Scouting for weeds: Redstem filaree

Editor’s note: This article is from the archives of the MSU Crop Advisory Team Alerts. Check the label of any pesticide referenced to ensure your use is included.

Redstem filaree
: Erodium cicutarium (L.) L’Hér. ex Ait. (View photos)

Life cycle:
Prostrate, fernlike winter annual or biennial.

Leaves:
Leaves are hairy and compound with deeply cut leaflets that give a featherlike or fernlike appearance. Leaves initially develop from a dense basal rosette and stem leaves are opposite and sparse. Leaves usually have a grayish tinge.

Stems:
Hairy, semierect stems arise from a prostrate, basal rosette.

Flowers and fruit:
Pink or purple flowers with five petals are found clustered at the ends of long stalks. Fruit are long, beaklike capsules with five sections; each section contains a seed with a spirally twisted, corkscrew tail at maturity.

Reproduction:
Seeds.

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