lanceolate scales
Habitat: Alluvium in oak-maple-grass community; Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico
Jerusalem_artichoke_(Helianthus_tuberosus_Nutt.)
Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus Nutt.)
Common name: Jerusalem artichoke
Life span: perennial herbs
Roots: from tubers and rhizomes
Height: stems mostly 1--3 m tall
Surface: more or less hairy
Leaves: leaves opposite below, becoming alternate above, petiolate, the blades mostly 10--25 cm long, 4-12 cm wide, serrate
Inflorescence: heads several to many in a corymbiform cluster, the disk yellow, 1.5-2.5 cm wide
Involucre: bracts narrowly lanceolate, acuminate or subattenuate, subequal to or surpassing the disk, ciliate marginally and scabrid-hispidulous
Flowers: rays 10-20, 2-4 cm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 102
Habitat: Cultivated for its edible tubers, persisting following introduction and difficult to eradicate, widespread in the eastern U.S.
Note: This species has been grown since pre-Columbian times for its edible crisp tubers, which reputedly store food as inulin, not starch. Inulin is said to be indigestible by humans.
*Hemizonia_DC.
Hemizonia DC.
Life span: annual or perennial
Surface: usually more or less glandular and viscid and heavy scented
Leaves: alternate or the lower sometimes opposite
Inflorescence: heads not large, many- or sometimes few-flowered
Involucre: involucral bracts rounded on the back, partly enclosing the turgid more or less oblique ray achenes
Receptacle: receptacle flat or convex, chaff deciduous
Flowers: flowers yellow or white, ray flowers in 1 series pistillate, fertile; disk flowers tubular, 5-toothed, fertile or sterile
Pappus: no pappus in ray flowers; pappus scalelike or wanting in disk flowers
*Hemizonia_congesta_DC.
Hemizonia congesta DC.
Stem: virgate, 1-5 dm high, with rather few strict or lax branches only above or from the base upward
Surface: herbage densely villous throughout, the hairs sometimes appressed but never silky, somewhat viscid toward heads but the glands usually obscure
Leaves: basal rosette none or obscure; lower leaves usually prominent at anthesis, remotely denticulate
Inflorescence: heads in small terminal clusters or solitary at the ends of the short branches and often a few scattered lateral heads
Involucre: involucre 6-9 mm high, the tips of the phyllaries equaling to much exceeding the body
Chromosome number: n = 14
Habitat: fields and open hillsides
Golden_aster_(Heterotheca_Cassini)
Golden aster (Heterotheca Cassini)
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial herbs
Leaves: leaves alternate, simple, entire
Inflorescence: heads radiate
Involucre: involucres campanulate to hemispheric; bracts numerous, narrow, imbricated in several series
Receptacle: receptacle convex, naked
Flowers: rays yellow, pistillate and fertile
Pappus: pappus of capillary bristles
Flowers: disk flowers numerous, the pappus present and usually double, the inner of capillary bristles, the outer (when present) of short scales or bristles
Fruit: achenes hairy
*Hieracium_L.
Hieracium L.
Life span: perennial
Stems: rhizomatous herbs with milky juice
Leaves: leaves alternate or basal and still alternate, entire or toothed, simple
Inflorescence: heads few to numerous, in corymbose clusters
Flowers: flowers all raylike, yellow to orange or white
Involucre: involucres cylindric to hemispheric; bracts more or less imbricate
Receptacle: receptacle naked
Pappus: pappus usually of brownish capillary bristles
Fruit: achenes terete or prismatic, more or less strongly ribbed
Poverty-weed_(Iva_L.)
Poverty weed (Iva L.)
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Leaves: leaves opposite, at least below
Inflorescence: heads discoid, the pistillate flowers few
Petals: with corolla tubular or lacking
Involucre: involucres campanulate; bracts subequal or imbricate in 1-3 series, sometimes with a short inner series subtending the achenes
Receptacle: receptacle chaffy, the receptacular bracts linear to spatulate
Flowers: staminate flowers with abortive pistils, the styles undivided, the filaments monadelphous
Anthers: anthers obtuse basally, almost distinct
Pappus: pappus none
Fruit: achenes compressed
Marsh-elder_(Iva_xanthifolia_Nutt.)
Marsh-elder (Iva xanthifolia Nutt.)
Common name: Marsh-elder
Life span: Coarse perennial herbs
Height: mainly 4-25 dm tall
Stems: simple or branched
Surface: essentially glabrous below, glandular above
Leaves: leaves opposite below, petiolate, the blades 4-20 cm long and about as wide, broadly ovate to lance-ovate, serrate and sometimes lobed, green above, canescent beneath
Inflorescence: heads 2-4 mm thick, numerous, borne ebracteate in paniculate clusters
Bracts: involucral bracts distinct, ovate
Flowers: pistillate flowers 5
Fruit: achenes sparsely pilose apically, about 2 mm long.
Chromosome number: 2n = 36
Habitat: Ruderal weeds of disturbed soils; Alberta to Saskatchewan, south to Washington, Arizona, and New Mexico; widely distributed elsewhere
Lettuce_(Lactuca_L.)
Lettuce (Lactuca L.)
