# name that weed...



## gothhick (Jul 30, 2005)

ok, this stuff is becoming VERY pervasive on our property right now. since about late october this stuff has been popping up everywhere like wildfire and has already almost covered our garden and entire patches of the yard. anyone know exactly what it is?


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## marvella (Oct 12, 2003)

does it stay close to the ground, or stand tall? if it lays close to the ground, it is gill-over-the grond. if it stands tall, it should have a square stem (that makes it a member of the mint family) and is introduced (meaning not native) and a good nitrogen fixer when plowed under, that i can't remember the name of. :stars:


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## gothhick (Jul 30, 2005)

it does stand tall, several inches, and has a square stem. much of it though does stay close to the ground. the low lying stuff may just be young though and not had time to grow yet.


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## BrahmaMama (Nov 12, 2005)

No, I don't think it's Gill-over-ground. Hang on I'll get out the book!


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## BrahmaMama (Nov 12, 2005)

Dang! Maybe it is! Does this sound like it? - trailing mint that grows profusely, Leaves rise from the stem in pairs; they are round, with heart shaped bases, the edge cut into rounded lobes, and the whole surface is downey and veiny. Pretty purple flowers grow in small clusters from the axils of the leaves. The upper lip is erect and slightly notched. (Can't see the flower too good) The lower one has three spreading lobes and is spotted purple.


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## silentcrow (Mar 15, 2005)

It does look like Ground Ivy (Gill-over-the-ground). Found it in National Audubon Soc. book Field Guide to Wildflowers (eastern region)


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## gothhick (Jul 30, 2005)

yeah, i think that's it.

funny thing is, i did grow mint in the garden in one small section, but transplanted them over to the other building. now this was standard mint, ya know, spearmint and some peppermint. so i don't know if that really had anything to do with it or not. we didn't have this stuff last year.


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## BrahmaMama (Nov 12, 2005)

Hmmm... Gill-over-the-ground is a very wild thing. I would think that it was probably spread by birds or whatever. Chickens perhaps?

Be carefull with that mint you planted though, it'll take off when you least expect it to and invade the entire world! (all things considered that might not be a bad thing) but you know what I mean!  

I now have lemon balm growing throughout my lawn, It smells nice when we cut the grass, but it'll never really go away.......


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## gothhick (Jul 30, 2005)

yeah i had a great lemon balm crop this year. grandma loved the smell of it. catnip too.  kitties loved that!

i moved the mint and tried to dig up as many left over rhizomes as i could. had some mint grow back, but just pulled it all up before it got a chance.

no chickens, but wouldn't put it past birds helping to spread it here...


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## dlangland (Jul 7, 2005)

But Goth, If I saw anything like that...Did you taste test it...Anyone poisoned yet? Looks like a spinach-varient to me. Of course, I come from a sheltered life of the mid-west. What do I know?

Deb


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## marvella (Oct 12, 2003)

home now, so i looked it up.

http://lachlan.bluehaze.com.au/usa2001/13may2001a/mvc-012s.jpg

here's gill over the ground. flowers aren't the same tho...

http://www.turf.uiuc.edu/weed_web/henbit/henbit_leaf.jpg

and... ta-dum, henbit. 

field guide says it flowers from may to nov. in waste places, fields and roadsides, wide ranging, name implies that seeds are eaten by chickens.


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## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

Does it grow, maybe 6-8 " tall max? Has a square stem, and if a little accidentally gets into your salad it tastes awful? Doesn't smell like miint despite the square stem? Pink/purple-pink flowers? 

If the answer to all these is "yes", I don't know what it is, but I've had it in my gardens for years too. It isn't really a problem except if you accidentally end up eating it- it tastes nasty!! The picture looks an awful lot like the same plant I'm thinking of, and I don't think it is native, yet I've had it in just about every garden I've had here (northern Idaho).


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## Wildcrofthollow (Apr 20, 2005)

Yep Henbit, Lamium amplexicaule.

Supposed to be edible, but I'm afraid for me this fell into the category of edible but not palatable.

A very close cousin of this plant is Purple dead nettle, Lamium purpureum.
they look very similar, but henbit doesnt seem to have the purplish cast to the leaves that the dead nettle does.

Hope this helps.

David


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## gothhick (Jul 30, 2005)

hmmm, does look more like the henbit...

i'll keep my eyes on it. gonna get tilled under in the spring anyway.


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## Guest (Dec 12, 2005)

That looks exactly like what I've always known as henbit.


