Scads and scads of these are growing on the side of the road blooming beautifully right now. I hopped out & pulled one up - it came home with me. I potted it up too. This is in Columbia County FL. Zone 8b.







Hairy leaves both upper side & under side. Hairy, square bloom stalk.

Is it small? Possibly henbit. We get that weed every year.

The flowers do look like Henbit but the leaves don't wrap around the stem.

Does it have a square stem? What is the texture of the leaves? How big is it?

Daisy

No, this is not henbit. I stated in the initial post that the bloom stem is square and hairy. The leaves, both upper & lower surfaces are hairy. These blooms are considerably larger than henbit -- at least than the henbit we get around here. Also bloom color is different than henbit.
Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule)

Sorry! I didn't even see what was written under your photos.

A square stem puts it squarely in the 'some sort of mint' camp. Does it have an odor when you crush the leaves? How big?

Daisy

Stachys floridana?

http://plants.usda.gov/java/la...

It has a tuber but if you pull the plant out it will break off, I 'guess' it makes roots as well but that is a guess.

http://carteret.ces.ncsu.edu/f...

http://www.southeasternflora.c...

The lower lip looks to be split, not sure if that fits. There doesn't seem to be anything else which fits.

http://www.southeasternflora.c...

Nope Janet, it isn't Stachys floridana. I have that growing all over the place on this property. Actually it was the dh who said it was the "same stuff that's all over our place" that got the whole "thing" started. I told him it wasn't & he was being stubborn so I made him pull over so I could get some to prove I was right.

That's twice now that I have forgotten to state that I did check for any odor & there was none. I crushed a leaf & nothing, not a whiff of anything. That really surprised me.

As to how big it is..... I will have to go out tomorrow & take a photo with the tape measure to demonstrate size.

Maybe it's Salvia lyrata without the typical leaves.

http://companionplants.com/cat...

http://www.discoverlife.org/mp...

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

http://www.eattheweeds.com/wp-...

You may have hit it Janet. I'm going to check it out.

I think it is S. lyrata Ann, some of the leaves in your photos show a little of the typical shape. The red staining fits, and the whorled basal leaves.

I think so too Janet. The color of the blooms is right. The plant I have is a baby relatively speaking. I took a look after my last post & am sure that's what it is. I'm going to take some more photos today. Yesterday before I pulled it up, it had 2" of rain pounding it so the blooms were ragged.
Okay, I have chores to do & then I can get to fun stuff playing with plants & taking photos.

Could it be Salvia lyrata?

Lyreleaf Sage (Salvia lyrata)
http://floridata.com/Plants/La...

Yes, Janet nailed it, Apr 3, 2016 6:09 AM CDT.

I missed the description at the bottom of the post. Oops!

Don't worry about it Celia.


Here's a nice shot of the lyre leaf


Entire plant. This pot is 5" across so you can tell the plant is just a baby yet.


Database here I come!

You will love this Salvia Lyrata. Bees and butterflies both visit for nectar, interesting foliage, self-seeds (but not in an invasive way), and the deer don't bother it. Glad you got one!

GrammaChar said:You will love this Salvia Lyrata. Bees and butterflies both visit for nectar, interesting foliage, self-seeds (but not in an invasive way), and the deer don't bother it. Glad you got one!

Thanks! I'm going to have more than one. I have seeds on order as of last night. This is native to FL (& the whole US) and I am into wildflowers. We have acreage and most of my gardening these days consists of sowing wildflowers all over the property.

BTW, @GrammaChar what is that in your avatar? It is stunning!

Oh....had to look up meaning of avatar. I'm pretty good with the camera, but not so great with computers. I have to call my fourteen year old grandson frequently for tech support. Old dog/new tricks syndrome.
But I digress....it's an Indian Paintbrush. The front pasture is full of bluebonnets and paintbrushes right now. Those will soon give way to the Indian Blankets and Mexican Hats. I've worked on this three acres for sixteen years - and the rewards are bountiful. Gardening is not a destination, it's a journey. But it sure feels good when things turn out right!

That is a new perspective on Indian Paintbrush. Love it! So glad the question was asked.

Daisy

PS: My mother in law learned to use a computer at the age of 70 something. My husband owns a computer company so for us, it was hard to believe that in these times, someone was computer illiterate - especially Hubby's own mother. It was so much fun teaching my mother in law to use it (an early WordWrite so didn't do much except type and store). She was an author so it was a real benefit that she gain this new knowledge but for the first couple years, all her stories were about that d.. .n computer.