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial herbs
Leaves: leaves alternate, entire or pinnatifid
Flowers: flowers all raylike, yellow, blue, or white
Inflorescence: heads paniculately arranged
Involucre: involucres cylindrical; bracts imbricate in several series
Receptacle: receptacle flat, naked
Pappus: pappus copious, of white or brownish capillary bristles
Fruit: achenes oval, oblong, or linear in outline, compressed, ribbed on each face, short- to long-beaked
Prickly_lettuce_(Lactuca_serriola_L.)
Prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola L.)
Common name: Prickly lettuce
Synonym: [L. scariola, scarriola, orthographic variants]
Life span: biennial or winter annual herbs
Growth form: stems erect
Height: 3-18 dm tall
Surface: hispid below or glabrous overall
Leaves: alternate; leaves mainly 3-30 cm long, 1-10 cm wide, pinnatifid or pinnately lobed, or merely spinose-toothed, the blades vertically oriented (twisted at the base), setose-hispid on main veins beneath
Involucre: involucres 7-15 mm high at maturity
Inflorescence; heads mostly 6- to 12-flowered
Flowers: the flowers yellow, fading blue, several to numerous in a paniculate cluster
Pappus: pappus white
Fruit: achenes brown, the body obovate to oblong in outline, flattened, hispid along margin apically, 3-4.5 mm long, with 5-8 longitudinal nerves on each face, the beak 3-7 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n = 18
Habitat: Ruderal weeds, widely distributed in the U. S.; adventive from Europe
Note: Prickly lettuce is reported to produce fertile hybrids with L. sativa (q.v.). This species invades lower elevation range lands, where it is eaten by wildlife and livestock. However, the plants have been implicated in poisoning of cattle.
Blue_lettuce_(Lactuca_pulchella_(Pursh)_DC.)
Blue lettuce (Lactuca pulchella (Pursh) DC.)
Common name: Blue lettuce
Life span: perennial
Roots: deep, rhizomatous
Growth form: erect leafy stem; plants exude a white milky sap when injured
Height: up to 4 feet tall
Leaves: alternate; 2-6 inches long, lance-shaped or linear, lower leaves often prominently toothed, smooth, bluish-green, light midribs
Flowers: blue to purple
Fruit: achene black or brown, short beak bearing a tuft of white hairs
Habitat: foothills, marshes, canals, streambanks, roadsides, meadows, pastures, and cultivated fields
Biennial_or_perennial_herbs_(Matricaria_L.)
biennial or perennial herbs (Matricaria L.)
Life span: biennial or perennial herbs
Leaves: leaves alternate, 2- to 3- pinnatisect, with ultimate segments linear-filiform
Inflorescence: heads radiate, few to many in corymbose clusters
Involucre: involucres broadly campanulate, the bracts in several series, the margins scarious
Receptacle: receptacle hemispheric, solid, naked
Flowers: rays pistillate, white; disk flowers 5-lobed, perfect, yellow
Pappus: pappus a small crown
Fruit: achenes laterally compressed, with 3 smooth ribs on the ventral surface and 1 or 2 (rarely more) resin glands at the apex of the dorsal face.
Note: authors of Flora Europaea (Vol. 4) in segregate Chamomilla (q.v.) from Matricaria. The genera are much alike and are separated mainly on technical characteristics that are discernible only when fruit is mature.
Pineapple-weed_(Matricaria_matricarioides_(Less.)_C._L._Porter)
Pineapple-weed (Matricaria matricarioides (Less.) C. L. Porter)
Common name: Pineapple-weed
Life span: annual
Height: up to 1+ feet tall
Leaves: alternate; greatly divided into very short narrow segments
Flowers: yellowish-green, heads are cone shaped 1/16 to 1/3 inch high, head surrounded by several overlapping bracts with papery margins, ray flowers are lacking
Habitat: common pest of roadsides, gardens, and croplands
Note: gives off "pineapple" odor when crushed; Anthemis cotula L. (Mayweed chamomile) has a similar appearance but has a disagreeable odor and white ray flowers.
False_Dandelion_(Pyrrhopappus_DC.)
False Dandelion (Pyrrhopappus DC.)
Common name: False Dandelion
Life span: annual, biennial or perennial herbs
Root: taproot, milky juicy
Growth form: herbage variously glabrous to loosely or lanately pubescent
Leaves: alternate or basal, dentate or pinnately undulate-parted to subentire, pubescent at least along the midvein on the lower surface and often elsewhere but glabrescent in age; upper leaves reduced to sessile bracts
Inflorescence: inflorescence of 1-several long-pedunculate heads
Involucre: principal involucral bracts linear-lanceolate, green but usually dark and thickened toward the apex, marginally subscarious; outer calyculate bracts subulate to linear, in 2 or 3 weakly defined series, the outermost 2-6 often prominent and long; all incolucral bracts becoming dry and deflexed at maturity
Receptacle: receptacle naked, convex
Flowers: florets numerous, 45-100, all ligulate and fertile, corolla lemon yellow or infrequently light yellow
Fruit: achene with a prominent, ribbed body, contracted below and abruptly tapering above to a narrow, filiform beak about as long or longer that the body
Pappus: pappus of numerous capillary bristles, sordid or off-white to dirty reddish, subtended by a few villous hairs, pappus bristles persistent, deciduous or falling as a unit with the beak
Groundsel_(Senecio_L.)
Groundsel (Senecio L).
Life span: annual, biennial, or perennial herbs
Roots: with rhizomes, caudices, or taproots, the juice watery
Growth form: stems erect, ascending, or decumbent at the base
Leaves: leaves alternate, simple, entire, toothed, or lobed to pinnatifid, (lanceolate)
Inflorescence: heads solitary, or few to many in corymbose cymes
Involucre: involucral bracts in 1 series, often with smaller bractlets at the base, green throughout or the margins scarious or hyaline, or variously colored
Receptacle: receptacle flat or convex, naked
Flowers: ray flowers yellow or orange, or sometimes lacking
Pappus: pappus of capillary bristles
Style: style branches flattened
Fruit: achenes terete, 5- to 10-nerved, glabrous or pubescent.
Note: This genus consists of a series of species that intergrade freely when they are in contact with others of the group. Because of hybridization the species lines tend to be blurred, and it is not possible to place all specimens with confidence. Keys are, and have been, based on features that are subject to interpretation
Goldenrod_(Solidago_L.)
Solidago L.
Life span: perennial herbs
Roots: from a caudex or rhizome
Leaves: leaves alternate, simple
Inflorescence: heads numerous, radiate, yellow, borne in paniculate, racemose, or cymose clusters
Involucre: involucres imbricate in several series or subequal, commonly chartaceous or with the tips green
Receptacle: receptacle flat, naked
Flowers: ray flowers fertile; disk flowers perfect, fertile
Anthers: anthers subentire basally
Style: style branches with lanceolate appendages
Pappus: pappus of capillary bristles
Fruit: achenes few nerved, pubescent.
Goldenrod_(Solidago_canadensis_L.)
Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis L.)
Common name: Goldenrod.
Synonym: [S. altissima L.; S. lepida DC.]
Life span: perennial herbs
Roots: from creeping rhizomes
Height: stems 3-12 dm tall or more
Surface: herbage puberulent with short incurved hairs, or the stems glabrous below
Leaves: basal leaves often deciduous or withered at anthesis; cauline leaves numerous and crowded, 2-10 cm long or more, 3-20 mm wide, lanceolate to lance-linear, or narrowly elliptic, tapering to a sessile base, 3-nerved, serrate to entire, attenuate to acuminate apically
Inflorescence: inflorescence commonly (but not always) of recurved branches with secund heads
Involucre: involucres 2-5 mm high and about as broad, the bracts lance- attenuate, scarious or greenish
Flowers: rays 10-17, yellow, 1-3 mm long
Chromosome number: n = 9, 20-24, 27
Habitat: Riparian and other mesic sites; widespread in North America
Note: This plant serves as host for a peculiar red and black leaf beetle. The species is transitional to S. sparsiflora.
*Sonchus_L.
Sonchus L.
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Roots: from taproots or deep-seated, rhizome-like roots, the juice milky
Leaves: leaves chiefly cauline, alternate, simple, entire to lobed or pinnatifid; can be lanceolate
Inflorescence: heads few to several
Involucre: involucral bracts imbricate in several series, green or greenish (drying brownish), the inner ones with hyaline margins
Receptacle: receptacle naked
Flowers: corollas of ray flowers only, yellow, perfect
Pappus: pappus of capillary bristles
Style: style branches semicylindrical
Fruit: achenes compressed, several to many nerved, beakless, glabrous
*Tanacetum_L.
Tanacetum L.
Life span: perennial herbs
Roots: from a rhizome
Leaves: leaves alternate, 2- to 3-pinnatifid
Inflorescence: heads discoid, numerous, corymbose
Flowers: flowers perfect
Involucre: involucres hemispheric; bracts in 2 or 3 series, more or less imbricate, the margins scarious
Receptacle: receptacle low-convex, naked
Anthers: anthers entire at the base
Pappus: pappus a minute crown
Fruit: achenes 5-angled, truncate
Dandelion_(Taraxacum_Weber)
Dandelion (Taraxacum Weber)
Life span: perennial
Growth form: scapose herbs with milky juice
Roots: from taproots
Leaves: leaves all basal, pinnatifid to subentire
Inflorescence: heads solitary on a scape; involucral bracts in 2 series, herbaceous, the outer shorter, the inner often dilated or appendaged apically, usually with broad hyaline or scarious margins, at least basally
Receptacle: receptacle naked
Flowers: corollas of ray flowers only, perfect, yellow
Pappus: pappus of capillary bristles
Style: style branches semicylindric
Fruit: achenes angular or terete, prominently nerved or ribbed, usually spinulose or with ridges near the body apex, glabrous, beaked
Common_dandelion_(Taraxacum_officinale_Weber_ex_Wiggers)
Common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale Weber ex Wiggers)
Common name: Common dandelion.
Height: plants mostly 3-60 cm tall
Growth form: from a simple or branched caudex
Leaves: leaves 5-40 cm long, 1-10 cm wide, pinnately lobed to pinnatifid, the terminal lobe broader than the lateral ones
Surface; scapes villous to subglabrous, often moderately to densely villous below the head
Involucre: involucres 15-25 mm high in flower, the outer bracts lance-acuminate, reflexed, the inner ones lance- attenuate, not or scarcely dilated apically, rarely appendaged
Flowers: rays yellow, or bluish externally
Fruit: achene bodies 3-4 mm long, straw colored to olive drab, the beak usually 2-4 times longer than the body
Pappus: pappus white
Chromosome number: 2n = 24, 48
Habitat: Ubiquitous brightly flowered weedy species; widespread in North America; adventive from Eurasia
Goat_beard_(Tragopogon_L.)
Goat beard (Tragopogon L.)
