Rotary Botanical Gardens

Euphorbia supina

Similar to spotted spurge (E. maculata)

• Warm season broadleaf that reproduces by seed.
• Leaves opposite with a tinge or red in the center.
• Prostrate stems form a flat, dense mat up to 2 feet in diameter.
• Grows well in hot, dry weather.
• To control, densely plant with ornamentals or grass to shade out.  Hand pull when necessary.   Pre-emergent herbicides can also be used.

More information:

• Prostrate Spurge, Purdue

Also called Virginia Threeseed Mercury                                                                                         

Acalpha virginica

• Summer annual found in cultivated agronomic, nursery, and horticultural crops, landscapes and roadsides.
• Branching, erect plant 1 to 3 feet tall.
• Alternate leaves show a distinct copper color when young.
• Small green flowers are produced in clusters in the area between stem and leaf petiole.
• Control by hand pulling before seed set.  Pre- or post- emergent herbicides can be used.

More information:

• http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/accvi.htm
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Garden Nightshade, Deadly Nightshade, Black Nightshade                                                                       

Solanum species: S. nigra, S. americanum, and S. sarrachoides

• Summer annual (or short-lived perennial).  Erect branching.
• All plant parts, except the mature fruit, can be poisonous to humans and livestock.  Symptoms include gastrointestinal irritation.
• Closely related to tomatoes, potatoes and peppers.  Nightshade can harbor disease and pests that affect these vegetable crops.
• Star-shaped, usually white flowers  grow in a cluster.
• Green berries turn black or orange with age.
• Reproduces by seed.
• Easy to pull out by hand.  Herbicides may be used.

More information:

• Black Nightshade, UC-Davis

YELLOW WOODSORREL                                                                                               

Oxalis stricta

• Erect plants have clover-like leaves with 3 heart shaped leaflets. 
• Mainly spreads by seed.  Seed is borne in cylindrical capsules.
• Yellow flowers have 5 petals.
• Hand pull or hoe before seeds are produced.  Pre-emergent or post-emergent herbicides may be used.

More information:

• Woodsorrel, University of Minnesota-Extension

YELLOW NUTSEDGE                                                                                                 

Cyperus esculentus

• Perennial with 3-angled stems and long grass-like leaves.
• Foliage is yellowish green.
• Produces tubers (1 – 2 cm long, white, brown or black).  A single plant can produce hundreds or even thousands of tubers in a single year!
• Tubers spread by soil cultivation, topsoil usage, transplanting nursery stock.
• Also can spread by rhizomes.  Rarely spreads by seed.
• Hand remove small nutsedge plants before they can form tubers, repeat every 2 – 3 weeks.  Few herbicides are effective for nutsedge.

More information:

• Nutsedge UC-Davis