Thursday, December 16, 2010

Weeds other than grasses

I mentioned in the previous post that weeds are unwanted plants in the garden or in a plot of plants being tended. These include the grasses and the broadleaves, the former being monocots, while the latter being dicots. There are probably more dicot weeds scattered in the tropics than the monocots. And of course, their flowers are naturally more beautiful. A plant lover or a photographer cannot resist the temptation these broadleaf flowers offer. And the butterflies are also their frequent visitors.

Above looks like dandelion but i am not really sure of this. Dandelion has rounded head with yellow petals, but this one looks different. The two drooping unopened buds are immature flower heads, which just open with those white propagules when mature. One photo just called it local dandelion, meaning Philippine dandelion, which can be a misnomer. At the moment i will not call it anything. Meantime, I just want to show you its beauty here.

This is widely distributed in agricultural lands, but  this is still NOID

This blue lily-like flower is about only 1.5cm in diameter, isn't it lovely? I exhausted google,
I can't see a look-alike! Sorry about that. (Thanks to Kanak and Randy Emmitt for ID of this as swamp dayflower or Commelina spp.)

 Ruellia tuberosa.   The black pods at the right contain the seeds. Reference said it is host to at least 4 butterfly species, and is considered ornamental plant in some countries. However,
it is just a weed  so prolific on our sidewalks and marginal areas.


Urena lobata locally called kulotan (many synonyms and sci names).The tiny delicate pink flower is 1.5cm in diameter. Reference said it has many medicinal properties and antioxidants ( Reference)

Mimosa pudica (correct name: M diplotricha) locally known as 'makahiya' because it shows shyness or folds inward when touched or shaken. It is a creeping perennial vine with thorns on the stem, and very invasive here in the country.
Maybe Linnaeus named it 'pudica' because it is Latin for 'bashful' or 'shrinking'.

Ipomoea turbinata synonimous to I. muricata or moonflower vine. It is said to have
medicinal and food uses in China and Sri Lanka ( Reference)

Tridax procumbens


Invasive shrub which turn viny with deep roots and very difficult to control,
unless the parts under the soil is also removed.  It is Chromolaena odorata, or 'hagonoy' in local dialect.

These are the flowers of a wild species of Pachirrhizus, with beautiful purple pea-like structures.
 It is vigouously viny and covers other shorter species. The very young pods are eaten by
some northern regions of the Philippines. The edible common yambean or
jicama, locally known as 'singkamas' is the Pachirrhizus erosus.


Tithonia diversifolia. This is a shrub reaching 1-3 meters when fully grown and about 3 inches flower diameter.  A big patch of this plants in the contryside is a sight to behold, and will certainly lessen your travelling stresses on the road. The mountains in Baguio City is normally caped with these yellow blooms during the dry months. Its leaves and stems have strong botanical pesticidal properties.

I would like to post this in GBBD of Maydreams Garden as they are also blooming in the vicinity of my domestic garden, let's say they are blooming in the bigger country garden. The problem is when they enter my domestic garden!

32 comments:

  1. Weeds are often very attracive! We would probably have appreciated them more if they hadn't been so productive...

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  2. I like weeds. So many are beneficial in one way or another, especially for habitat for insects. Not always ones we want, but that have an important place in the ecosystem. And some are relatives to our beloved ornamental perennials. My post on Thursday will show some weeds.

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  3. Hello Andrea, thank you for visiting my blog - isn't it wonderful how GBBD brings us in contact from around the world! I used to work in Singapore and often visited the Philippines on business. A lovely climate and so much to offer. I aim to follow your blog in future. I also am 'pro weed' but not everyone agrees we me. Have you read the recently published book 'Weed' by Richard Mabey - I recommend it for a fascinating exploration of the subject.
    Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year
    Yvonne

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  4. Loved your post! I recognize many of these plants and I love to photograph them too. The lily-like flower could be Swamp dayflower/Commelina paludosa. I looked up www.flowersofindia.net/ Looks the same to me.

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  5. Andrea,

    I agree with Kanak it is likely Swamp dayflower/Commelina paludosa. When I first saw it I though Day Flower which is very invasive here.

    Looks like we are having a snowy day!

