BROADLEAF WEEDS - Commonly seen in our GA lawns

Broadleaf Plantain

Perennial with a distinctive rosette of leaves, and slender, fibrous root system. Leaves broad, egg-shaped, with several main veins. Erect, leafless stems terminate in dense, flower spikes. Found in all of North America except the northeastern United States.

Blackhorn Plantain

Perennial with a distinctive rosette of leaves and a slender, fibrous root system. Leaves narrowly elliptic to lance-shaped, often twisted or curled, with ribbon veins on lower leaf surface. Erect, leafless, hairy stalk terminated by dense, tapered, white to tannish flower spike. Reproduces by seed. Found throughout the continental United States.

Curly Dock

Taprooted perennial with mostly basal leaves. Stem leaves alternate, with wavy to curled margins, tapered at the base. Leaf petiole joined to stem by a membranous sheath. Greenish flowers on long terminal spikes. Fruit reddish-brown with three wing-like projections. Reproduces by seed. Found throughout the United States.

Dandelion

Deeply tap rooted, stemless perennial. Leaves, basal, slightly to deeply cut, with lobes that point back towards base. Single yellow flowers at end of each long, smooth hollow stalk. Leaves and flower stalks exude a "milky" juice when broken. Seeds brown, long stalked with a parachute of hairs forming a "globe". Reproduces by seed and can form new plants from fragments of broken taproots. Found throughout the United States.

Hairy Bittercress

Winter annual from a rosette of dark green, dissected leaves. Leaf segments rounded to wedge-shaped, lower petioles hairy near the base. Flowers white, in dense clusters at end of stems, petals four. Fruit a flattened capsule, more than ten times longer than broad. Reproduces by seed. Found from Maine into Florida and west to Nebraska, Texas and Washington.

Henbit

Sparsely-hairy winter annual with greenish to purplish, tender, four-sided stems. Similar in appearance to purple deadnettle but upper leaves lack petioles. Leaves opposite, broadly egg-shaped with bluntly toothed margins, and prominent veins on underside. Flowers, reddish-purple with darker coloring in spots on lower petal, arranged in whorls. Reproduces by seed. Found throughout most North America.

Musk Thistle

Winter annual or biennial with erect, robust stems from a fleshy taproot. Leaves alternate, smooth, dark green with a light green midrib and a whitish margin. Leaves deeply dissected, each lobe having one to five spines at the tip. Flowers with spine-tipped bracts, deep pink to purple, rarely white, and arranged in nodding heads. Reproduces by seed. Occurs from North Carolina to Louisiana excluding Florida.

Red Sorrel

Perennial with smooth, erect four-sided stems. Produces large yellow taproot and spreads from sprouts from numerous rhizomes and roots. Leaves mostly basal, distinctively arrow- or lance- shaped. Flowers borne in clusters at end of stems. Flowers green to red at maturity.  Reproduces by seed and rhizomes. Found in the continental United States, except Florida, and in Alaska, and Hawaii. Heartwing sorrel, a winter annual, is similar, but lacks rhizomes and produces larger red masses of flowers and fruits at maturity and only reproduces by seed.

Rustweed

Perennial with diffusely branched stems from a central crown. Leaves opposite, linear, green becoming rusty in color. Flowers near tip of branch among the leaves, white, four-lobed. Fruit dry, heart-shaped. Reproduces by seed. Occurs in wet bottomlands up into dry sandhills, in
virtually all open habitats. Found from Long Island south through Florida, and west to Texas, Missouri and Colorado.

Small Hop Clover

Prostrate, freely-branched winter annual with hairy, reddish colored stems. Leaves with three leaflets, the terminal leaflet with a short stalk. Leaflets with prominent veins. Flowers, three to fifteen, bright yellow, in heads. Reproduces by seed. Similar in appearance to large hop clover
but with smaller leaves and flower heads. Found throughout the continental United States and Hawaii.

Wild Geranium

Diffusely-branched semi-erect winter annual.  Stems greenish-pink to red, densely hairy. Leaves with long petioles, hairy dissected into variously divided segments, margins blunt toothed. Flowers pink to purplish with five petals. Fruit a five-parted capsule that forms a "stork's bill" up to 0.5 inch (1.2 cm) long. Reproduces by seed. Found throughout the continental United States and Hawaii. Also occurs in Canada, the West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America, and Australia.

GRASSY WEEDS / SEDGES – Commonly seen in our GA Lawns

Annual Blue Grass (Poa Annua)

Small tufted to clumped winter annual. Leaf blade, smooth on both surfaces, with two distinct, clear lines, one on each side of the midrib. Lead tip kneeled or boat-shaped. Ligule membranous. Light green to whitish spikelets that lack cottony hairs, are arranged on branches, one to two per node, in dense to open flower clusters. Reproduces by seed. Found throughout the world.

Bahiagrass

Aggressive, mat-forming, warm season perennial with shallow, often-exposed rhizomes. Leaves, primarily basal, somewhat folded, smooth on both surfaces or often hairy only at the collar. Ligule short, membranous. Seed heads with usually two or occasionally three branches.  Seedhead branches usually paired. Spikelets in two rows on lower sides. Reproduces by seed and rhizomes.  Common primarily in the Gulf states, north to North Carolina and west to Texas.

Dallis Grass

Clumped perennial from short thick rhizomes. Leaf sheath at base of plant sometimes rough hairy. Leaf blade, smooth on both surfaces, with a few long hairs at leaf base and behind ligule at base of leaf blade. Ligule tall, membranous, either sharply or bluntly tipped. Spikelets arranged in four rows on three to seven alternate branches Reproduces by seed and very short rhizomes.  Common throughout the southern states, north to Virginia, West to Arizona, California, the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.

Carpet Grass

Mat-forming perennial from somewhat flattened, smooth stolons. Leaf blade, smooth on both surfaces, tip rounded; a few long hairs present on leaf sheath margin and at base of blade margin. Seed head resembles crabgrass spp., with two to five ascending spikes. Uppermost ranches usually paired. Reproduces by seed and stolons. Most common on low, moist sites. Often seeded as a companion grass to centipede grass. Common in the Coastal Plain of the Gulf States, north to North Carolina, and west to Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Crab Grass

Tufted or prostrate to spreading summer annual with branched stems that root at the nodes. Leaf blade, longer than 2 inches (5 cm), usually hairy on both surfaces, visible toothed membranous ligules at base of leaf. Leaf sheath with dense hairs. Spikelets in two to nine finger-like branches. Southern crabgrass is distinguished from large crabgrass on the basis of the length of the second glume (a bract at the base of a spikelet). These species differ from tropical crabgrass in that the seed head branches arise from different points of attachments along the stalk. Both species reproduce by seed. Southern crabgrass occurs northward on the coastal plain occasionally to Connecticut, more common southward east of the Appalachian region, through Florida, extending west into Texas and north into Kansas and Nebraska. Also occurs in the West Indies, Mexico, Central America and South America. Large Crabgrass is found throughout North America, except Florida.

Goose Grass

Tough, clumped summer annual, generally with a "whitish to silverfish" coloration at the center of the plant. Leaf blade smooth on both surfaces, occasionally a few hairs near the base. Visible, short-toothed, membranous ligule at base of leaf blade. Spikelets in two rows on two thirteen fingers. Frequently a single finger below the terminal cluster of fingers. Reproduces by seed. Found throughout the temperate and warm parts of the United States.

Johnson Grass

Coarse perennial from long, thick, scaly, sharp pointed rhizomes. Stems erect, forming dense stands to 6 feet (2 m) tall. Leaf blade with prominent white midvein and hairs at base of upper surface. Prominent membranous ligule at base of leaf blade. Large, open seedhead often purple in color. Seeds hairy. Does not persist under close frequent mowing. Reproduces by seed and rhizomes. Found from Massachusetts to Iowa, south into Florida, and west into Texas, Arizona and California.

Niblewill

Delicate perennial with a reclining growth habit. Leaves very narrow, short, and hairless. Leaf collars hairy. Ligule a short jagged membrane. Sheaths smooth. Panicle narrow, with ascending branches. Reproduces by seed.  Thrives in moist, shady sites.  Often confused with Bermuda grass. Found in the northeast, southeast and Midwest United States.

Wild Garlic

Cool-season perennial with slender, hollow cylindrical leaves. Leaves occur on the flowering stem up to half the height of the plant. Underground bulb bears offset bulblets that are flattened on one side and enclosed by a membrane. Flowers, greenish-white, small, on short stems above aerial bulbils. Plant with distinctive garlic odor when crushed. Reproduces by seed, aerial bulbils and underground bulblets. Found throughout most of eastern and southern United States, west to Missouri and Arkansas.

Sedge

Annual. Seedhead with a few long leaves at the top of a bare stem. Clusters of flat spikes on short to long stalks. Spikes greenish, sometimes shining, up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) long. Reproduces by seed. Found in sandy, moist, disturbed areas. Occurs from Minnesota, Ohio, and New York south through Florida and West into Texas.