urbpan: (dandelion)
urbpan ([personal profile] urbpan) wrote2006-05-19 07:03 pm

365 Urban Species. #139: Horseweed



Urban species #139: Horseweed Conyza canadensis

When I imagine a weed, I imagine horseweed. Dandelion is charming, and garlic mustard is sinister, but horseweed is nondescript and ubiquitous. I have seen this plant (a member of the fleabane group, in the aster family) grow in sidewalk cracks, abandoned window boxes, and, fittingly, horse pastures. A native North American plant, it has been prized as an herbal medicine ingredient since prehistory, and was introduced to Eurasia in the 1600's. Horseweed is the only North American plant on the list of the top ten weeds of the northern hemisphere. Its inconspicuous flowers, as well as its propensity to grow in waste areas, give strength to this plant's designation as a weed.

[identity profile] anais2.livejournal.com 2006-05-20 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
Have I mentioned I love these weed walks?
Well, I do!

[identity profile] vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com 2006-05-20 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
Thank god this one is easy to pull - we have a shitload of it at work.

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2006-05-20 01:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I wish you could come on one irl!

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2006-05-20 01:44 pm (UTC)(link)
We should make a list of the top ten zoo weeds!
My nominees:
Celandine
Jewelweed
Pokeweed
Stinging nettles
Multiflora rose
Goldenrod
Thistle
Japanese knotweed
Norway maple

[identity profile] almeda.livejournal.com 2006-05-21 08:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Do these grow better-than-chest-high if left alone, and get little black berries where the leaves meet the stem?

If so, I've got 'em.

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2006-05-21 09:06 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't believe so. Horseweed fruit looks like this:

[identity profile] almeda.livejournal.com 2006-05-22 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
Aha. Not the one, then, as Zathras said. My backyard conning towers remain unclassified! :->

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2006-05-22 01:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Is your plant possibly pokeweed?

[identity profile] almeda.livejournal.com 2006-05-22 01:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Nah, nah, very long straight leaves coming out in pairs, opposite, just like horseweed's, only it gets INSANE tall. No branching, just the one stem with those leaves coming out of it; I've never seen flowers but there must be some, because it gets glossy black berries (kind of like pokeweed's above) that just nestle one-per-junction between the leaves and the stem.

(Anonymous) 2011-04-04 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
Is your plant nightshade? The American nightshade is happy to grow most places and does grow little black berries.