Quick facts
Creeping charlie is an invasive species.
- Creeping charlie grows best in semi-shaded to shaded moist soils.
- It forms a dense mat, smothering other vegetation.
- Commonly found in urban sites and lawns.
- It grows mostly in disturbed, degraded places.
This species is unregulated.
How to identify creeping charlie
Creeping charlie (Glechoma hederacea) is a perennial, evergreen, herbaceous plant. Also known as ground ivy, creeping charlie is a member of the mint family.
Stem
- Square vine stems grow about two feet long.
- Flowering stems are vertical.
Leaves
- Opposite, long stalked and bluntly toothed.
- Bright green and shiny, round to heart shaped with palmate veins, eight tenths to one and a third inches wide.
Flowers
- Light blue to bluish purple, tubular, four tenths of an inch long, and directed to one side of the stem in clusters of two or more.
- Blooms from March to July.
Seeds
- Small, flat, egg-shaped nutlets (four-hundredths of an inch long).
Roots
- Roots grow from each leaf node that creeps along the soil surface, spreading vegetatively as well.
Reviewed in 2022