North American Carpetweed Gardens: Ground Cover, Scientific Research

Summary: North American carpetweed gardens pull down ground reflection losses by putting carpetweed, chickweed and lotus sweetjuice out on barren soils.

carpetweed's flowers and leaves; Broadmoor neighborhood, University District, central Little Rock, Pulaski County, central Arkansas; Saturday, July 7, 2012, 07:56: Eric in SF, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

North American carpetweed gardens adjust ground reflection loss rates downward on barren, compacted, disturbed, polluted, unbalanced ground even though they allow cucumber mosaic, tobacco etch and tobacco mosaic viruses into cultivated soils.

Carpetweed, also commonly called devil's grip, green carpetweed, Indian chickweed and whorled chickweed, batters cultivated and uncultivated soils with chickweed-like looks, stubborn seeds and viral diseases. Federal, provincial, state and territorial legislation in Canada, Mexico and the United States charges native and non-native vegetation with weediness for behavior unbecoming North American flora. No federal, provincial, state or territorial government in North America disparages the native North and South American tropical annual or related African and Eurasian lotus sweetjuice.

Carpetweed, scientifically named Mollugo verticillata (soft whorl), encourages its intolerance in gardens and row croplands and tolerance on railways, roadsides and wastelands with other weedy ornamentals.

Carpetweed seedlings foster atop brown stems hairless, oblong, thick, 0.06- to 0.14-inch- (1.5- to 3.5-millimeter-) long embryonic leaves, called cotyledons, under 0.05 inches (1.3 millimeters) thick.

First leaf stages give dull green upper-sides, pale undersides and spatula shapes but grow into whorled arrangements of three to eight elliptical, linear or spatula-shaped leaves. Mature, 0.19- to 1.58-inch- (5- to 40-millimeter-) long, 0.02- to 0.59-inch- (0.5- to 15-millimeter-) wide carpetweed leaves have 0.04- to 0.16-inch- (1- to 4-millimeter-) long stalks. Carpetweed, described by Swedish physician Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), includes dull upper-sides, pale undersides, sparse-haired lower margins and no chickweed-like, opposite-arranged, oval-shaped leaves.

Two to six flowers join, menorah-like, into single points on inflorescences called umbels in the axil angles of leaves and stems in North American carpetweed gardens.

The perfect, regular, white flowers keep together one pistil, three to four stamens and five 0.06- to 0.09-inch- (1.5- to 2.5-millimeter-) long sepals without any petals.

The sepals always look green on the outside and white on the inside while the 1.12- to 0.79-inch- (3- to 20-millimeter-) long flowers always look dainty. Hairless, mature, multi-branched, prostrate, 1.18-to 17.72-inch- (3- to 45-centimeter-) long carpetweed manages flowers June through September, foliage and, as dry, explosive, multi-seeded, oval, thin-walled capsules, fruits. Three teeth nose 15 to 35 0.019- to 0.024-inch- (0.5- to 0.6-millimeter-) long and wide seeds from each 0.09- to 0.13-inch- (2.5- to 3.3-millimeter-) long capsule.

The dark orange to brown, kidney-shaped, ridged, shiny seeds offer the sole reproduction mode even though carpetweed organizes into horizontal mats across North American carpetweed gardens.

Carpetweed seeds procrastinate their germination until the late spring and early summer months even though germinated seeds push their seedlings quickly through one growing-season life cycles.

Agriculturists, botanists and horticulturists question the in-soil viability of carpetweed seeds in the absence of any anecdotal or science-based information and qualify the topic as research-worthy. Similar-looking common chickweed repels farmers and gardeners with its 10-year in-soil viabilities but regains respect by reducing ground reflection loss rates, like carpetweed, and releasing nitrogen. Weedy ornamentals in the 14-genera Molluginaceae family of herbaceous and shrubby carpetweeds and in the 80-genera Caryophyllaceae family of herbaceous carnations survive deplorable and optimal soils.

Carpetweed, common chickweed and lotus sweetjuice transform North American carpetweed gardens into sites worthy of chickweed's fashionable relatives: baby's breath, bouncing bet, carnations and Maltese cross.

closeup of carpetweed plant's flower and leaves: Robert H. Mohlenbrock/Midwest National Technical Center, Public Domain, via USDA NRCS PLANTS Database

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

carpetweed's flowers and leaves; Broadmoor neighborhood, University District, central Little Rock, Pulaski County, central Arkansas; Saturday, July 7, 2012, 07:56: Eric in SF, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mollugo_verticillata.jpg

closeup of carpetweed plant's flower and leaves: Robert H. Mohlenbrock/Midwest National Technical Center, Public Domain, via USDA NRCS PLANTS Database @ https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=MOVE (new URL @ https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=MOVE)
For further information:

Dickinson, Richard; and Royer, France. 2014. Weeds of North America. Chicago IL; London, England: The University of Chicago Press.

Linnaeus, Carl. 1753. "4. Mollugo verticillata." Species Plantarum, vol. I: 89. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358108

Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 1989. Midwestern Wetland Flora: Field Office Guide to Plant Species. Lincoln NE: USDA Soil Conservation Service (SCS) Midwest National Technical Center.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47568522

"Mollugo verticillata L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/700039

Weakley, Alan S.; Ludwig, J. Christopher; and Townsend, John F. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Edited by Bland Crowder. Fort Worth TX: BRIT Press, Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

Americanized Night-Flowering Catchfly Gardens: Pestless Ground Cover

Summary: Americanized night-flowering catchfly gardens add ground cover, pest control and wild beauty but abet viruses and alter crop yields and species diversity.

night-flowering catchfly flowers and foliage; Monday, Nov. 3, 2008: Homer Edward Price (homeredwardprice), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Americanized night-flowering catchfly gardens acquire available light, moisture and nutrients, advance over croplands and pastures and allow tobacco streak virus even though they are fragrant in pink and attack ground reflection loss.

Night-flowering catchfly, nicknamed clammy cockle, night-flowering cockle, night-flowering silene and sticky cockle, becomes problematic to farmers and ranchers by battering crop yields and bothering species diversity. It can be confused with white cockle, related herbal host of cucumber mosaic, lychnis ring spot, tobacco necrosis, tobacco ring spot and tobacco streak viral diseases. The Alberta, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Saskatchewan provincial and the federal governments in Canada and the Washington state government in the United States deplore white cockle.

The Canadian and the Mexican federal governments and the Canadian provincial governments in British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Saskatchewan expose night-flowering catchfly to similar weed sanctions.

Seedling stages festoon short-, stiff-haired stalks with club-shaped, 0.22- to 0.59-inch- (5.5- to 15-millimeter-) long, 0.12- to 0.18-inch- (3- to 4.5-millimeter-) wide embryonic leaves called cotyledons.

The weedy herb in the Caryophyllaceae family of herbaceous carnations and pinks grows oblong foliage, with hairy margins, on hairy stalks for its first leaf stage. As few as one stem and as many as three stems, somewhat woody with swollen nodes, have mature, opposite-arranged, sticky-haired foliage at and above the base. Basal, 1.58- to 4.72-inch- (4- to 12-centimeter-) long, 0.79- to 1.58-inch- (2- to 4-centimeter-) wide foliage is oblong and stalked and upper foliage spatula-shaped and stalkless.

Americanized night-flowering catchfly gardens jumble June- through September-blooming fragrance amid 0.79- to 4.72-inch- (2- to 12-centimeter-) long, 0.12- to 1.58-inch- (3- to 40-millimeter-) wide upper foliage.

Night-flowering catchfly, scientifically named Silene noctiflora (night-flowering saliva), knows only three- to 15-flowered, white to pale pink inflorescences, called cymes, that keep tips for oldest flowers.