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  6. I like weeds...but I prefere to call them wildflowers :-) Ok, I don´t like everyone everywhere...
    For the wildlife its very important that we care for the wildflowers.
    It was very interesting to reed about your weeds. I think I will go out and take photos this summer on my weed too.
    Have a good day
    Lisa/Lisas trädgård

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  7. Your weeds are so pretty, Andrea! I've come to appreciate the beauty of some of the weeds that grow wild around here, many of which are so attractive to bees and butterflies. But when they start to take over a garden, then they're not so welcome. I think some of your "weeds" are sought-after plants in our temperate zone:)

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  8. I was browsing through the plant selections in one of the big-box stores in the US when I found several pots of the Mimosa pudica 'Makahiya' under the 'Exotic' section. I just laughed, touched as many leaves as I can and at the same time wondered if they knew that this is a very invasive weed.

    We have so many of this in our farm and even the goats and sheep don't eat them.

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  9. We have a lot of weeds (wildflowers) in the greenbelt area behind our house and I look forward to seeing them bloom. They are tenacious but you have to admire that they are able to grow in such extreme conditions. Shallow soil, limestone, and very little water!

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  10. Some weeds have the prettiest flowers on them and I just cannot call them weeds. I love the Ruellia tuberosa blooms. The only one I have a love, hate with is the dandelions and even their yellow blooms are so cheery and their fuzzy seed heads look lovely.

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  11. That little light blue flower belongs to the tradescantia family along with purple heart and spiderwort! I'm not sure of the exact species though. Glad you decided to focus on the underdogs of the garden!

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  12. I really love my blog now as more of you are now dropping by leaving those wonderful, informative and kind comments.

    Katarina~~Yes you are right, they are so productive that even in harsh conditions they thrive well. Maybe it's time to consider eating the weeds, as maybe they are not much different from our domesticated vegetables.

    gardenwalkgardentalk~~i will be looking at your weed post too, you are very correct, they are part of our lives, the food chain and what we breath.

    Aaron~~I am not familiar with sundew, but maybe i should google that.

    Yvonne~~thanks for you kind words about our countr, i hope you visit again sometime. I am sorry i have not read the book on weeds, actually i am not really a weed fan, i just appreciate them blooming in the countryside, because they are beautiful and they feed the butterflies.

    kanak~~thanks for identifying my unknown plant. I will google it next time, thanks for the lead and the visit.

    Randy~~thank you also for validating what Kanak said. I surely appreciate that, so next time i already have a name for it.It is not very invasive in our area though, maybe because others around it competes better than it. By the way it is growing in dryland far-far away from swampy area as we are in the uplands.

    Lisa~~others' wastes are another's treasure, so maybe for some they are weeds, but for others they are important. Like what Solituderising said down here, he saw Mimosa pudica being sold as exotic plant in the US. It is very invasive and hated weed here in our country. Thank you for your visit and thoughts, hope you drop by again.

    Rose~~just as i said above to Lisa, they have importance not only for the insects and the ecosystem but for some people too. Thanks for your kind rejoinders.

    Solitude Rising~~i gave your comment as example to Lisa and Rose above. If only we can export our seeds to them, we can have lots of money from our wastes.

    Whimsical Gardener~~my photos, i hope, showed my appreciation for their beauty, because i also treat them as weeds, cut them and get them to compost.haha.

    Hockinghills Gardener~~yes, among these weeds, i like the Ruellia tuberosa most specifically for their blue flowers, and their role for producing more swallowtails, haha.

    Rainforest Gardener~~thanks for giving me the lead on that blue one. Kanak and Randy above also provided leads, i hope i can properly ID it too.

    Happy Holidays everyone! I love you all.

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  13. The weeds are just as pretty as some flowers!

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  14. We all used to blow those dandelions when we were kids. Now when I see a kid with one, I can practially see each weed seed blowing off and landing in my lawn in slow motion!!

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  15. Andrea, I was thinking the first weed may be the same as the second one. We have lots of them and I actually think they are very pretty and the bugs agree.

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  16. One~~i can't wait for others' comments anymore, i must reply to your comment immediately. The first weed is very different from the 2nd, as i am very familiar with both of them. The 2nd one is purple and don't shed those white circular wheels like the 1st one. The 1st really looks like the dandelion which is common in the US, but i think we have the local species. Did you see the brown cricket on the 2nd photo?

