CARPETWEED
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| File Size: 68 KB |
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Mollugo verticillata L.
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| Geary County, Kansas |
| Annual |
| Height: Prostrate |
| Family: Molluginaceae - Carpetweed Family |
| Flowering Period: June, July, August, September |
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| Also Called: | | Green carpetweed, indian carpetweed, devil's grip. | | Stems: | | Prostrate or rarely ascending, 2 to 18 inches long, wiry, much branched, radiating in all directions, green, glabrous. | | Leaves: | | Whorls of 3-8 (usually 5-6) clustered at each node; blades simple, unequal, spatulate or narrowly to broadly oblanceolate, 2/5 to 1.2 inches long, 1/8 to 2/5 inch wide, basal leaves broadest, light-green, glabrous, 1 conspicuous vein; tip blunt to pointed; base tapered, short, stalk-like. | | Inflorescences: | | Flowers, 2-6, clustered at each node. | | Flowers: | | Inconspicuous; stalk thread-like, 1/5 to 3/5 inch long; sepals 5, distinct, oblong to elliptic, 1/16 to 1/10 inch long, about 1/25 inch wide, pale green on back, white inside; petals absent; stamens 3-4, alternate with sepals. | | Fruits: | | Capsule, egg-shaped to elliptic, 1/16 to 1/6 inch long, extending slightly beyond sepals; seeds 15-35, tiny, flattened, kidney-shaped, dark reddish-brown, smooth or with curved ridges on sides. | | Habitat: | | Waste areas, roadsides, disturbed low sites, fields, lawns, gardens, stream banks, dunes; all soil types but more abundant in moist soils. | | Distribution: | | Throughout Kansas. | | Origin: | | There is disagreement as to whether carpetweed is native or introduced from tropical America and naturalized. | | Uses: | | Prairie chickens, quail and small mammals eat the seeds. | | Comments: | | Carpetweed is a common weed that forms mats up to 16 inches in diameter. It can spread rapidly. |
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| Carpetweed leaves |  | | 100 KB | | Geary County, Kansas |
| | Carpetweed |  | | 156 KB | | Geary County, Kansas |
| | Carpetweed flowers |  | | 76 KB | | Geary County, Kansas |
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