Life span: biennial (annual or perennial) herbs
Roots: from thickened taproots, the juice milky
Leaves: leaves alternate, entire, clasping basally
Inflorescence: heads solitary or few and corymbose
Flowers: flowers all raylike, perfect, yellow or purple
Involucre: involucres cylindric or campanulate; bracts uniseriate, equal
Receptacle: receptacle naked
Pappus: pappus of plumose bristles united at the base
Fruit: achenes 5- to 10-nerved, slender-beaked or the outer beakless
Oyster-plant,_salsify_(Tragopogon_porrifolius_L.)
Oyster-plant, salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius L.)
Common name: Oyster-plant, salsify
Life span: biennial herbs
Growth form: stems erect, milky juice
Height: 3-10 dm tall, simple or branched above
Leaves: alternate; leaves mainly 5-30 cm long, linear-subulate (long and thin), the apex not recurved
Inflorescence: peduncles enlarged and fistulose below the heads
Involucre: involucres cylindric to campanulate; bracts commonly 8 (5-11), 2.5-4 cm long in flower, 4-7 cm long in fruit
Flowers: rays purple, subequal to or shorter than the bracts
Fruit: achenes 25-35 mm long
Pappus: pappus brownish
Chromosome number: n = 6
Habitat: Cultivated plants, escaping and persisting on canal banks, in moist meadows, and along roadsides; widespread in much of the U. S.; introduced from Europe.
Meadow_salsify_(Tragopogon_pratensis_L.)
Meadow salsify (Tragopogon pratensis L.)
Common name: Meadow salsify
Life span: biennial herbs
Growth form: stems erect
Height: 1.5-8 dm tall
Stems: simple or branched
Leaves: alternate; lanceolate; leaves mainly 5-30 cm broad, tapering from a broadly expanded base to 2 cm wide, recurved apically
Inflorescence: peduncles not especially enlarged in flower or in fruit
Involucre: involucres campanulate; bracts commonly 8, 12-24 mm long in flower, 18-38 mm long in fruit
Flowers: rays chrome-yellow, equaling or surpassing the bracts
Fruit: achenes 15-25 mm long
Pappus: pappus off-white
Chromosome number: n = 6
Habitat: Disturbed sites; widespread in the U. S.; adventive from Europe
*Vernonia_Schreber
Vernonia Schreber
Life span: perennial herbs
Leaves: leaves alternate, simple, entire or toothed
Inflorescence: heads corymbose-paniculate
Involucre: involucres campanulate to cylindrical, the bracts imbricated in several series, purplish to greenish
Receptacle: receptacle flat, naked
Flowers: ray florets none; disk flowers purple to rose, rarely whitish
Anthers: anthers coherent, sagittate at base
Fruit: achenes 8- to 10-ribbed, truncate at apex; pappus double, the inner of long capillary bristles, the outer of short bristles or small paleae, purple to tawny
Cocklebur_(Xanthium_L.)
Xanthium L.
Life span: annual
Growth form: herbs with fleshy large cotyledons
Roots: taproot
Leaves: leaves alternate, petiolate, the blades broad, rough-hairy; cordate
Inflorescence: heads unisexual, discoid, or the corolla lacking; staminate heads uppermost, many flowered; involucre of pistillate heads enclosing the 2 flowers, forming a 2-chambered bur armed with hooked prickles, the corolla lacking
Involucre: involucral bracts in 1-3 series, separate
Receptacle: receptacle cylindric, chaffy; filaments monadelphous, the anthers separate
Pistil: pistil vestigial, the styles unbranched
Fruit: achenes large, solitary in each chamber
Pappus: pappus none
Cocklebur_(Xanthium_strumarium_L.)
Cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium L.)
Common name: Cocklebur
Synonym: [X. orientale L.; X. italicum Moretti; X. pensylvanicum Wallr.]
Life span: annual monoecious herbs
Height: stem 1.5-10 dm tall or more
Stem: simple or branched, scabrous, often purple mottled
Leaves: alternate; leaves petiolate, the blades mainly 2-12 cm long and about as broad, ovate to oval or orbicular, obtuse to cuneate or cordate basally, scabrous, dentate and often lobed
Inflorescence: heads in few to many short axillary clusters
Fruit: burs broadly cylindric to ovoid, 1-3.5 cm long, with 2 more or less incurved beaks apically, covered with stout hooked prickles
Chromosome number: 2n = 36
Habitat: Weedy species of cultivated and other disturbed lands; adventive (?) from the eastern U. S.
Note: var. canadense (Miller) T. & G. [X. canadense Miller] seedlings are poisonous to livestock, and they produce dermatitis in some people.
Vervain_Family_(VERBENACEAE_St._Hil.)
Vervain Family (VERBENACEAE St. Hil.)
Common name: Vervain Family
Growth form: herbs or shrubs
Leaves: leaves mostly opposite, simple, estipulate
Inflorescence: inflorescence cymose, racemose, or of spikes or panicles
Flowers: flowers sessile or pedicellate, perfect or sometimes imperfect, more or less irregular
Calyx: calyx persistent, 2- to 4 (5) -toothed or -lobed
Petals: corolla regular or irregular, funnelform or salverform, usually with a well-developed tube, the limb commonly 4- or 5-lobed
Stamens: stamens 4 and didymous or rarely 2 or 5, inserted on the corolla tube
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 2- to 4-loculed, the ovules 1 per locule
Style: style simple, with 1 or 2 stigmas
Fruit: fruit dry, of 2-4 nutlets
Chromosome number: x = 5-12
*Verbena_L.
Verbena L.
Life span: annual or perennial
Stem: procumbent
Branches: procumbent
Surface: glabrous or pubescent
Leaves: mostly opposite
Flowers: small or medium
Calyx: usually tubular, 5-ribbed, 5-toothed
Corolla: salverform to funnelform, tube straight or curved, the limb spreading, 5-lobed, regular or slightly 2-lipped
Stamens: 4, didynamous, included
Ovary: entire or somewhat 4-lobed apically, 4-loculed, each locule with 1 ovule
Fruit: dry, enclosed in the calyx, separating into 4 nutlets at maturity
Violet_Family_(VIOLACEAE_Batsch)
Violet Family (VIOLACEAE Batsch)
Common name: Violet Family
Life span: annual or perennial herbs
Leaves: leaves basal or cauline and alternate, simple or pedatifid
Flowers: flowers perfect, irregular, or sometimes cleistogamous, solitary
Sepals: sepals 5, distinct or nearly so
Petals: petals 5, the lowermost spurred
Stamens: stamens 5
Pistil: pistils 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 1-loculed, 3- to 5-carpelled
Style: style 1
Stigma: stigma usually lobed
Fruit: fruit a loculicidal capsule
Chromosome number: x = 6-13, 17, 21, 23
*Verbena_L.
Verbena L.
Growth form: herbs
Leaves: opposite leaves and bracted
Flowers: sessile, borne in terminal, solitary, corymbed or panicled spikes
Calyx: calyx 5-toothed, one of the teeth often shorter than the others
Corolla: tubular, often curved, salverform, the limb spreading, 5-lobed, slightly 2-lipped or regular
Stamens: included, the upper pair occasionally without anthers
Style: slender, mostly 2-lobed
Fruit: dry, mostly enclosed by the calyx, at length separating into 4 linear or linear-oblong crustaceous smooth, papillose or rugose nutlets, each 1-seeded
Waterfern_Family_(SALVINIACEAE_Reichb.)
Waterfern Family (SALVINIACEAE Reichb.)
Common name: Waterfern Family
Growth form: plants small aquatic free-floating or growing on mud
Roots: rhizomatous
Leaves: 2-ranked or in whorls, opposite or alternate, simple or lobed
Sporocarps: soft, thin-walled, borne single or 2 or more on a common stalk at the base of the leaves, 1-loculed, each containing a central often branched receptacle bearing microsprangia or meagasprangia
Waterfern_(Salvinia_Adans.)
Waterfern (Salvinia Adans.)
Leaves: dimorphic, aerial and submerged from compressed floating rootstock, without roots
Sori: sori indusiate
Sporangia: megasporangium with one megaspore, in contrast to microsporangium with numerous microspores
Waterlily_Family_(NYMPHAEACEAE)
Salisb. Waterlily Family (NYMPHAEACEAE Salisb.)
Common name: Waterlily Family
Life span: perennial
Growth form: aquatic plants
Roots: from submersed rhizomes
Leaves: leaves alternate, simple, the blades floating on the surface or rarely emergent, cordate
Flowers: flowers perfect, regular, solitary, long pedicellate; perianth segments distinct
Sepals: sepals mostly 3-12, green or petaloid
Petals: petals usually many, showy (scalelike in Nuphar)
Stamens: stamens numerous
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: ovary superior or partly inferior, several- to many-loculed
Fruit: fruit a leathery berry
Chromosome number: x = 12-29+
*Brasenia_Schreb.
Brasenia Schreb.
Growth form: aquatic
Stems: slender stems that may attain a length of 2m or more
Surface: all submerged parts coated with a gelatinous substance
Leaves: oval, long-petioled, centrally peltate, floating, palmately veined
Watershield_(Brasenia_schreberi_Gmel.)
Watershield (Brasenia schreberi Gmel.)
Common name: Watershield
Leaves: 5-10 cm long, 3.5-5 cm wide, thickish, rounded at each end
Flowers: purple, 1-1.2 cm in diameter, borne on long, stout peduncles; sepals and linear petals 3
Stamens: stamens 12-18
Pistil: carpels 4-18, separate
Fruit: oblong, 6-8 mm long
Habitat: ponds
Water_lily_(Nymphaea_L.)
Water lily (Nymphaea L.)
Growth form: herbs
Roots: with thick rhizomes
Leaves: leaves alternate, appearing spirally arranged, arising from the rhizome, the blade laterally attached
Flowers: flowers long pedunculate, solitary, arising from the rhizome
Sepals: sepals usually 4, greenish
Petals: petals numerous, pink, white, or variously colored, conspicuous
Stamens: stamens numerous, transitional with the petals, the filaments flattened
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary with several to many carpels and locules
Stigmas: stigmas several to many, broad, petaloid
Fruit: fruit a capsule, many-seeded, tardily dehiscent
Water-milfoil_Family_(HALORAGACEAE_R._Br._in_Flinders)
Water-milfoil Family (HALORAGACEAE R. Br. in Flinders)
Common name: Water-milfoil Family
Growth form: aquatic or semiaquatic, herbaceous
Life span: perennials
Leaves: leaves whorled or alternate, finely dissected
Flowers: flowers regular, small, unisexual or perfect, solitary in the upper leaf axils or more often in terminal spikes, 3- or 4-merous
Sepals: sepals obsolete or 4 and persistent in fruit
Petals: petals 2-4, small, or sometimes wanting
Stamens: stamens 4 or 8, the filaments slender, distinct
Anthers: anthers large
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary inferior, 1- to 4-loculed, with (1) 2-4 distinct styles
Fruit: fruit indehiscent, nutlike or drupelike
Chromosome number: x = 7
Water_milfoil_(Myriophyllum_L.)
Water milfoil (Myriophyllum L.)
Stems: Stems slender
Growth form: stems floating and submersed or growing on mud
Leaves: leaves whorled or alternate, finely pinnately divided
Flowers: flowers unisexual, mostly in terminal spikes
Calyx: calyx with 4 short lobes or lacking
Petals: petals 2-4 when present
Stamens: stamens 8 or sometimes 4
Anthers: anthers large
Fruit: fruit bony, splitting into 2-4 (1-seeded) nutlets
Water-Plantain_Family_(ALISMATACEAE_Vent).
Water-Plantain Family (ALISMATACEAE Vent).
Common name: Water-Plantain Family
Growth form: aquatic or marsh herbs with fibrous roots, scape-like stems and basal long-petioled leaves
Inflorescence: a raceme or panicle
Flowers: flowers regular, perfect, monecious or dioecious, pedicelled; the pedicels whorled and subtended by bracts
Sepals: sepals 3, persistent
Petals: petals 3, deciduous
Stamens: stamens 6 or more
Pistil: ovaries numerous or rarely few, 1-celled, usually 1-ovuled
Fruit: carpels becoming achenes; endosperm none
Arrowhead_(Sagittaria_L.)
Arrowhead (Sagittaria L.)
Common name: Arrowhead
Lifespan: perennial
Growth form: aquatic or mash herbs
Leaves: basal, long-petioled
Flowers: monoecious or dioecious, borne near the summits of the scapes in whorls of 3, the staminate uppermost; petals usually conspicuous
Stamens: stamens usually numerous
Pistil: carpels numerous, crowded in globose heads
Arrowhead_(Sagittaria_sagittifolia_L.)
Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia L.)
Common name: Arrowhead
Leaves: emergent leaves strongly sagittate; floating leaves often elliptic; submerged leaves linear
Stems: emergent, to 1 m
Flowers: 2-3 cm across
Fruit: achenes 4-6 mm, with beak less than 1 mm
Chromosome Number: 2n = 16,20,22
Habitat: ponds, canals and slow rivers
Willow_Family_(SALICACEAE_Mirbel)
Willow Family (SALICACEAE Mirbel)
Common name: Willow Family
Growth form: dioecious dwarf shrubs to large trees
Leaves: leaves alternate, simple, entire, serrate, crenate, rarely lobed, usually stipulate, but the stipules often readily deciduous
Flowers: flowers borne in aments (catkins), without a perianth, each subtended by a small, scalelike bract (commonly referred to as a scale); staminate flowers of (1) 2 to many stamens; pistillate flowers of a single pistil with 2-4 carpels and as many stigmas
Ovary: placentation parietal or basal
Fruit: fruit a sessile or stipitate capsule with 2-4 valves
Seeds: seeds numerous, small, covered with long white hairs, dispersed easily by wind
Chromosome number: x = 11, 12, 19
Willow_(Salix_L.)
Willow (Salix L.)
Growth form: depressed, mat-forming dwarf shrubs to large trees
Leaves: buds covered with 1 nonresinous scale
Inflorescence: aments erect to spreading, rarely drooping, developing before (precocious), with (coetaneous) or after (serotinous) the leaves, the bracts mostly entire, occasionally with a slightly toothed apex
Flowers: flowers with 1, occasionally 2 minute glands near the base
Stamens: stamens (1) 2-8 (12), the filaments free or united toward the base, inserted on the base of the bract
Fruit: capsules sessile or stipitate, glabrous or pubescent.
Note: Difficulty in identification of the willows is compounded by unisexual plants, aments that are sometimes precocious and mostly caducous, and variation among the usually smaller leaves of the flowering branches, which often lack or have inconspicuous stipules, and the usually much larger leaves and stipules of vegetative branchlets or vigorous young shoots.
Woodsorrel_Family_(OXALIDACEAE_Br._in_Tuckey)
Woodsorrel Family (OXALIDACEAE R. Br. in Tuckey)
Common name: Woodsorrel Family
Growth form: herbs with sour juice
Leaves: leaves palmately 3-foliolate, alternate or basal
Flowers: flowers in cymose or umbellate inflorescence, or solitary on axillary peduncles
Flowers: flowers perfect, regular
Sepals: sepals 5
Petals: petals 5
Stamens: stamens 10, united at the base
Pistil: pistil 1
Ovary: the ovary superior, 5-loculed, with 5 styles
Fruit: fruit a capsule
Chromosome number: x = 5-12
Note: The juice contains oxalic acid, and the plants are occasionally used in salads.
*Oxalis_L.
Oxalis L.
Creeping_woodsorrel_(Oxalis_corniculata_L.)
Creeping woodsorrel (Oxalis corniculata L.)
