Identify ground cover

 

I have a volunteer ground cover that I cannot identify.  I also do not have
a functional camera in order to post a picture.  Given the size of the
features I would need a pretty good macro lens to show them.

It has a very low spreading habit rising no more than about 2cm (1inch).
The stem is up to 10cm (4in) long but that is arbitrary as it roots
constantly as it spreads.  The stem is soft, about 1mm (1/20th in) thick and
pale green.  The leaves are in adjacent pairs.  Each is 7-10mm (1/4 - 3/8in)
and oval in shape about 1/2 to 1/3 as wide as it is long.  The leaf is matt
finish mid green and some have a dark reddish patch in the centre.  It
branches at some nodes and produces reddish flower buds about 2mm (1/10 in)
in diameter.  Most of the flowers are not open (it is autumn here) and the
petals are only visible through a magnifying glass, they are pink.  It has
no smell.  The habit is vaguely like thyme laid very flat instead of clumps
but the stems are leaves are soft and juicy where thyme is tougher.

It is growing well in an enriched clay soil garden that is watered when it
doesn't rain.  The climate is warm temperate.

Any advice is welcome, even a guess so that I can start looking for images.

David

 

On 3/10/10 4:51 PM, David Hare-Scott wrote:

This sounds like spotted spurge, an agressive weed.  By the time it's
big enough to see and remove, it's already dropped its tiny seeds.  And
if you leave a short piece of stem, it will take root and continue
growing.

Its only "fortunate" feature is that it's an annual.  But if you leave
it when it dies in the fall, you will find many new ones under it in the
following spring.

Depending on the botanist, it's either Chamaesyce maculata or Euphorbia
maculata.

--
David E. Ross
Climate:  California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at <http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary>

 

David E. Ross wrote:

Thanks that is it.  

David

 



That grows here in WA too and isn't restricted to clay. It loves our grey
sands, grows in between paving bricks and will come up in new potting mixes.
Our Californian friend gave some good info on the seeds being broadcast
because it is rampant in its spread. The large euphorbia's, that are called
spurge as well, have explosive seed pods and can launch seeds significant
distances. It wouldn't surprise me it that does too.

The other we have is purslane which I thought may have been what you had but
not.

We also have a form of oxalis that gets red clover like leaves and another
with green clover like leaves both have small yellow flowers. I am told this
has a bulb but have never seen one. Maybe so small or to deep to find. i
think this is what Len maybe thinking of.

 

On 3/12/10 6:59 AM, Loosecanon wrote:

Ornamental oxalis has a bulb-like root, much like the roots of
raddishes, beets, and other such vegetables.  However, oxalis is a dicot
while true bulbs are all monocots.

The oxalis weed (same genus as the ornamental) has a taproot that
sometimes has a slight swelling.  Its seeds are in pods that launch
explosively.  If you wear shorts while walking through a patch of oxalis
when the pods are ripe, you might think small bugs are attacking your
legs.  Worse, the seeds are sticky and thus can be carried a distance by
walking through a patch of oxalis.

I see both spotted spurge and oxalis in my garden.  I dig the oxalis out
with a paring knife whenever I see it.  I'm going to spray spurge with
RoundUp.  However, the most numerous weed in my garden are the seedlings
from my evergreen ash tree.  If I knew then what I know now, I would
have insisted on a male tree, ash being a genus (Fraxinus) that has
separate male trees and female trees.

--
David E. Ross
Climate:  California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at <http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary>