# Help me identify this weed/grass
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed-grass/944063
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 11, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed-grass/944063 "2021-06-11T18:26:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed-grass/944063/1 "2021-06-11T18:26:10Z")
This weed/grass has a single stem 8 to 12 inches long and about 1/16" in diameter. At the top is a tiny pine-cone-shaped bud about 3/4" to 1" long and 1/4" in diameter surrounded with a corona of very tiny white flowers spoking out from the bud. The bud is usually a brownish color above the corona and green below it. The slender stem is green and not circular in cross section - maybe square or pentagonal. It is fairly common here in the midwest at this time of year.
Can anyone tell me what it is?
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2021, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed-grass/944063/2 "2021-06-11T18:27:45Z")
A picture is worth a thousand words.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed-grass/944063/3 "2021-06-11T18:43:39Z")
A plantain (narrow leaf or buckthorn)?
[Plantain](https://images.app.goo.gl/jFBvZtxyYyjEpovr7)
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### Author:  [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed-grass/944063/4 "2021-06-11T19:13:41Z")
Thank you, kayaker. That is indeed it.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed-grass/944063/5 "2021-06-11T19:22:42Z")
You described it well!
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2021, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed-grass/944063/6 "2021-06-12T17:52:49Z")
When I was a kid, we had a reel-style power mower, and it would run right over those buckhorn weeds and leave them unscathed.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2021, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed-grass/944063/7 "2021-06-13T11:36:33Z")
Another “when I was a kid” — we used to shoot those at each other. Pick it at the base so the stem is long, make a loop, and fold the base end tightly over the stem a couple inches back of the pod head. If you whip that folded part forward, it’ll pop the seed head off with a fair bit of force. Fun times.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed-grass/944063/8 "2021-06-13T22:37:38Z")
Wuss.
We threw lawn darts at each other.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2021, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed-grass/944063/9 "2021-06-13T22:50:19Z")
Oh, we did that too.
And bottle rockets, and roman candles, and potato guns, and, and, and …