Fragrant, perfect, regular flowers, 0.79 to 0.98 inches (20 to 25 millimeters) across, load one pistil with three styles, five petals, five sepals and 10 stamens. Colorful, fragrant textures mingle when night-time makes visible deep-notched, 0.79- to 1.38-inch- (20- to 35-millimeter-) long petals and dark green, 10-veined, sticky-haired, 0.59-inch- (15-millimeter-) long sepals. Mature, stiff-haired, 7.87- to 39.37-inch- (20- to 100-centimeter-) tall night-flowering catchfly and white cockle, with sticky-haired, 10-veined male plants and 20-veined female plants nab insect pests.

Pollinated flowers offer Americanized night-flowering catchfly gardens dry, explosive, 185-seeded, three-chambered fruit capsules with mature, 0.98- to 1.58-inch- (25- to 40-millimeter-) long sepals, collectively called calyxes.

The annual or winter annual night-flowering catchfly, described by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1707), presents 2,600 gray, kidney-shaped seeds with warty bumps.

The germination of 0.04- to 0.05-inch- (1.1- to 1.3-millimeter-) long, 0.04- to 0.05-inch- (0.9- to 1.2-millimeter-) wide seeds quickens at 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius). Night-flowering catchfly remains 100 percent viable in soil for five years, after which the European native retains in-soil viability at 82 percent for an unknown timespan. Baby's breath, bladder campion, common chickweed, corn spurrey, cow cockle, mouse-ear chickweed and white cockle show respective 5-, 14-, 10-, 10-plus-, 3-, 60- and 20-year viabilities.

Americanized night-flowering catchfly gardens with campions, chickweeds, cockles, sandworts and spurrey tackle ground reflection loss reduction and natural insect pest controls away from crops and livestock.

night-flowering catchfly leaves; Monday, Nov. 3, 2008: Homer Edward Price (homeredwardprice), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

night-flowering catchfly flowers and foliage; Monday, Nov. 3, 2008: Homer Edward Price (homeredwardprice), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Silene_noctiflora_by_Homer_Edward_Price.gif

night-flowering catchfly leaves; Monday, Nov. 3, 2008: Homer Edward Price (homeredwardprice), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/28340342@N08/3000046069/

For further information:

Dickinson, Richard; and Royer, France. 2014. Weeds of North America. Chicago IL; London, England: The University of Chicago Press.

Linnaeus, Carl. 1753. "15. Silene noctiflora." Species Plantarum, vol. I: 419. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358438

"Silene noctiflora L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/6300490

Weakley, Alan S.; Ludwig, J. Christopher; and Townsend, John F. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Edited by Bland Crowder. Fort Worth TX: BRIT Press, Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

Americanized Hemp Nettle Gardens: Dense, Hairy, Spiny Ground Cover

Summary: Americanized hemp nettle gardens end ground reflection and surface runoff by establishing dense, hairy, pretty, spiny stands on bad soils and poor sites.

hemp nettle's flowers and leaves; Keila, northwestern Estonia; Friday, Aug. 2, 2013, 21:07: Ivar Leidus, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Americanized hemp nettle gardens assuage ground reflection and surface runoff on roadsides and wastelands but augment their naturalized niches on croplands, gardens and orchards where their strong scents act as pest repellents.

The Eurasian native annual becomes one of seven herbaceous members in the Lamiaceae family of mint-related herbs, shrubs and trees to bear North American weed designations. Mediterranean sage, not Eurasian catnip or Eurasian motherwort, claims officially unwelcome weed status from the California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and, with European sage, Washington state governments. Eurasian ground ivy and henbit and native dragonhead and marsh hedgenettle draw respective sanctions in Connecticut, in Alberta and Manitoba, in Manitoba and in Nova Scotia.

The Canadian and Mexican federal governments enact respective sanctions against European self-heal and, with Alaska state and Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec provincial governments, against hemp nettle.

Notched tips and two basal, pointed lobes fit onto oval, 0.19- to 0.39-inch- (5- to 10-millimeter-) long, 0.08- to 0.19-inch- (2- to 5-millimeter-) wide embryonic leaves.

