Here's the one I allowed to get big.

Ahhh I also have had this wildflower/weed two years now. I have asked around and tried looking myself with no answer. I will also be glad to hear about this plant.

Beca~

You'll really have to wait until it flowers to identify it... but it could be one of the many prostrate Amaranthus species. If this is true it will become obvious at flowering.

Something i do know about this weed is, the flowers are small and insignificant (purplish color if i remember correctly), its taproot can get large which makes it a trick to remove. I pull em in my yard as i find em before its too tough down the road. Roundup doesnt seem to do too much when they have some age on em.

I think it's trailing Four o'clock

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/71/allionia-incarnata-trailing-windmills/

Lakedweller, it looks similar but it has hairy leaves and stem and my "weed" is smooth and soft.

Azant, that's what I'm afraid of, that I'm creating a monster by letting the one get big. But, it's pretty to look at and I am so curious to know what plant it is.

Hope someone knows and solves this mystery.

By golly, I think you've got it! I have this 'weed', too, and now I have a name for it. It's pretty and, for me, not worth pulling up. Then again, I don't usually pull weeds until they make a complete nuisance of themselves. I have been known to spend hours pulling up burr clover, though; I hate that stuff.

Here's another photo I just took of the big one with me holding it. It keeps getting bigger and longer but still no flowers. If it didn't grow all over my yard I would just leave it alone, it's so pretty and green with no help from me. Wish all desirable garden plants were this easy to grow. LOL

Look at "careless pigweed" Amaranthus palmeri.

((Look at "careless pigweed" Amaranthus palmeri.))

I checked it out, but pigweed grows upright, mine is postrate, grows along the ground, something like a vine but it hasn't climbed the cassia and Texas Ranger nearby.

Am looking at "weed ID" websites but many just list the names and no photo, so you have to click on each listing to see the photo.

hmm... maybe Amaranthus graecizans or A. albus?

im curious too as i have been battling this thing for a few years

Here's a website with photos of all the pigweed species, many of the photos are hard to see, but the leaves seem to have a rough texture whereas mine have soft and shiny leaves.
http://www.agron.iastate.edu/~weeds/Ag317/ID/Lpig.html

Here is a pic of a smaller plant. I dug up the big one, was afraid to let it grow much bigger and impossible to kill.

Hope we BOTH solve this mystery.

This weed is commonly called Red Spiderling (Boerhaavia coccinea), a perennial that can be found across the southern US from California to Florida. It's a sprawling plant that can reach 6 feet across and produces slender threadlike stems with tiny red flowers. Seeds are about 1/8 inch and sticky so they can hitch a ride on animals or shoes.

A similar plant is Coulter spiderling which is smaller.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Could you possibly have two different plants? The first photo does show red stems--can't tell about the hairs.

A candidate for the larger plant: Fendler ground cherry?

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/2135/physalis-hederifolia-ivyleaf-groundcherry/

This weed has small yellow flowers...also has a 1" seed pod. I have been looking it up and I "think" it is a common lambsquarters weed. Check it out and you guys tell me what you think?

OMG!!!!! You found it out lakedweller_7nva!!! I was wrong...I checked the link you typed and there it was!!! Finally...you have no idea how long I've been trying to figure out what it was. And the best part is it is not a weed but a wildflower!! Thanks so much :)

beca~

Thanks, Lakedweller! I think this is it. The big plant got to be about 4 ft across but still no flowers or anything. Those "lanterns" are so pretty! Now I will let another one get real big and make sure it's this groundcherry.

When the plant is small the stems are red, when it gets bigger it's red and green. Thats what it shows at Fireflyforest website. That website is great, I use it all the time, but had no flower color to look for so couldn't use her website. BTW, she now lives in Hawaii. She told me that when she replied to a question by email.

Thanks, Aztreelvr, but that Spiderling has furry stems and leaves, so can't be my mystery weed, mine has smooth leaves and stems.

My plant did have a taproot, but not very long when I pulled it out at 4 feet wide, so I was relieved it wasn't hard to pull out.

Thanks everyone that posted!

I was using Frank Rose's Mountain Wildflowers of Southern Arizona, just published this year. It's really helpful because it does show leaves and form.

