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Identifying weeds

A weed is defined as a plant growing where it is not wanted. This could potentially include a vast number of plants depending on time, location or circumstance. In agricultural guides, weeds are generally classed according to their habits, e.g. annual, biennial or perennial, and/or their leaf shape e.g. grass or broadleaved. This is the system that we are using here. In some guides they maybe grouped according to colour of flower, time of flowering, or sometimes, grouped by the crops in which they occur.

We have generally assumed a basic familiarity with weeds. If you have a weed that you want to identify we recommend that you try one or more of the following:

• If you know the general habit of the weed you might be able to identify it from the information contained on this site


• use a reference book


• use a web based guide


• If you still can
  
  

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  Comments

  1. Somebody please help!
     I have an old hedge comprising fuschia, escallonia, hebes and blackthorn. It has become invaded by some kind of vine tye weed which resembles a black/brown shoelace with thumb nail size green leaves.
     Can anyone identify this for me and tell me how to get rid of it?
     

     - Anne Kelly 8---0-2005

  
  
  2. I HAVE AN EVASIVE BROADLEAFED WEED THAT HAS A SEEMINGLEY UNCONTROLABLE ROOT SYSTEM, DURING PR SEWING A NEW LAWN I DUG UP LOTS OF THE ROOT SYSTEM BUT EVEN THE SMALLEST BIT LEFT BEHIND CARRIES ON GROWING BY THE BUCKET FULL, WHAT TREATMENT DO YOU SUGGEST ?
     

     - STEPHEN ORCHIN 9---0-2005

  
  
  3. I have passed on your requests to a botonist to see if he has any ideas. However, it is often quite difficult to identify plants from a brief verbal description. If you are still having problems have a look at our pages on weed identification (see menu above left) for some help. It might also be possible to find someone to whom you can take a specimen through your local Wildlife Trust. Alternatively you could send us a clear digital picture of the weed including leaves and any flowers or fruits in the picture or pictures. Our e-mail contact details can be found on the 'contact us' pages available via the top menu, far right, but please try not to send a large number of big files.
     

     - Gareth Davies 9---0-2005

  
  
  4. I brought some dirt home from a field, and been pulling this weed up since, it does not flower, and it runs on runners under the ground, it is not bindweed, its leaves all come out of the ground separately but join at the base and the leaves are a slim balloon shape, green and smooth
     

     - Michael davis 0---1-2005

  
  
  5. i have these weeds that look like carrotts they have taken over the whole yard does anyone know what they are and how to get rid of them.
     

     - jan 4---0-2006

  
  
  6. Perhaps your plants are wild carrots or fools parsley. It is quite difficult for us to identify weeds from a brief discription. Perhaps send us a digital picture (see our contact details above for email addresses) or consult a book on plants- there are many available in bookshops and libraries these days- with some good pictures.
     

     - Gareth Davies 4---0-2006

  
  
  7. Help! I think I have idetified 'Ground Elder' as the weed that seems to be taking over my boarders, I spent a whole day nearly pulling up roots, but it's still growing thick and fast and spreading, what can I do to get rid of it, it smothered my bedding plants last year!
     

     - Jacquie Moore 4---0-2006

  
  
  8. Definitely not Japanese knotweed - no flowers, wrong leaf shape, low growing with clinging tentacle like runners - this weed is invading the lawn and choking the borders. This has 5- or 7- pronged leaves with serrated edges joined at the base on really thin stems. Pull it up and it re-grows in about 2 weeks!
     

     - Geraldine 6---0-2006

  
  
  9. could these vines be indian potatoe{hopniss} or ground peanut ?
     

     - karen 7---0-2006

  
  
  10. I have a weed (in Toronto Canada) that has been doubling or tripling in quantity every year for about 3 years now and I cannot identify it anywhere. It has a 1/4"-3/8" stalk that grows straight up unsupported but will twirl around anything near it to about 4'-5'. The leaves grow in pairs about 5" apart but each set turns 90 degrees. It bears un-noticable flowers at the growing tip that develop into sharp tipped pods about 2" long. It will flower when as small as 12" tall. The seeds are disbursed in the wind. The roots are numerous, thick, short and white and "some" come up attached to the stem when pulled but inevitably many are left and regrow more stems. It seams to grow anywhere from in the grass to in the shrubbery. I can supply photos if needed.
      