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## silentcrow (Mar 15, 2005)

Although very similar, I doubt it's henbit...look really close at the pics...the edging on the leaves is different.


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## Randy Rooster (Dec 14, 2004)

I am in the southeast and have a lot of that stuff - it appears to indeed be the henbit - it grows all winter here but especially prolific in early spring. It will be back every year from now on.


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## Egggal (Nov 14, 2005)

Just a note that with this kind of well-rooted fibrous-matted creeping minty thing, you want to get in there with your hands and pull out all of the roots that you can find. Tilling will only mulitply it, as it will gladly root out from every cut up piece.


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## Hillbillybob47 (Mar 13, 2005)

I had it taking over my garden a few years ago so I planted half of my garden in early crops then tilled up the other half a cupple times and covered with black plastic in mid May and left on ground untill frist of June. We got some rather hot days for a few days while waiting. Then planted my hot weather crops in the treated half of the garden. About the 3rd week of June all my early crops was finished but we had cooler weather for a week and a half so I had to leave the plastic on for 3 weeks to get some really hot weather. The treatment killed off about 95% of the weed. Now I put down Black plastic over 30 feet X 100 feet in March and will leave that untill July. I then plant it to a Fall garden. Next year this is where my Hot weather crops will go as early as I can plant them and I treat another 30 feet X 100 feet of ground. In the spring I have 2- 30 feet X 100 feet spots to plant and 1 in treatment. One is for early and mid summer crops, the other is for Spring to frost crops. I already told you I plant a fall garden in the treated area. This has worked for me to crontrol the weed that nothing else seemed to work on. By the way I almost have a 100% crontrol over the weed. This has also seamed to help my insect problems also. I do find worms when I get ready to plant again. I guess they go down deep when it gets hot under the plastic. I don't know but the worms are their when I plant again. Hillbillybob47


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

we get alot here in pa too, it must be one of the "bitter herbs" you can eat. kinda like spade leaf and dandelion, although i would take the dandelion any spring day over spade leaf. never had henbit.

that stuff invaded my strawberry patch i have been battling to get started. as if drought weren't enough. start pulling the runners on that stuff and your young strawberry runners go too.


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## Gailann Schrader (May 10, 2002)

Gill-over-the-ground was introduced here by the European settlers. Before they "discovered" hops, it was used to give bitterness to beer. Now we use hops and the darned ivy junk has taken over. It's a noxious weed in my opinion...


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## Jackfish (Nov 23, 2005)

gothhick said:


> ok, this stuff is becoming VERY pervasive on our property right now. since about late october this stuff has been popping up everywhere like wildfire and has already almost covered our garden and entire patches of the yard. anyone know exactly what it is?



Hi Goth - Looks to me like All-Heal or Self-Heal. I betcha it has little purple flowers too. That's what me ole mam used to call it anyway. I have gobs of it too all over my yard. Then again, I have little grass and mostly "interesting"weeds in my lawn.


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## Jackfish (Nov 23, 2005)

Jackfish said:


> Hi Goth - Looks to me like All-Heal or Self-Heal. I betcha it has little purple flowers too. That's what me ole mam used to call it anyway. I have gobs of it too all over my yard. Then again, I have little grass and mostly "interesting"weeds in my lawn.




Nope Nope Nope I'm Wrong Wrong Wrong

:bash: 

I think is is Creeping Charlie

Here is a link with a picture.

http://outreach.missouri.edu/stcharles/Home Horticulture/g-ivy.htm

I still have it all over my lawn. :baby04:


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

There are three common mint family weeds that look somewhat alike:

Lamium amplexicaule (hen-bit)
Lamium pupureum (dead-nettles)
Glechoma hederacea (Gill-over-the-ground)

L. purpureum has more of a pointed purple top to it. 

L. amplexicaule has a more rounded top and lighter pink-purple flowers. The leaves circle around the stem like a frilly skirt.

G. hederacea is also more rounded at the top with light purple-bluish flowers. The stems can snake over the ground and root at the nodes.

Unfortunately, I have all three in my yard trying to take over.


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## Guest (Feb 1, 2006)

Lamium amplexicaule (hen-bit) pictures:

http://images.google.com/images?q="Lamium+amplexicaule"&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images


Lamium purpureum (dead-nettles) pictures:
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q="Lamium+pupureum"&btnG=Search


Glechoma hederacea (Gill-over-the-ground) pictures:
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q="Glechoma+hederacea"&btnG=Search


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