Lakedweller,

Maybe I should buy my own copy of that book. Right now I'm inundated with weeds due to the recent rains. Some are more prolific than others. I just posted another thread because I can't find the plant.

I did see a very pretty wildflower with yellow flowers growing all along the sides of a road and found it at Firefly because I knew the flower color. It was Senna Covesii. When they don't have flowers it's very hard to find online.

Thanks again, perhaps you can tell me the name of the other weed I am posting in a different thread.

That weed at the top is definitely a spiderling, also called trailing 4-o'clock. They get tiny red flowers. The ground cherry has similarly shaped leaves but is much more upright.

It's definitely weed season in Tucson!

Kevin,

when I search Boerhavia coccinea the pics show hairy/furry leaves with red/purple flowers. My weed has thin, smooth, soft leaves and no hint of flowers or seeds. The stems are red or mixed red and green. I am going to let one grow and see what happens and pull all the others (it has a small taproot but it's easy to pull). I want to know once and for all what kind of weed or wildflower it is. It IS very invasive, it's all over my yard, so that's not good. Here is a closeup of it.

In the next post I have pics of another smaller plant that looks just like it and has tendrils and seeds. I have no idea what that is, either.

I don't know how to post more than one photo, can't find instructions if anyone can point me there.

Here's the other weed, it looks something like the first weed but is smaller and more delicate and has tendrils with seeds at the end. No flowers.

Here's a closer look at the other weed, it's leaves and seeds.

Below is the Dirty Dozen of Southwest weeds if anyone is interested. Mine are not in there, though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dirty Dozen invaders of the Southwest

It's the same plant. In the last picture you can see the buds forming, these will be a redish/purlply small flower and then the sticky (as in gooey) seeds come after that.

Kevin

I've been wondering this same thing. My yard receives this 'guest' too every rain. It is pretty but can be agressive. I followed some links and looked at various pictures and believe it is giant Pigweed. Almost exactly as your pictures.

Here is a link that might be useful: James Cook University, Australia

My mystery weed last week finally had small red/purplish flower and I found it on a Desert Tortoise website listed as a Spiderling. So, AZtreelvr was right, it's definitely a Spiderling. If you have a tortoise it's good to keep a couple of them around. They're nice looking plants, too bad they're so invasive.

Hey guys, I'm in south of Houston Texas and been looking for this plant (Boerhavia coccinea) but can't find it locally, although it is native to TX. Can someone share some seeds. I'll pay for them. Would be appreciated!

I am going to add my pictures of this plant to this thread. This is in Phoenix, Arizona during the summer time. This plant eventually gets seeds that are sticky and get stuck to socks and shoes. It is pretty, but it is also a pain in neck to clean your socks and shoes of these very sticky seeds. And eventually it gets a huge taproot and very large and rather ugly lateral stems. It's only pretty when it is young.

I found this website, where they call it Tar Vine, or Red Spiderling, boerhavia diffusa. They have photo of what it looks like when it grows up a bit and gets bigger.

http://www.eattheweeds.com/boerhavia-diffusa-catchy-edible-2/

After looking again at some of the pictures, Boerhavia erecta definitely looks like it when it is in the flowering stage. It reminds me of baby's breath flowers at that point. So, I am certain that the genus is Boerhavia, but beyond that, who knows?

I don't know what it's called but I hate that plant! If you have one, you'll get a million, and if you have dogs, their fur will be absolutely matted with the sticky tiny seeds!

My desert tortoise likes to nibble it, so I let it grow in the summer and then pull them out when she goes into brumation. Right now there's a lot of them in one section of my yard. I think it's a pretty plant, too bad that it's sticky and invasive.

Tar Vine, or Red Spiderling, Boerhavia: There are many varieties of Boerhavia, small differences in the plant will tell you the subspecies. 2 or 3 are native to the Western US, but some have come over from Australia and China. Plant grows a deep Tap root that you can cook and eat. The varieties from Australia can be used to catch birds with the sticky leaves.

Hi all. I know this is an old thread... I am curious if anyone finally had the 100% yes this is it confirmation? I am trying to keep only edible or useful plants around my house and saw in one post the roots may be edible. These also seems to do well as a trap crop for tomato hornworms and grasshoppers so I keep them around and style them into a banner vine. Heres the pic. They die off later in winter and return.