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.