Help identifying this weed/plant

June 10, 2019 4:50 PM

So I have this unused garden plot and these weeds/plants have taken over them in the last 3 weeks.

It's more out of curiosity than anything else. They are relatively easy to pull out and have a hollow tubular stem.

Here's a link with a wide, middle, and closeup shot.

Any ideas?

posted by jeremias to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

Looks like Tall Buttercup Ranunculus acris. It can become invasive and it's toxic to grazing animals. It will develop small yellow flowers (if it is buttercup.)

More info here. This info's for northwest Washington state. In your area it may be more of a problem. You should look at info on creeping buttercup and see if it might be that. Creeping buttercup can be very invasive (again at least in Washington state).
posted by sevenless at 5:02 PM on June 10, 2019

Best answer: It's Artemisia vulgaris, one of my favorites. Here's an article about it if you're interested.
posted by greenwitch at 5:04 PM on June 10, 2019 [6 favorites]

We have creeping buttercup in the backyard, and I don't believe you have that. The leaves have distinctive white spots, and your photos don't show those spots. Also, creeping buttercup covers the ground, and your plant appears to grow vertically.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 5:30 PM on June 10, 2019

Response by poster: I'm going to call it Artemisia vulgaris. Huh, that's crazy, I have shitloads of mugwort in my backyard, who would have guessed?
posted by jeremias at 6:39 PM on June 10, 2019

For future reference - I recently installed plantsnap on my phone and it's ID'd all but one of the plants I ran through the app - much better than any other app or website I've tried.
posted by she's not there at 10:45 PM on June 11, 2019 [1 favorite]