I wish I knew what this plant was

[fibro_witch]

Comments

[urbpan]

Looks like a smartweed, a group of plants in the genus Polygonum that are hard to identify down to species. I covered them in my 365 urban species project here: http://urbpan.livejournal.com/309423.html (scroll down for plants that look closer to yours)

[cottonmanifesto]

it's a polygonum - ladies thumb.

[roaming]

I love this stuff, it's all oer my backyard for the first time this year. I put in a thick tree stump, on the grass, to feed the mourning doves and squirrels on, and within a month the ladies tumbs had grown in a circle around the base, looking like they'd always been there. I think we need to think up a faery name for them. :-)

[ursulav]

Lady's thumb--I've got that on a side bed. It likes disturbed ground. It's a mildly noxious invader--Not From Around Here!--but it's been here for hundreds of years and apparently has wiggled into being a host for some kind of caterpillar, of minor interest to pollinators, plus the seeds are popular among some wildlife. I think the site I read described it as having a "surprisingly high ecological footprint" for being a minor invasive.

There are better plants to have there, but it's not all that terrible, if that makes any sense.

[kryptyd]

I've seen that! According to my book this is thing commonly called redshank and less commonly persicaria maculosa. there's also a few similar looking persicarias but I think it's that one.