Brightening up a dreary corporate parking lot - what is it?

September 17, 2012 11:47 AM

Can anyone identify this plant? It's growing on the edge of a parking lot in Largo, MD.
posted by ryanshepard to Science & Nature (7 answers total)

White mistflower
posted by drlith at 11:55 AM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

I was going to suggest White Snakeroot, but the leaves look wrong - drlith has it, I think.
posted by jquinby at 12:03 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Baby's breath, maybe? The leaves look like a closer match.
posted by raisingsand at 1:02 PM on September 17, 2012

Best answer: It's not baby's breath. It's probably something in (former?) genus Eupatorium, which includes white snakeroot, and can be super confusing. This page has some hueristics you can use to figure out what it is.

(I would have guessed that it was a white Joe Pye Weed, but "[c]ommon names can be confusing as they are often locale-based.")
posted by pullayup at 4:48 PM on September 17, 2012

Oops, I meant that to be "includes white snakeroot and white mistflower"--sorry, drlith.
posted by pullayup at 4:49 PM on September 17, 2012

Best answer: Looks like Eupatorium serotinum, maybe- but I would want to key it to be certain of any id.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:58 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks to everyone who has replied. I think oneirodynia has it - the images here look pretty close. I've posted a close up of the flowers if they're helpful to anyone in making a more certain ID.
posted by ryanshepard at 6:45 AM on September 18, 2012