Could I get a weed ID please

[Eigenvector]

I am getting overrun by two weeds this year, well two additional weeds anyway.

Thing is I never saw them before this year, so I'm wondering where they came from (bird droppings??).

At any rate the weeds are reasonably easy to remove, but they are just so aggressive

Anway, here are some shots, First, the garden troll is threatening me for invading his territory

these things appeared last year, utterly out of the blue. Simple to pull up, but reproduce like rabbits have purplish/green leaves and stems and the leaves resemble pentagons.

These are small, really easy to pull up, but choke any plants they get around.

- its a huge image

[Chris]

territory

> Now, these things appeared last year, utterly out of the blue. Simple to

rabbits

They have purplish/green leaves and stems and the leaves resemble pentagons.

Kinda hard to see it. Could it be Scotch Broom?

Chris

image

[Eigenvector]

rabbits

> They have purplish/green leaves and stems and the leaves resemble

Definitely not Scotch Broom, I have that in spades along the back fence. Scotch Broom is a very woody scrub, which is also almost impossible to eradicate. This is a single plant, almost 4 foot tall when mature with that mass of yellow flowers on top. Like I said, the stem is almost purple.

[Stewart Robert Hinsley]

In message , Eigenvector writes

The absence of visible details makes identification difficult (I can't even tell whether the yellow bits are flowers or capitula), but the habit reminds me of some daisies (Lactuca, Mycelis, ...). Probably not one of those - the flowers/capitula are too large - but perhaps a related genus.

[Eigenvector]

I'll try to get a better shot of it, including the leaves.

[Eigenvector]

So here are more shots, of the body. It's tough to get a good clear shot of something that is 3 feet long and pencil thin. Here is the base of the weed

is an attempted total shot of a smaller one is a shot of an immature one growing where they seem to grow best - in cracks yellow buds at the ends are flowers. They are small 5 petal flowers about 1/2" in diameter, the petals are long and thin and arranged in a nice pentagonal shape. I'm almost inclined to think that these are some kind of Hawkweed.

>

[Stewart Robert Hinsley]

In message , Eigenvector writes

OK, I had the scale wrong.

If it is some sort of hawkweed, that's more or less what I said. But if it is, then the yellow things are capitula, not flowers. (The "flower" of a daisy is a flower head composed of many florets, technically called a capitulum.)

The only daisy I know with 5 florets in a head (and therefore a really good imitation of a single flower) is wall lettuce, Mycelis muralis.

daisies have ligulate florets, some have tubular florets, and the majority of both. There is a large group with only ligulate daisies, which comprise the tribe Cichorieae. These include lettuces, sow thistles, hawkweeds, dandelions, and many others. The number of rings of florets, and the number of florets in a ring varies greatly. Those with a single ring of florets include the lettuces (Lactuca), wall lettuces (Mycelis) and, IIRC, alpine sow thistles (Cicerbita), and any others that have escaped my attention or knowledge. Mycelis is the only one, AFAIK, that has only 5 florets.]

[Eigenvector]

You nailed it - Wall lettuce.

thanks a lot for the help.