Perennial weeds

Cotyledons: Ovate to spatulate and rough.

Leaves: Elliptic, hairy leaves with a prominent midvein and a short petiole becoming more lanceolate, large and rough as the plant matures. All leaves are toothed. Opposite leaf arrangement at the plant’s base, then becoming alternate above.

Stem: White and hairy, becoming rough and hairy as the plant matures.

Plant characteristics: Erect.

Flowers: Yellow flowers borne in heads, with a darker center.

Growth habit: Erect and 6 feet or more in height.

Roots: Roots bear fleshy tubers.

Cotyledons: Broadly heart-shaped with a shallow notch at the tip. Distinct venation and a long petiole

Hypocotyl: Smooth, often purplish.

Leaves: First leaves are heart-shaped with margins indented at the petiole. Later leaves are arrowhead-shaped, in an alternate leaf arrangement.

Plant characteristics: Vine-like, twining or trailing.

Flowers: White to pinkish, funnel-shaped flowers that are about 1 inch in diameter. The flower stalk bears a pair of small green stipules below flowers.

Seeds: Gray-brown and rough, with four seeds per capsule,.

Cotyledons: Broad with a deep notch at the tip.

Leaves: Arrowhead-shaped with cut-away corners at the base, in an alternate leaf arrangement. Larger than field bindweed leaves.

Flowers and seeds: Large, funnel-shaped and white or pinkish flowers that are 2 inches in diameter.

Seeds: Large, rough seeds, with two to four seeds per capsule.

Growth habit: Vine-like and twining.

Leaves: Three-ranked, narrow, grass-like and mostly basal.

Leaf sheath: Three-ranked with a triangular stem. Numerous fine veins visible.

Ligule: None.

Inflorescence: Small, yellowish or yellowish-brown flowers in narrow spikelets on an umbrella-like inflorescence.

Growth habit: Erect plant whose roots bear small, round vegetative tubers from which new plants can arise.

Leaf sheath: Open, round and pubescent.

Leaf blade: May be smooth or pubescent.

Ligule: Membranous and short.

Auricles: Older leaves bear a pair of auricles (short, claw-like appendages attached to the leaf collar at the blade’s base).

Inflorescence: Spike with spikelets directly attached to the central axis (rachis). Several seeds are crowded into each spikelet.

Growth habit: Extensive whitish rhizomes (underground stems) from which new plants can arise. Plants may also arise from seed.

Cotyledons: Oval and smooth with short stalks.

Leaves: First leaves are ovate with slightly toothed or prickly margins. Later leaves are long and irregularly lobed, with prickles around leaf margins. Leaves clasp the stem at the base (no leaf petiole). Alternate leaf arrangement.

Flowers and seeds: Yellow flowers in heads that are 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter.

Seeds: Reddish-brown, cylindrical and ribbed seeds are spread by the tuft of hairs at the tip.

Growth habit: Erect, contains milky juice.

Cotyledons: Ovate to linear. Thick, fleshy and rough.

Leaves: First leaves are ovate with sharp spines, while successive leaves are more wrinkled and spiny. Leaves on mature plants are very spiny and prickly with crinkled edges. Alternate leaf arrangement.

Flowers: Lavender flowers. Heads are about 3/4 inch in diameter.

Seeds: Brown, cylindrical and smooth seeds are spread by a tuft of plume-like hairs.

Growth habit: Erect with an extensive lateral root system from which plants spread in colonies.