The embryonic stems go from green below the cotyledons to purple toward soil levels and give way to opposite-arranged, oval, toothed, veined, wire-haired first leaf stages. Mature, opposite-arranged, oval to lance-shaped, 1.18- to 4.72-inch- (3- to 12-centimeter-) long foliage has coarse margins with five to 10 teeth per side and bristle-haired surfaces. Hemp nettle, commonly named bee nettle, brittle-stem hemp nettle, dog nettle and flowering nettle, inclines rough foliage from 0.39- to 1.18-inch- (1- to 3-centimeter-) long stalks.

Slender, strong taproots jumpstart growth with dissolved hormones and nutrients that join dissolved hormones and photosynthates from leaves, stalks and stems in Americanized hemp nettle gardens.

Hemp nettle, also commonly named ironweed, ironwort, Simon's weed and wild hemp, knows mature, 11.81- to 39.37-inch (30- to 100-centimeter) heights on branched, bristle-haired, square stems.

The stems let hemp nettle, scientifically named Galeopsis tetrahit (weasel-like, four-parted), look rough with many downward-pointing, stiff hairs and swollen at leaf-to-stem attachment points called nodes. Their tips manage June to September bloom times for terminal inflorescences, called racemes, on central stalks with same-sized stalklets for perfect, irregular, pink, variegated, white blooms. Flowers 0.39-inch (1 centimeter) across need one pistil, two yellow dots and four stamens on five 0.59- to 0.87-inch- (15- to 22-millimeter-) long, tube-shaped, united petals.

Five spine-tipped, 10-ribbed, 0.28- to 0.43-inch- (7- to 11-millimeter-) long, united sepals occur alongside all petals and stamens and every pistil in Americanized hemp nettle gardens.

Hemp nettle, described by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), produces 2,800 egg-shaped, mottled gray-brown, 0.12- to 0.16-inch- (3- to 4-millimeter-) long seeds.

Sun-warmed, 0.39-inch (1-centimeter), 0.39- to 1.58-inch (1- to 4-centimeter) and 0.79-inch (2-centimeter) depths respectively quicken germination of self-heal, of hemp nettle and of henbit and marsh hedgenettle. Marsh hedgenettle retains unknown viabilities whereas dragonhead, ground ivy, hemp nettle, henbit and self-heal respectively remain viable 3, 2 to 5, 10, 25 and 5 years. Hemp nettle and its weedy relatives suffer, for shedding seed before crop harvests, as scorned relatives of basil, coleus, lavender, mint, oregano, sage, salvia and thyme.

Americanized hemp nettle gardens of catnip, dragonhead, European sage, ground ivy, henbit, marsh hedgenettle, Mediterranean sage, motherwort and self-heal thrive on sites that thwart nonweedy relatives.

Hemp nettle's spiny calyx lobes and coarse stem hairs stiffen by autumn; Bozeman, Gallatin County, southwestern Montana; Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010, 15:42:58: Matt Lavin, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

hemp nettle's flowers and leaves; Keila, northwestern Estonia; Friday, Aug. 2, 2013, 21:07: Ivar Leidus, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galeopsis_tetrahit_-_kare_kõrvik_Keilas.jpg

Hemp nettle's spiny calyx lobes and coarse stem hairs stiffen by autumn; Bozeman, Gallatin County, southwestern Montana; Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010, 15:42:58: Matt Lavin, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/plant_diversity/5202209342/

For further information:

Dickinson, Richard; and Royer, France. 2014. Weeds of North America. Chicago IL; London, England: The University of Chicago Press.

"Galeopsis tetrahit L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/17600083

Linnaeus, Carl. 1753. "2. Galeopsis tetrahit." Species Plantarum, vol. II: 579-580. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358600

Weakley, Alan S.; Ludwig, J. Christopher; and Townsend, John F. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Edited by Bland Crowder. Fort Worth TX: BRIT Press, Botanical Research Institute of Texas.