I'd Like to Know What This Weed Is?

[OldGuy43]

I can't say that I've ever noticed any flowers, but than they must have some way of propagating, huh? Usually I just mow 'em down. Now that I've found a use for them I'll probably pay more attention. Anyway, I went out this morning and got a couple of complete plants and took these pictures:

I was surprised at the short root system considering how drought tolerant they are.

I'm hoping they really are some kind of Chick Weed. They grow right next to the cluckers run so I could claim that I planted them there on purpose.

 

[catjac1975]

I'm sorry I did not get ride of mine.It is great for chickens and to aDD TO BROWN COMPOST. HOWEVER I MADE THE MISTAKE OF TILLING IT WITH MY MANTIS. I SPREAD IT all over my yard. Each little piece grows into a lovely mound. As far as weeds go there are many worse. Chickweed is hard to get rid of.

 

[digitS']

Now that doesn't look like any chickweed to me!

Further, it is a close-up but it doesn't look like what was populating the first 3 pictures, OG.

Isn't that ground ivy?

Steve

 

[jennh]

I think you almost named it right yourself. It looks like chickweed to me. It's aptly nmaed since, as you say, chickens love it.
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/uploads/6858_2378b.jpg

X2

 

[thistlebloom]

I'm with Steve on ID. The first set of pix look like chickweed, the second is ground ivy.

 

[hoodat]

I agree the pics are of two different plants. The second pic is ground ivy, alias creeping charlie. I've never seen animals eat it but it isn't poisonous to them. I guess it just doesn't taste good. It's sometimes used as a ground cover in a low maintenance area.

 

[jennh]

that's henbit.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/imag...b=12pibb3mb&sigi=12jpkt90c&.crumb=3G.M7QuLqKZ

 

[OldGuy43]

that's henbit.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/imag...b=12pibb3mb&sigi=12jpkt90c&.crumb=3G.M7QuLqKZ

I do believe your correct.

Thank you.

 

[digitS']

Well, we beat heck outta that, OG!

It does appear that you have 2 plants there in your yard. For that, you should receive a vote of appreciation since it has been good fun chasing around an ID. If you have 1 more than 2, you are doing better (or worse) than my neighbor to the west. He has been extremely careful to have only Kentucky Bluegrass in a tiny patch for the 3 small dogs to poop on, and a row of arborvitae along my fence.

I may soon raise heck with that arborvitae when that fence needs replacing . However, we may have a discussion about who owns/pays for that fence if he takes the attitude of the previous husband who once claimed that it was first 2" then 2' over the property line on his side. His wife booted him out not long after he made this claim and before he'd ever taken out a metal fence post from, probably, the 1940's that still marks where our predecessors must have thought was the property line .

If the chickens have an interest in it - Jenn may well be correct in her ID for the weed. Here is the best online resource for weeds that I know of: Virginia Tech, Weed Galleries. The page is for ground ivy but if you scroll to the bottom, you will see a link to henbit.

You can scroll back to the top of any of these pages and click "Select a Resource" for the different Weed Galleries. This resource may be for the opposite of the continent from me but many of these weeds are of Eurasian origin and have spread across the country with the advent of American agriculture.

These migrant weeds are an interesting study. There's one along that property line I was just discussing. I consider it a "weed tree" altho' it provides some much appreciated shade from the afternoon sun: a black locust. To my understanding, that locust is a native not of Europe but of the upper Midwest. It was not around until European Americans migrated here about 130 years ago. There is quite a grove of these trees at Spokane Bridge, the earliest of the American settlements in this valley. But, that particular tree -- If the fence line is 2' too far to the west, that weed tree belongs to the neighbor.

Steve

 

[hoodat]

It's amazing how much many weeds can resemble one another. Sometimes pictures can be deceiving. The clues may be evasive such as what a crushed leaf smells like or what a nibble of it tastes like.