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Old 13-05-2006, 06:40 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Stewart Robert Hinsley
 
Posts: n/a
Default Help identifying plant/weed?

In message , K
writes
serialthrilla writes
Hello to the group,

Can anyone help me identify this plant/weed, that has currently spread to
roughly 2 feet square.

Here is a picture of 2 separate plants within the area that it covers.

http://www.kingsfamily.co.uk/images/weed.jpg
http://www.kingsfamily.co.uk/images/weed2.jpg

Difficult to tell at this young stage. You say that it has 'currently
spread to roughly 2 ft square' - do you mean this has spread by
runners, or is it more, as appears from the pic, that you have young
seedlings in a 2ft square patch? If the latter, it could be Geum
urbanum, but you'd need to let it grow a bit more to be sure.


The books say that Geum has pinnate leaves, not simple leaves as in the
photos. My first thought was ground-ivy (Glechoma), or a speedwell
(Veronica). Other possibilities, from scanning Keble-Martin, are violets
(Viola) or dead-nettles (Lamium).

The venation pattern doen't seem to be right for Veronica, the Violas
have acute leaf apices and less prominent marginal crenation, and the
leaves of Glechoma have cordate bases. Assuming that I'm not being
misled by juvenile leaves having a different form from those of the
mature plant, I'd plump for henbit dead-nettle (Lamium amplexicaule) or
northern dead-nettle (Lamium intermedium). I've never seen either of
these - henbit dead-nettle is commoner in the east, and northern
dead-nettle in Scotland and Ireland. (And I've found that if I want to
use my image files for plant identification I need to take more
photographs of leaves.)
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley