Mystery Weed in Flower (Central Ohio)
 

I found a fully deployed version of the mystery weed

old
http://home.att.net/~rhhardin5/w33.jpg (26th) Weed unknown 33
http://home.att.net/~rhhardin5/w33a.jpg (27th) Weed unknown 33a
http://home.att.net/~rhhardin5/w33b.jpg (27th) Weed unknown 33b

spiral red streaks in stem at base
http://home.att.net/~rhhardin5/w33c.jpg (28th) Weed unknown 33c

in flower, inverted petals like coneflower
http://home.att.net/~rhhardin5/w33d.jpg (29th) Weed unknown 33d

some ten miles away. It seems to be a rare weed. There's a
half dozen I've been watching in one spot (roadside ditch)
but no others around, except this one today ten miles away,
also in a roadside ditch.

The coneflower shape is strange.
--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Mystery Weed in Flower (Central Ohio)
 

It is definitely a Senecio (Ragwort), or at least was once a member of
that genus. Senecio was a large "dustbin" genus, and a number of
smaller genera have been removed from it in recent years. Yours likely
is now to be found in Packera.

Can you tell us whether your plant appears to be annual or perennial?
Does it have tap or fibrous roots? It is hairy or bald? At first
impression, it looks like the former Senecio glabellus, now Packera
glabella. If your plant has fibrous roots, it's a good candidate.

As to why it's not in your wildflower book, remember that for every
plant which gets its photo in a book, there may be a dozen similar
plants which are not featured.

Monique Reed
Texas A&M

Mystery Weed in Flower (Central Ohio)
 

monique wrote:

It is definitely a Senecio (Ragwort), or at least was once a member of
that genus. Senecio was a large "dustbin" genus, and a number of
smaller genera have been removed from it in recent years. Yours likely
is now to be found in Packera.

Can you tell us whether your plant appears to be annual or perennial?
Does it have tap or fibrous roots? It is hairy or bald? At first
impression, it looks like the former Senecio glabellus, now Packera
glabella. If your plant has fibrous roots, it's a good candidate.

As to why it's not in your wildflower book, remember that for every
plant which gets its photo in a book, there may be a dozen similar
plants which are not featured.

Monique Reed
Texas A&M

Good deal! I like Packera glabella = butterweed
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioima...ies/pagl17.htm

the leaf and red stem bottom are there.

I found a field yesterday with a couple dozen of them at the edge too.
They're not reported in Licking Country (OH) according to the USDA map
but here they are all over, here and there, if not densely all over.

It lets me put a tag on the pics anyway.

--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Mystery Weed in Flower (Central Ohio)
 

http://www.usi.edu/science/biology/t..._glabellus.htm

You can go there for a full description of the plant, thanks to
Monique, or just type in the name in your google search. There is a
lovely picture of an entire field in full bloom, probably somewhere
near your home! Looks rather invasive, I might suggest, on fallow or
disturbed soil or fields. Robert in Albuquerque

Mystery Weed in Flower (Central Ohio)
 

Monique, I am an Aggie, class of 74, and I would expect the correct
answer from one of their staff. I was a student of Robert F. White in
the Department of Landscape Architecture. After many years practicing,
I became a science teacher, and now retired to my family home in
Albuquerque. Robert