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  17. I never paid much attention to weeds until I started blogging ---and seeing others' photos of so many pretty weeds... We also call them wildflowers here--at least some of them....

    You have some great pictures, Andrea.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  18. What a wonderful array of weeds! Being a total flower-moron, I must admit I am perplexed at why a blossom is a weed as opposed to just a flower... I'll post some more Ruellia tuberosa for this week's Today's flower. :-)

    [Our road trip took us to Padre Burgos, just south past Lucena in Quezon on the first 30 hour leg; then we went to Laiya, from where I will post images later this coming week.)

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  19. Loved this post, Andrea. I like seeing weeds in other areas. A number of yours are prized here. A friend gave me a packet of Tithonia seeds from the plants he nurtured in his garden. And we have a similar ruellia that will run wild here, common name Mexican Petunia. The white-flowered one with the deep roots looks a lot like Frostweed, Verbesina virginiaca, http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=VEVI3 .

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  20. It is so lovely to see flowers at this time of year. Weeds are flowers, too :-). I hope you have a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

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  21. Andrea, it's me again! I was wondering how my blog got so many visitors when I didn't have a new post! Then I realized it was because of the link you had put in. Thanks! Have a great Sunday!

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  22. Great post Andrea! If only all these flowering weeds covered more of the empty spaces in the metro. We have to much concrete, I think.

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  23. Good Monday morning my friends.

    Linda~~i relly like to look at the weeds flowers. It's just that they are so prolific and difficult to control.

    Wendy~~actually this photo is not really the dandelion you know in the temperate countris. It just looks like it but different species, i am just sorry i cannot see its real name.

    Betsy~~thank you once again. Yes sometimes i call them wildflowers too, but i delineate them because weeds are so prolific and grows everywhere, wildflowers dont.

    Francisca~~ i am sure you had a lovely Quezon trip, and i will be waiting for your photos which are normally beautiful.

    Kathleen~~yes sometimes the highly priced ornamentals are those uncommon there, and that's because they are tropical and difficult to grow in the temperate zones. Just like a friend in the US said our obnoxious weed 'Mimosa pudica' is highly prices there as an exotic weed. I am sorry Kathleen, the wild weed i posted is very different from the frostweed you gave as link. Our wild weed actually just came after the Pinatubo eruption so some old people say it is carried by eruption cloud from somewhere. I dont know. The frostweed is in the tobacco family and erect in habit. But of course, thank you so much for your leads and visit here.

    Mary~~yes as long as they are beautiful, we appreciate them. Each one has a purpose in this world, including the weeds. Thanks for visiting.

    Kanak~~you're welcome. It's good to know it did some magic in yours. I love to do that to others' posts too, if a little link can help spread the info and beauty, why not!!!

    Bom~~that's right, the concrete jungle actually brought much mishaps to our lives. Flooding is caused by it greatly, as no more soil expanse absorbs the rainwater. Just like the Quezon Memorial Circle, which is supposed to be a good oasis for QC has now been mostly building structures with lots of concrete, so flooding is not alien here anymore, despite the elevation.

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  24. Tiny butterflies just love these weed flowers. Do you know what is the name of the weed flowers in the picture just below the moonflower vine?

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  25. The dandelion-like flower looks like it could be a type of tassel flower to me.

    The lily-like flower looks like a dayflower.

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  26. that was very interesting. I like all of them, and haven't seen any around our area.

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  27. Hi Andrea, the white shrub is Hagonoy Chromolaena Odorata, our nemesis at the farm!

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    1. Thanks Sylvia, but i actually knew it even before i went to your blogsite. It is just that i forget to check my post here. May i say that the correct way of writing the Scientific name is that the Genus starts with capital letter and species with small letter, and they are always italicized or underlined when written. Hagonoy is not part of the scientific name, but is the local common name, it has other common names in other languages.

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  28. the yellow and white 'dandelion' might be a hawkweed?

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  29. Crassocephalum crepidioides, that is the scientific name of the plant in first picture. :)

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  30. In my travels, whether local or foreign, I always see wildflowers everywhere, and they are a sight to behold! I wish I could transport them in my own garden! Lol!

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