# Help me identify this weed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 5, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723 "2016-10-05T19:02:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/1 "2016-10-05T19:02:27Z")
I have checked online sources, but I don’t understand much of the nomenclature about leaf shape and so on. Anyway, the most distinctive characteristics to me are the roots, and I haven’t found much about weed roots. I’ve been hand weeding these, so I only see them when they are fairly small (up to 3-4" tall). Leaves look (to my uneducated eye) like clover. However, the roots don’t seem like clover roots that I can find pictures of. Roots are long white tubes, sometimes with a lot of little hairy rootlets and sometimes nearly smooth. Length ranges from 3" to over a foot (even on very small plants). One long root per plant; a plant may have 4 or 5 stems with leaves on it. Sometimes when I am turning over the earth to pull one of these, I find a little forest of white roots that have not yet broken above ground. Many of these roots (not all, or else possibly I have been unsuccessful at getting the entire structure in some cases) have a seed or bulb at the bottom of the root. This seed is roundish, small (2-3 mm wide) and it will have little hairy rootlets growing down from it. These things are very persistent, so if, in addition to helping identify them you can suggest ways to control them, all to the good. My biggest problem with hand-weeding is that the roots get into other plants’ roots and they are so long they have to be dug up, they can’t effectively be pulled. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/2 "2016-10-05T19:09:04Z")
Do they look like [these](https://www.google.com/search?q=clover+like+weed&biw=1333&bih=659&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwingdyjrsTPAhXoxYMKHT8PA3QQ7AkINA)? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/3 "2016-10-05T19:32:34Z")
It sounds like it could be some species of Oxalis - they can be very persistent weeds (and they have clover-like leaves and the roots match your description [https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=oxalis+weed&espv=2&biw=1242&bih=636&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQhOrZs8TPAhXBbj4KHQ7iCwEQ\_AUIBigB](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=oxalis+weed&espv=2&biw=1242&bih=636&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQhOrZs8TPAhXBbj4KHQ7iCwEQ_AUIBigB) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/4 "2016-10-05T21:56:53Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It sounds like it could be some species of Oxalis - they can be very persistent weeds (and they have clover-like leaves and the roots match your description > > [oxalis weed - Google Search](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=oxalis+weed&espv=2&biw=1242&bih=636&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQhOrZs8TPAhXBbj4KHQ7iCwEQ_AUIBigB) Thanks, I think this is a good bet. I did a Google search on “oxalis roots” and some of them look very much like what I have. At least now I can try to research the death and destruction of oxalis by name. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/5 "2016-10-06T04:49:38Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Thanks, I think this is a good bet. I did a Google search on “oxalis roots” and some of them look very much like what I have. At least now I can try to research the death and destruction of oxalis by name. Those roots earned it the comparison to radishes in and a few species of oxalis are cultivated for their edible tubers. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/6 "2016-10-06T06:00:39Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Thanks, I think this is a good bet. I did a Google search on “oxalis roots” and some of them look very much like what I have. At least now I can try to research the death and destruction of oxalis by name. Good luck. If it’s Oxalis, it will be a protracted battle, as many of them have exploding seed pods that scatter tiny seeds that can stay dormant in the soil for years - germinating when the soil is turned and they are exposed to light. You can win, but you will need determination and persistence. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/7 "2016-10-06T12:36:33Z")
Not a bad looking weed! Is it ever purposely used as ground cover? A friend was weeding a planting bed and I pointed out that he was pulling ajuga, which makes a nice ground cover. He let the ajuga be for a few seasons and it filled in nicely. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/8 "2016-10-06T16:07:46Z")
Oof. Oxalis is a beast to remove. Don’t give up! ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/9 "2016-10-06T16:52:35Z")
Thanks for the encouragement. It looks like persistent hand-weeding and uber-mulching with newspapers (where does one find those these days?) and then heavy mulch on top, are the way to go. Fortunately, it’s a relatively small and isolated bed. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if my yard got infected from next door (a rental, full of weeds), so final victory is almost impossible. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/10 "2016-10-06T21:55:33Z")
I’ve used deconstructed cardboard boxes in place of newspaper. Really good barrier against weeds, and eventually biodegrades. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/11 "2016-10-07T06:39:56Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Not a bad looking weed! > > Is it ever purposely used as ground cover? A friend was weeding a planting bed and I pointed out that he was pulling ajuga, which makes a nice ground cover. He let the ajuga be for a few seasons and it filled in nicely. There are species of Oxalis that are grown as ornamentals - and are nice, and well-behaved - that’s why my google link above included the term ‘weed’ If you google it without the word weed, you get a bunch of quite pretty little herbaceous plants: [https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=oxalis&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwie1KTPisjPAhWlF8AKHVIOA54Q\_AUICCgB&biw=1920&bih=950](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=oxalis&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwie1KTPisjPAhWlF8AKHVIOA54Q_AUICCgB&biw=1920&bih=950) ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/12 "2016-10-07T15:49:00Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > There are species of Oxalis that are grown as ornamentals - and are nice, and well-behaved - that’s why my google link above included the term ‘weed’ > > If you google it without the word weed, you get a bunch of quite pretty little herbaceous plants: > [oxalis - Google Search](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=oxalis&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwie1KTPisjPAhWlF8AKHVIOA54Q_AUICCgB&biw=1920&bih=950) When even \*\*Mangetout \*\*does not encourage one to find a way to eat a plant one must know it is not worth trying. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/13 "2016-10-07T22:11:51Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Not a bad looking weed! > > Is it ever purposely used as ground cover? A friend was weeding a planting bed and I pointed out that he was pulling ajuga, which makes a nice ground cover. He let the ajuga be for a few seasons and it filled in nicely. Yes, i planted an ornamental one this year. And i kept some in a pot for many years and enjoyed the flowers. > [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > When even \*\*Mangetout \*\*does not encourage one to find a way to eat a plant one must know it is not worth trying. But it is! I was just stopping in to say that the leaves are tasty, and I snack on them in my yard. It’s sometimes called wood sorrel. It’s not related to the true sorrels, but it tastes quite similar. Like both sorrel and rhubarb, it is high in oxalic acid, so you shouldn’t eat huge quantities. But a few leaves are a refreshing sour snack. As you can probably guess, I make no effort to eradicate it, although I do weed it out of one or two beds where I don’t want it. I consider it a beneficial addition to the lawn. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/14 "2016-10-07T22:13:01Z")
The common one has small yellow flowers that aren’t terribly ornamental. The ornamental ones mostly have larger pink or purple flowers. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/15 "2016-10-07T23:33:40Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Yes, i planted an ornamental one this year. And i kept some in a pot for many years and enjoyed the flowers. > > But it is! I was just stopping in to say that the leaves are tasty, and I snack on them in my yard. It’s sometimes called wood sorrel. It’s not related to the true sorrels, but it tastes quite similar. Like both sorrel and rhubarb, it is high in oxalic acid, so you shouldn’t eat huge quantities. But a few leaves are a refreshing sour snack. > > As you can probably guess, I make no effort to eradicate it, although I do weed it out of one or two beds where I don’t want it. I consider it a beneficial addition to the lawn. I’m the same way w/ purslane - a weed here in the West and a crop elsewhere in the world. Rare is the summer salad I make now that doesn’t get purslane added. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-weed/767723/16 "2016-10-08T00:26:47Z")
I’ve chewed on purslane, and it’s not my cup of tea. But it’s apparently a significant crop in some places, like spinach or okra.