Common name: Creeping woodsorrel
Life span: perennial
Growth form: herbs; procumbent to ascending or erect
Roots: taproot
Stems: caulescent, often rooting at the nodes
Height: stems mainly 0.5-5 dm long
Surface: pubescent with stiff, straight, appressed to spreading simple hairs
Stipules: stipules present
Leaves: alternate; leaflets obcordate, 0.5-2 cm long
Flowers: flowers 1-7, umbellate, on axillary peduncles
Sepals: sepals 5, elliptic
Petals: petals 5, yellow, 4-8 mm long
Fruit: capsules erect on pedicels that deflex at maturity
Seeds: seeds reddish brown with transverse ridges
Habitat: Ornamental and weedy species of gardens, lawns, and greenhouses; widespread in the U. S.; native to Europe.
NOXIOUS_WEEDS
RESTRICTED NOXIOUS WEEDS
alkali sida, alkali mallow (Sida hederacea) angel's trumpet, thorn apple, jimsonweed (Datura spp.) -- All parts cause abnormal thirst, distorted sight, delirium, incoherence and coma. Has proved fatal. apple (Malus) -- Seeds contain cyanic acid asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) -- Spears contain mercaptan, a substance which may cause kidney irritation if eaten in large amounts; young stems; may cause rash Austrian fieldcress (Rorippa austriaca) autumn crocus (Sativus) -- Vomiting and nervous excitement autumn crocus, meadow saffron (Colchicum autumnale) -- Leaves are very poisonous belladonna lily (Amaryllis belladonna) -- Bulbs Bermuda buttercup (Oxalis cernua) -- Leaves black locust (Robina pseudo-acacia) -- Young shoots, bark and seeds. black nightshade (Solanum nudiflorum) -- Green berries poisonous but apparently harmless when full ripe. blue mustard, purple mustard (Chorispora tenella) blue weed (Echium vulgare) -- Leaves and stems; may cause rash. boaty cress, heart-podded hoary cress (Cardaria draba) bushman's poison (Acokanthera spp.) -- All parts very poisonous buttercup (Ranunculus spp.) -- Leaves; may cause rash. If eaten, irritant juices may severely injure the digestive system. buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) -- Leaves camelthorn (Alhagi pseudalhagi) Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) canary bird bush (Crotalaria spp.) -- Seeds castor bean (Ricinus communis) -- Seeds fatal cestrum, night-blooming jessamine (Cestrum spp.) -- Leafy shoots cherries, peaches, plums (Prunus spp.) -- Seeds and leaves; seeds contain cyanic acid. chinaberry (Melia azedarach) -- Fruit, flowers and bark Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) -- Rootstocks and leaves; may cause rash. climbing lily (Gloriosa spp.) -- All parts coffee berry, buckthorn (Rhamnus spp.) -- Sap and fruit; may cause rash. common box (Buxus sempenfirens) -- Leaves; may cause rash common mistletoe (Phoradendron spp.) -- Berries fatal. common St. Johnswort, Klamath weed (Hypericum perforatum) common tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) -- Leaves cow cockle (Saponaria vaccaria) -- Seeds cow parsnip (Heracleum lanatum) -- Leaves and root slightly poisonous; dangerous to cattle crinum lily (Crinum asiaticum) -- Bulbs culvers root (Veronica virginica) -- Roots daphne (Daphne spp.) -- Bark, leaves and fruit fatal. A few berries can kill a child. desert marigold (Baileya multiradiata) -- Whole plant dodder (Cuscuta spp.) dudaim melon (Cucumis melo var. dudaim) dumb cane (Dieffenbachia seguine) -- Stems and leaves cause intense burning and irritation of mouth and tongue. Death can occur if base of tongue swells enough to block the throat. Dutchman's breeches, bleeding-heart (Dicentra spp.) -- Leaves and tubers may be poisonous in large amounts; fatal to cattle. elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) -- Shoots, leaves and bark. Children have been poisoned by using the pithy stems for blowguns. English holly (Ilex aquifolium) -- Berries English ivy (Hedera helix) -- Leaves and berries Euphorbias, snow-on-themountain, poinsettia (Euphorbia spp.) -- Milky sap; may cause rash. Leaves of poinsettia can kill a child. European bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara) -- Leaves and berries European burning bush (Euonymus europa) -- Leaves and fruit field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) field sandbur, coast sandbur (Cenchrus incertus) figs (Ficus spp.) -- Milky sap; may cause rash. flax (Linum usitatissimum) -- Whole plant, especially immature seed pods foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) -- Leaves cause digestive upset and mental confusion; may be fatal in large amounts. garden amaryllis, naked lady (Brunsvigia rosea) -- Bulbs garden huckleberry nightshade (Solanum nigrum) -- Unripe berries and leaves German-ivy (Senecio mikanioides) -- Leaves and stems ginkgo, maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba) -- Fruit juice; may cause rash. golden chain (Laburnurn vulgare) -- Leaves and seeds cause severe poisoning. golden dewdrop (Duranta repens) -- Fruits and leaves ground ivy (Nepeta hederacea) -- Leaves and stems hairy whitetop, globe-podded hoary cress (Cardaria pubescens) halogeton (Halogeton glomeratus) horsechestnut, buckeye (Aesculus spp.) -- Leaves and fruit horsenettle, Carolina horsenettle (Solanum carolinense) hyacinth (Hyacinthus) -- Bulb causes nausea, vomiting; may be fatal. hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) -- Leaves impatiens (Impatiens spp.) -- Young stems and leaves iris (Iris spp.) -- Rhizomes; may cause rash. If eaten causes digestive upset but not usually serious. Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum) -- Green skin on tubers Italian thistle (Carduus pycnocephalus) jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) -- All parts, especially roots, (like dumb cane) contain small needle-like crystals of calcium oxalate that cause intense irritation and burning of the mouth and tongue. Jerusalem cherry (Solanum pseudocapsicum) -- Fruit jessamine (Jasminum) -- Berries fatal johnsongrass; and other perennial Sorghum spp. (Sorghum halepense) karaka nut (Corynocarpus laevigata) -- Seeds ladyslipper orchid (Cypripedium spp.) -- Hairy, stems and leaves; may cause rash lantana (Lantana spp.) -- Foliage and green berries may be fatal. larkspur, delphinium (Delphinium spp.) -- Young plants and seeds cause digestive upset; may be fatal. laurels (Laurus) -- All parts fatal leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula) lens-podded whitetop, lens-podded hoary cress (Cardaria chalepensis) lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) -- Leaves and flowers very poisonous lobella (Lobelia spp.) -- Leaves, stems, and fruit; may cause rash. longspine sandbur, mat sandbur (Cenchrus longispinus) lupines (Lupinus spp.) -- Leaves, pods and especially seeds matrimony vine (Lycium halimifolium) -- Leaves and young shoots May apple (Podophyllum) -- Apple, foliage and roots contains at least 16 active toxic principles, primarily in the roots. Children often eat the apple with no ill effects but several may cause diarrhea. Mediterranean sage (Salvia aethiopis) medusahead (Taeniatherum (Elymus) caput-medusae) milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) -- Leaves and stems monkshood (Aconitum spp.) -- All parts, especially roots and seeds, very poisonous. Characterized by digestive upset and nervous excitement. moonflower (Calonyction spp.) -- Seeds moonseed (Menispermum) -- Berries (resemble small wild grapes) may be fatal if eaten. mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) -- Leaves musk thistle (Carduus nutans) narcissus, daffodil (Narcissus spp.) -- Bulbs cause nausea, vomiting. may be fatal. nettles (Urtica spp.) -- Leaves; may cause rash. ngaio (Myoporum laeturn) -- Leaves very poisonous oak (Quercus) -- Foliage and acorns. Takes a large amount to poison. oleander (Nerium oleander) -- All parts extremely poisonous. affect the heart. opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) -- Unripe seed pod very poisonous osage orange (Maclura pomifera) -- Milky sap; may cause rash. parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) -- Hairs on leaves and stems: may cause rash. pasque flower (Anemone patens) -- Young plants and flowers perennial pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium) philodendron (Philodendron spp.) -- Stems and leaves pittosporum (Pittosporum spp.) -- Leaves, stem and fruit very poisonous. plumeless thistle (Carduus acanthoides) poison hemlock (Conium maculatus) -- All parts poison oak (Rhus diversiloba) -- Leaves , poverty sumpweed, poverty weed (Iva axillaris) primrose (Primula spp.) -- Leaves and stems; may cause rash. privet (Ligustrum spp.) -- Leaves and berries puncturevine (Tribulus terrestris) purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus) quackgrass (Agropyron repens) queensland nut (Macadamia ternifolia) -- Young leaves rhododendron, azalea (Rhododendron) -- Leaves and all parts may be fatal. rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum) -- Leaves; may cause rash. Large amounts of raw or cooked leaves (contain oxalic acid) can cause convulsions, coma, followed by death. rosary pea (Abrus precatorius) -- A single rosary pea seed causes death. Russian knapweed (Centaurea repens) Scotch thistle and other onopordum thistles (Onopordum spp.) slenderflower thistle (Carduus tenuiflorus) smooth distaff thistle (Carthamus baeticus) sneezeweed (Helenium spp.) -- Whole plant Solanum elaeagnifolium, silverleaf nightshade (white horsenettle) sour dock (Rumex acetosa) -- Leaves southern sandbur (Cenchrus echinatus) sowthistle (Sonchus arvensis, perennial) spider-lily (Hymenocallis americana) -- Bulbs St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) -- All parts when eaten; may cause rash. star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) -- All parts cause vomiting and nervous excitement. strawberry (Fragaria spp.) -- Fruit; may cause rash. summer adonis (Adonis aestivalis) -- Leaves and stem Texas blueweed (Helianthus ciliaris) tobaccos (Nicotiana spp.) -- Foliage toyon, Christmas berry (Heteromelcs arbutifolia) -- Leaves traveller's joy (Clematis vitalba) -- Leaves tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) -- Leaves, flowers; may cause rash walnut (Juglans spp.) -- Green hull juice; may cause rash. water hemlock (Cicuta) -- All parts fatal, cause violent and painful convulsions wavyleaf thistle (Cirsium undulatum) white snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum) -- Leaves and stems whitestem distaff thistle (Carthamus leucocaulos) wild garlic (Allium vineale) wisteria (Wisteria) -- Mild to severe digestive upset. Children sometimes poisoned by this plant. woolly distaff thistle (Carthamus lanatus) yellow jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) -- Flowers and leaves; roots; may cause rash. yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus) yellow oleander (Thevetia peruviana) -- All parts yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) yew (Taxus baccata) -- Foliage, bark and seeds fatal; foliage more toxic than berries zephyr-lily (Zephyranthes spp.) -- Leaves and bulbs