The Grass Doctor

What's the weed it has purple flowerheads, grows in lawns, and is smaller than a dandelion?

It has lots of leaves going around its stem like a corkscrew and it not big enough to be purple loosestrife. Eastern US. They are only around a little while and die of as suddenly as they appear. There's another one that is blue, grows in my back lawn, is even smaller but does not have all the leaves on it. That could be blue vervain perhaps. I would use this weed identification website but there is a problem with my computer that does not allow the info bubbles to pop up for over a minute PER WEED and I get a list of dozens. The other weed identification site requires me to answer questions I don't know the answers too and then includes all these grass weeds and not much else. Last time you guys identified white clover for me in a jiff. If you don't know the blue one fine, another time, but the purple one? I think it is thistle now. I think you're right. Instead of 25 weeds to go through it narrowed it to just three. It's so nice to connect with so many people with so much usless information in their heads to share with people dying of curiousity. Thanks!! I looked up plantain and the flowers are not purple. They are white or green generally. A+ for effort. You get two points for at least trying. Thank you!! Anyone else that tries will get two points as well.

Public Comments

1. Thistle
2. No, it is not thistle. If I am correct, it is called English Plantain. Its in the Plantain family (Plantaginaceae). This adventive perennial plant consists of a rosette of basal leaves and one or more flowering stalks. The basal leaves are up to 12" long and 1" across, but more commonly about half this size. They are broadly linear and smooth along the margins, being broadest toward the middle and tapering toward their tips and the base of the plant. There are 3-5 parallel veins along the length of each leaf. The leaves are glabrous to sparsely hairy; there are usually a few hairs along the central vein on the underside of each leaf. The narrow flowering stalks are devoid of leaves and about 6-18" tall. They are often slightly furrowed or angular, and there are scattered hairs on the stalks toward the base of the plant. Each stalk terminates in an oblongoid spike of flowers about ½–2" long. The small flowers are densely crowded together in whorls all along this spike. During the bud stage, this spike is green and bluntly conical at its apex, but it becomes light brown and cylindrical as the flowers bloom from the bottom to the top. Each flower has 4 sepals, a short corolla with 4 spreading lobes, and some papery bracts underneath. The strongly exerted stamens are the most conspicuous feature of the flowers, which have large white anthers on slender filaments. The blooming period occurs intermittently from late spring to early fall and can last several months for a population of plants in a given locale. The flowers are wind-pollinated and they have no floral scent. Each flower is replaced by a small seed capsule that is ovoid or oblongoid; it splits cleanly and evenly in the lower half to release 2 small seeds. Each seed is oblongoid, dark brown or black, and strongly indented on one side. The root system consists of a shallow crown of coarse fibrous roots. This plant spreads primarily by reseeding itself. Typical growing conditions are full sunlight and a mesic to dry soil that is somewhat heavy and contains clay. This plant also occurs partial sunlight (in which case the foliage becomes somewhat taller and larger) and other kinds of soil. It withstands regular mowing and some trampling. English Plantain is a common plant that occurs in every county of Illinois (see Distribution Map). It is native to Eurasia. Habitats include lawns, cracks in pavement, vacant lots, fallow fields, and roadsides. It prefers disturbed areas and has not invaded natural areas to any significant extent. Because the flowers are wind-pollinated, they attract few insects. Sometimes bees collect pollen from the anthers, but such visits are uncommon. The caterpillars of several moths feed on the foliage of Plantago spp. (Plantains). See the Moth Table for a list of these species. Also, the caterpillars of the butterfly Junonia coenia (Buckeye) feed on the foliage of Plantains. The seeds are eaten by the Grasshopper Sparrow and possibly other granivorous songbirds. The Cottontail Rabbit, White-Tailed Deer, and cattle occasionally eat the foliage, even though it is rather bitter and stringy. Because the seeds become sticky when wet, they can cling to shoes and the bottoms of feet. Thus, humans and various animals help to spread the seeds into new areas. English Plantain fits the public's stereotype of a weed pretty well; it is quite common in lawns. There are several plantain species in Illinois, both native and adventive. Compared to many other plantains, English Plantain has leaves that are more narrow and flowering spikes that are shorter. For example, its leaves are more narrow than the broad-leaved plantains, Plantago rugelii and Plantago major, and its flowering spikes are shorter than than other narrow-leaved plantains, such as Plantago virginica and Plantago aristata. The adventive species Plantago media (Hoary Plantain) is quite similar in appearance to English Plantain, but its flowering spikes are more narrowly cylindrical and its leaves a little wider than those of the latter. However, Hoary Plantain apparently doesn't occur in Illinois.