My lawn is not the envy of the neighborhood. Actually I’m surprised the HOA has not run me out, but what I lack in turfcare pride I make up in biodiversity. Made a list today of weeds in the lawn just for kicks. Two dozen species, listed below.
Now let’s get something straight. A weed is not “a plant out of place.” Their social media profile is as rugged pioneers, which is exactly what makes weeds interesting, special adaptations. Weeds have broad tastes in soils usually on disturbed sites, general preference for bright sun, fast generation of prolific “cheap” seeds or fruits dispersed chiefly by wind or birds, often seeds able to sleep in the soil disturbance, and specializations to cope with the rough pioneering lifestyle: fires, grazing, and flooding. Their competition arena is colonization. Go forth, multiply, and go forth again. Yes, there are exceptions.
Of the 24 weed species in my yard:
All withstand frequent mowing (as a surrogate for that grazing, burning, flooding) by means of different means of keeping their heads down, for example: rhizomes (Kyllinga), runners (Woodsorrel), taproots (Buttonweed), tubers (Pouzol’s Bush), or slithering (Creeping Cucumber). Jack in the Bush initiates zillions of seedlings, all clones, most of them mowed down, but give one a few weeks unmolested, or let it get into an unmowed corner, and hello Jacks! Every surviving Jack in the Bush in my yard (or in all the U.S.) is a clone, one plant genetically speaking. Wouldn’t it be weird if humans had the ability to send countless self-copies out into the world with 99.9999% perishing, but each rare survivor a “win” prone to clone anew.
Ten of my homegrown weeds are natives trying to reclaim their habitat. The infamous Dollarweed so shameful to proud suburban lawnowners is naturally a wetland species grateful for generous irrigation systems. Like many wetland plants, dollarweed loves nitrogen, as evidenced by its massive growth in water reclamation ponds such as Wakodahatcheee Wetlands, and in fertilized lawns. It usefully sucks up heavy metals from polluted water, which is nice, but then what do you do with tons of dirty Dollarweed? The species has medicinal value, well, at least for Minnie Mouse with insomnia. Here is a study:
(I wonder if weedy lawn angst keeps them awake at night.)
Eight of today’s weeds are native to Tropical America. Perhaps Global Warming warmed their welcome to comparatively chilly Florida. Seems likely, at least with Grassleaf Spurge, whose arrival from South America and Mexico is recent and well documented. Its northbound migration up Florida 1982-2018 is shown in the map below, where arrivals in the counties marked in lighter colors are older (to the south) and earliest documentations in the darker-colored northbound counties is more recent.
It is moving into states north of Florida, and far beyond the Sunshine State, such as Taiwan (2005), Nigeria (2012), Bahamas (2013), and Italy (2016).
Seven of my weeds are native to the Old World, and have wandered far and wide. I wonder how and why one got here from the Mascarene Islands on the far side of Africa. Mascarene Island Leaf Flower was reported introduced to Florida in the 1920s. Maybe for its “medicinal value.” Sometimes called stone-breaker, not because it grows between rocks, but some believe it busts up kidney stones like its close relative Phyllanthus urinaria. (Forget it: toxic.)
Weeds often have tricks for getting around. Mascarene Island Leaf Flower and Woodsorrell can both launch seeds explosively. Japanese Hawkweed and Purple Tasselflower float dainty parachutes onto the gentle breezes. Two of my yard guests cling to passersby (Drymary and Ticktrefoil). Drymary frags are stuck to my socks as I type. It uses sticky droplets squeezed out of hairs like Crazy Glue forced from its tube.
The weed can regrow (at least in a lab) from lil’ pieces. This species offers an example of harnessing weed power in the service of humankind. It can blanket the ground like green earthfrosting. That’s bad, right? Yea, unless you happen to want ground blanketed. In Costa Rica researchers found a covering of Drymary to protect disease-susceptible young tomato plants from virus-bearing insect hosts. And it Is a living mulch in coffee and tea plantations.
John Bradford
George Rogers
George Rogers
Dee Staley
Treasure Coast Natives 
Barbara Levy
January 8, 2021 at 10:58 pm
Love the Bitcoin weed – my son and I are chortling!!
George Rogers
January 9, 2021 at 6:49 am
Hi Barbara! Howya doing??
Diane Goldberg
January 9, 2021 at 11:49 am
Some of the native plants are worth having. Wireweed, Sida, is a host plant for 18 caterpillars including several skippers and the gray hairstreak. Woodsorrel, Oxalis, is host to 4 caterpillars. Panicled Ticktrefoil, Desmodium paniculatum is one of the host plants for the longtailed skipper. I love Peppergrass. You can eat all parts of it. It was used by early settlers instead of pepper. It’s roots taste like mild horseradish and it’s a host for 3 caterpillars including the great southern white and checkered white. The whitemouth dayflower is our native Commelina erecta. It is a host to three moths, which birds and other wildlife will eat. The artillery plant is also a host for three caterpillars. That’s a good thing.
George Rogers
January 9, 2021 at 2:54 pm
Thaks Diane…good stuff…my yard grades into a large meadow with a canal running through and a water control dam….all the flowers and butterflies there somehow take me back to childhood meadows….much beauty in the “weedy” acre
theshrubqueen
January 9, 2021 at 12:36 pm
LOL, I say I have a weedom lawn, did not know there were two types of Richardia! I wanted to add some micro clover to see what happens – do you think we are too far south?
Diane Goldberg
January 9, 2021 at 2:19 pm
The monoculture of lawns is no longer considered prestigious. To help our pollinators and wildlife, infusing native groundcovers into lawns or better yet removing portions of the lawn and replacing it with native trees and/or shrubs is even better and will help to slow climate change. You are lucky. The City of Port St Lucie considered all my native plants weeds and grass over one foot tall and when I refused to cut everything down sent me to a magistrate hearing. I won on this issue, but the attorney and certified court reporter cost me over $6700. This was a fight for the environment, which was important to me.
George Rogers
January 9, 2021 at 2:55 pm
on the clover, not sure but my guess is yep, too far south…but not certain…there are 4 species of Richardia in FL, 3 of them around here, 2 of those common, the third hard to find
Chris Lockhart
January 9, 2021 at 10:31 pm
Hey George – I loved this account, including your bitcoin. LOL. Happy New Year, BTW.
I don’t mind a semi-“weedy” yard, but do try to minimize the invasive ones like the Mexican clover, Browne’s blechum, and Mother of millions. Then the nasty Pouzol’s bush took over my patch of dune sunflower. very few Debilis seedlings amid a blanket of Pouzol’s seedlings. I’m working on it. I don’t mind the creeping dayflower that you mention, too much, if it’s in the grass, but am proud that I’ve been successful in weeding around the few Commelina erecta that Diane mentions – one of my favorite natives in my garden. The inch plant is another that challenges the others to gain dominance. One of my goals in my rare weeding opportunities is to make way for more native blue porterweed, and Tradescantia ohiensis, amid the dune sunflower. One I didn’t see that you mention is the sunshine mimosa – love that one, too, with its pink powderpuffs between mowings. It sounds like you have some moist soils on your property, but didn’t mention fogfruit. Great butterfly plant. Do you have some? I tried to plant some on the canal bank behind my house for erosion control, but torpedo grass and others are more efficient. Well, happy weeding everyone, or not! 🙂
George Rogers
January 10, 2021 at 8:19 am
Hi Chris, I love all plants…except that #$%@! insolent Pouzol. Don’t know if it is over-exposure over the years, or advancing age, or neither, but I’ve become prone to dermatitis upon handling many plants, and Pouzol turns my forearms red and burning. It is determined to own portions of the garden and hedges, and breaks off when you try to pull it. There’s a little fogfruit in the garden, not very successful, and tons of itvery successful with White Peacocks along the backyard canal when the water is low.
Chris Lockhart
January 10, 2021 at 10:53 pm
Hey George,
Yes, Pouzol’s is definitely a nemesis. I consider it like a carrot and use a hand trowel and a strong grip. It’s tubers surely get gnarly if it gets big. Sorry to hear about the dermititis. I watch out or wear gloves when pulling oyster plant or purple queen. Even though they are closely related to the dayflower, that one doesn’t usually give me problems. Enjoy the beautiful weather!!