On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 21:36:34 -0500, griffon
wrote:

A friend had a weed/volunteer plant in her flower beds last year and
it is starting to come back up and she says it appears to have spread
out somewhat and is shooting up around the place where it was last
year. She says the plant actually looks similar to some kind of phlox
or loosestrife, particularly the latter in the blooms. The blooms are
smaller than those of yellow loosestrife and there are not very many
blooms either. That is about all she can tell me. I have no ideas
but if anyone has suggestions, I will send them to her and maybe she
can identify it. Thanks.

This sounds kind of like a weed we had growing in an unused planter
box. We thought it looked nice so we left it alone. But then we found
out it was Wild Parsnip, a biennial that happens to be phototoxic
(juices of the plant are toxic when exposed to sunlight.). My husband
cut it down with a weed whacker, and he got some of the juice from the
plants splashed on his arm and ankle. He then went out into the sun,
and the juice acted like a flesh-eating acid. He still has scars from
the burns.

It resembles Queen Anne's Lace, only yellow. Be careful, if that is
what it is. Get rid of it carefully on a cloudy day, and burn it or
seal it up in bags. Remove the dirt, or cover it with plastic sheeting
to prevent it from resprouting. Nasty stuff.

On the other hand, it could be wild mustard, which is harmless and
pleasant to look at. Hard to tell without a photo.