      - Dennis 7---0-2006

  
  
  11. hi is there any way of getting rid of vine weed. cheers
      

      - adam 8---0-2006

  
  
  12. i have a weed about 2 high feet numerous stems yellow flower a very thorny stem and underneath the leaves a very prickly plant
      

      - tony travis 8---0-2006

  
  
  13. I have a weed in my garden that has taken over mostly all area. It is no more than 2 inches high small round leaves and tiny white flowers sprout from it. After flowers die, if you pull the weed out tiny seeds pop out all over the place. Help I have a large garden don't know what to do. Also it is near my fish pond, so I have to be careful of what I use. Help
      

      - rosemary Kasperek 5---0-2007

  
  
  14. Hopefully someone can help me. When I moved to my present house there were deep cerise coloured flowers with silver foliage growing (some approximately 3ft high) in my garden. They lasted all summer long and in the winter died back, but always reappeared the following year. Sometimes growing higher than the previous year.
      However, when I had my garden landscaped, the gardener dug them all up and disposed of them, he told me they were in fact weeds. Maybe, but they looked lovely and I was very unhappy to see them go.
      Since then I have looked high and low for them and cannot find them in any garden centre. Perhaps they are weeds/wild flowers, but I would very much like to reinstate them if only I knew what they were called and where to buy them.
      My neighbour tells me that the previous owner would wait until Sept/Oct when the flowers had become dried and crumble the seeds and plant them in the soil which in turn gave another batch of flowers the following year. Can anyone help me identify these flowers/weeds??
      

      - Sue 5---0-2007

  
  
  15. small clover shaped leaves. Grows from tiny bulbs. They grow like mad. Don't know if they flower, don't give them a chance. Could you help identify this. and how to deal with it. Thanks.
      

      - Gail 6---0-2007

  
  
  16. I need help identifying a prickly, invasive weed that has invaded a bed of pacysandra planted last year. The stems are weak and easily removed since the weed travels on top of existing plants. The leaves are green, and triangular or even somewhat butterfly shaped. It has prickles on the stems which cause it to cling like velcro; no flower that I have seen. Please help if you can; thanks.
      

      - gloriamerriam@yahoo.com 7---0-2007

  
  
  17. Have discovered a weed in grass which greenkeepers say they have never seen before. It is growing in patches about 60/70mm in diameter. ellow in colour with inturned leaves similar to an opened flowerhead. It is yellow in colour and bright. Can anyone identify and suggest treatment please.
      

      - Innesfree@blueyonder.co.uk. 3---0-2008

  
  
  18. I live in Santee, Ca and moved to a house that had horrible spiney plants that grow along the ground and have a tiny yellow flowers. The weed has a star shaped cluster of green spines that when become dry break into several spiney peices. This plant grows like crazy as soon as any water comes in contact with the ground even though I pull them up as soon as I see them growing. The plant grows with several arms that reach out from one main plant. The spines are very painful when stepped on. If any one knows how to get rid of them without using a pesticides or even what they are called I could use the help.
      

      - A. Harter 3---0-2008

  
  
  19. For Rosemary Kasperik:
      I discovered that it's probably hairy bittercress. The seeds often come home from containers plants in the garden center. A real pain, but easy to pull up. And supposedly the leaves are edible, too! Some people think they taste better than watercress.
      

      - Sarawriter 4---0-2008

  
  
  20. I live in the California desert. I have a yellow string-like weed{s} that twist up the stems of my mums and encase the plant with the strings. There are little white furry balls or pods on it. Any idea what it is and how do I get rid of it. This is my 2nd year of it.
      

      - debbe 5-25-08 7---0-2008

  
  
  21. my weed is extreemly tiny yellow fine covering my flowers. Choking them. I can't find where is is coming from? It was first in a bush in that sight, we took that up and now it is in the flowers. you just can not see where it comes from? What is it and how can I get rid of it?????
      

      - Cathy 7---0-2008

  
  
  22. Can someone please identify this weed for me please. I have put pictures on my flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/60309950@N00/?saved=1
      I am quite worried as it is growing in my childrens school playground and they can easily touch it. My email is mister-ed@hotmail.co.uk and I would be very grateful for any answers thanks.
      

      - Jennifer Wilson 7---0-2008

  
  
  23. I have a weed that looks like blacknight shade but it has purple berrys that appear in late summer/fall. these berrys are 1/8 in size and make a mess on my sidewalk(turning it purple in color) when the plant droops over after getting about 4-1/2 ft tall. It has a stalk about 1" in dia with big green leaves.
      

      - joe 7---0-2008

  
  
  24. IM TRYING TO FIGURE WHAT KIND OF WEED I HAVE IN MY GARDEN NEVER HAD IN ANY OF MY GARDENS BEFORE IT A VERY SMALL CLOVER LIKE WEED THATS GROWING LIKE MOSS OVER MY WHOLE ENTIRE GARDEN ITS GOING CRAZY PLEASE HELP!
      

      - JERRY STEVEN ZWERICAN 7---0-2008

  
  
  25. Recently in Scotland I saw 18 in. tufts of hard grass, they looked like hedgehogs. Could you please tell me the name of them? They grow in small mounds, they are brown and yellow in colour.
      

      - Pamela Jones 7---0-2008

  
  
  26. i recently had sod planted about 3-4 months ago. its growing fine, except for a few small brown patches, but my concern recently are these spikes growing much taller than the grass itself..i have been pulling them out, but i think these will take over my lawn. they grown quickly.. it has 5 or 6 tall skinny blades of whatever growing on 1 root.. they easily pull out of dirt.. they are approximately 7-9 inches tall ..
      

      - jackie 8---0-2008

  
  
  27. The yellow stringy vine weed is Dodder. You have to be very dilligent to get rid of it. I had to remove all affected plants and check every day for new vines.
      

      - debbie 8---0-2008

  
  
  28. Jennifer Wilson - the leaves are definitely Hogweed.
      
      I can't tell from the flowers as they are out of focus and over-exposed, but are you sure the leaves and the flowers go together? What about the leaves on the left in the picture with the flower?
      
      If it is hogweed (see http://tinyurl.com/5dutcp), it is not a problem unless it is Giant Hogweed (the leaves indicate not) which causes painful blistering and grows 8-12 feet (3-4 metres) high - but you give no indication of scale.
      
      For Giant Hogweed, see http://tinyurl.com/5myyot
      
      P.S. I am not an 'expert'; I am simply a member of HDRA ('Garden Organic' it is called today, but not when I first read Lawrence D. Hills), but not employed by them.
      
      P.P.S. (Aimed at all the other respondents) (1) a picture is worth a thousand words (2) but make sure it is in focus and use a ruler or something to give an idea of scale
      

      - John B. 8---0-2008

  
  
  29. "When I moved to my present house there were deep cerise coloured flowers with silver foliage growing (some approximately 3ft high) in my garden. "
      
      Hi sue, I saw your description above and wondered of the plant you are talking about is Lychnis coronaria? Otherwise it might be a poppy?
      

      - Fionnuala 9---0-2008

  
  
  30. "deep cerise coloured flowers with silver foliage 3ft high"...Sue if the foliage is as tall as that it might be Valerian (Centranthus or Kentranthus Ruber) which does grow like a weed in some soils. There is a very deep cerise-red variety. The foliage is not as silver as Lychnis and is more succulent, but it does grow taller whereas Lychnis tends to have a basal rosette of foliage with taller flower stems.
      

      - Pamela B 2---0-2009

  
  
  31. sir, my garden is being invaded by a plant that climbs local trees, twists round branches and grows at an incredible rate,it has a cluster of small white flowers and seems to be choking my trailing roses, can you identify please. many thanks d.h.s.
      

      - david h sephton 2---0-2009

  
  
  32. When we moved the whole garden had tall slender onion/chives which developed large black seed pods at the top. We dug up most of them. However they are deep rooted small bulbs now, small and fine, but everywhere. Please identify and advise on eradication, very grateful fo advice.
      

      - Jenny 3---0-2009

  
  
  33. I have a weed that comes from my neghbours garden, it keeps wrapping it's self around all of my plants. I know what it isbut i can't get rid of it because it goes down about 6ft. HHHHHHHEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      

      - Sophie 4---0-2009

  
  
  34. I have a really annoting plant i dont know what it is. (it bluey with a white middle in the middle of the floewer it's like a bush now. but smaller.
      Does anyone know if it is a week
      

      - Ellena 4---0-2009

  
  
  35. any chance of a picture of a common Evening Primrose
      
      might have had this flower in my garden last year it was about 5ft tall with yellow flowers
      

      - j.stanhope 4---0-2009

  
  
  36. Morristown, TN USA
      This spring a new plant/weed grew in the semi shaded side of my house. Currently, it is apprx. 12' tall with a Wild Carrot (AKA Queen Anne's Lace) type flower but the leaves are lacy and large.
      

      - TeriTenn 1---1-2009

  
  
  37. Hi there..we have patches of plants growing in our lawn that we can't identify. They haven't gotten to the blooming stage yet (if there is one) but they almost look like lilies do (the stem & leaves) except the leaves are smaller and when we dig one up it doesnt appear to have a bulb for the root system. Anyone have any ideas on what this might be?
      Thanks!
      

      - Courtney 1---1-2009

  
  

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