Leaf Identification
On the Kitsap Peninsula (across the Puget Sound from Seattle) I see some small plants along a trail in the woods. The leaves look like a geranium leaf except the end has a point. There are not multiple points, just the one. The color is a mix of light-medium green and dark-medium green. While the leaf is the same size as a geranium leaf, it seems thinner. The forest trail used to be a logging road many years ago, so I would not count out the effects people dumping yard waste. There is some ivy growing a hundred yards away. While most of the woods are filled with firs, cedars, various berries, and ferns, this particular section has young alders and a few maples. So the plants get a little sun. Any ideas?
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It looks like Malva, aka "Little Mallow". The lobes of the leaves can vary from rounded to pointed, but there are also several different species. This is a common one: [url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Starr_060405-6902_Malva_parviflora.jpg]Malva parviflora[/url]
Another image of the same stuff:
https://weeds.ippc.orst.edu/pnw/weeds?weeds/id/Little_mallow--Malva_parviflora--m.I.html
Another image of the same stuff:
https://weeds.ippc.orst.edu/pnw/weeds?weeds/id/Little_mallow--Malva_parviflora--m.I.html
- rainbowgardener
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Sorry, but I'm with Kisal on this one. I don't grow Malva. But I do grow heuchera and tiarella.
Tiarella leaves aren't as round in overall shape:
https://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/t/wtico--lf23046.jpg
and the plant just looks a little different some how, which I can't really specify without running out and looking at it.
Heuchera is closer and a little bit more of a tossup. I'm thinking the plant generally looks more mound-y.
Which would be more likely to be growing wild along a trail in Pacific NW?
Tiarella leaves aren't as round in overall shape:
https://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/t/wtico--lf23046.jpg
and the plant just looks a little different some how, which I can't really specify without running out and looking at it.
Heuchera is closer and a little bit more of a tossup. I'm thinking the plant generally looks more mound-y.
Which would be more likely to be growing wild along a trail in Pacific NW?
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Bedstraw, also known as cleavers. Native wildflower. The cleavers part it if you pick a sprig of it and throw it on someone, it clings ("cleaves") to them. The bedstraw (in the past sometimes called lady's bedstraw) is that the plant when dried gives off a nice fresh scent ("new mown hay") and so was in olden times used in the stuffing of mattresses, to give them pleasant fragrance.
I believe that is Galium Aparine, commonly known around these parts as Sticky Weed.
Another common name for it is Catchweed bedstraw. It doesn't stay small for very long, but the roots are very shallow, making it easy to pull up.
[img]https://sauce.pntic.mec.es/ldepablo/images/Galium-aparine.jpg[/img]
Another common name for it is Catchweed bedstraw. It doesn't stay small for very long, but the roots are very shallow, making it easy to pull up.
[img]https://sauce.pntic.mec.es/ldepablo/images/Galium-aparine.jpg[/img]
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- rainbowgardener
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Between Kisal and me we gave four common names for this plant. Like many native plants that are widespread and have been known and used medicinally for centuries, it has accumulated a bunch of them:
Other Common Names: Baqlat Al Laban, Caille Lait, Cheese Rennet, Cheese Renning, Cleavers, Gaillet Jaune, Galio, Khitharah, Lady's Bedstraw, Maid's Hair, Our Lady's Bedstraw, Petty Mugget, Yellow Bedstraw, Yellow Spring Bedstraw, Yogurtotu, Galium verum
Range: Britain; Europe; France; Iraq; Spain; Turkey; USA
The plant has the property of curdling milk, hence another of its popular names 'Cheese Rennet.' It was called 'Cheese Renning' in the sixteenth century, and Gerard says (quoting from Matthiolus, a famous commentator of Dioscorides), 'the people of Thuscane do use it to turne their milks and the cheese, which they make of sheepes and goates milke, might be the sweeter and more pleasant to taste.
https://www.diet-and-health.net/Naturopathy/Bedstraw.html
One species of it is Galium odoratum, where the odoratum refers to the pleasant scent.
More than you ever wanted to know about your little wildflower, right!
But it's one I've always liked.
Other Common Names: Baqlat Al Laban, Caille Lait, Cheese Rennet, Cheese Renning, Cleavers, Gaillet Jaune, Galio, Khitharah, Lady's Bedstraw, Maid's Hair, Our Lady's Bedstraw, Petty Mugget, Yellow Bedstraw, Yellow Spring Bedstraw, Yogurtotu, Galium verum
Range: Britain; Europe; France; Iraq; Spain; Turkey; USA
The plant has the property of curdling milk, hence another of its popular names 'Cheese Rennet.' It was called 'Cheese Renning' in the sixteenth century, and Gerard says (quoting from Matthiolus, a famous commentator of Dioscorides), 'the people of Thuscane do use it to turne their milks and the cheese, which they make of sheepes and goates milke, might be the sweeter and more pleasant to taste.
https://www.diet-and-health.net/Naturopathy/Bedstraw.html
One species of it is Galium odoratum, where the odoratum refers to the pleasant scent.
More than you ever wanted to know about your little wildflower, right!
But it's one I've always liked.
It could very well be. The leaves are very similar, if not identical. It is commonly known as Siberian Miner's Lettuce.
There is another plant called Pink Purslane that is considered a noxious weed. The leaf is much different, not like the plant in your picture. I don't think it grows in the Pacific Northwest, but I'm not positive.
There is another plant called Pink Purslane that is considered a noxious weed. The leaf is much different, not like the plant in your picture. I don't think it grows in the Pacific Northwest, but I'm not positive.
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It could be heuchera. There are a couple different ones that grow wild. I believe the flower stalks are around 2 to 3 feet tall. I was under the impression from the pic you posted that your plant was much smaller.
Another name would be small-flowered alumroot.
Another name would be small-flowered alumroot.
Last edited by Kisal on Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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