Rhomboid Mercury; Weed or Rockstar?

 Note from the Author: This plant has never been covered on the blog before.

I bet looking at this photo you're probably thinking 'wait I've seen that!' It's pretty common in the southeast and not exactly the worst of the weeds you deal with.

Note the flower calyxes near where the leaf petioles attach to the main stem. That's about as showy as this one gets.

Because this plant drops seeds in threes they tend to come up in clusters as seen here.

 

Common Name: Rhomboid Mercury

 

Other Common Names: Three-Seeded Mercury, Copperleaf, Virginia Three-seed Mercury

 

Botanical Family: Euphorbiaceae (The Poinsettia Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Acalypha rhomboidea

 

Description & Habitat:  This plant is often seen in the urban landscape appearing in potted plants, garden beds and other sites with disturbed soil. It is an annual and tends to come up enmasse in groups  The references to three seeds in its common names are because it’s seeds have a capsule with three lobes each containing a single seed. Rhomboid Mercury is native to North America, and its seeds are eaten by wild birds such as Mourning Doves and Greater Prairie Chickens, Deer are also known to eat this plant. The Rhomboid part of its name comes from the shape of its leaves which are borne in alternate arrangement and have a lanceolate to ovate shape which resembles a rhomboid shape. Its flowers are inconspicuous but the Calyxes around them have a deeply serrated margin making them showier than the flowers despite being the same color green as the rest of the plant. It is noted that in areas where group 2 herbicides have been used regularly this plant due to its resistance can become a problem.

 

Special Toxicity Note:  This is not a plant you want to try and eat, it is mildly poisonous and can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

 

When & What to Harvest: This plant is not edible.

 

Related Plants: Virginia Copper Leaf (Acalypha virginica), Jacob’s Coat/ Copperleaf (A. wilkesiana), the former is a very similar plant common next door in Virginia, the latter is a plant often sold in nurseries and is the colorful cultivated cousin.

 

Recipe:  This plant is not edible.

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://extension.psu.edu/virginia-three-seed-mercury-are-they-a-weed-or-a-wildflower

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/acalypha-rhomboidea/

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/acalypha-wilkesiana/

 

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

Not applicable.

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

Fresh Produce:

Figs, Magnolia

Peppers, Banana Drop Hybrid

 

Summer Vegetables:

Nightshade Greens, Gbognome

Nightshade Greens, West African Njama

 

Autumn Vegetables:

Collards ‘Green Glaze’

 

Herbs:

Chives

Egyptian Onions

 

Flowers:

Flowering Tobacco

 

Plants Coming Soon:

TBA

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (2): Nasturtiums, Hyssop Blooper (short outtake vid)

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is August 23^rd at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

 

Bitter Sneezeweed, a elegant weed.

 

Welcome back to the Lost In the Farmer’s Market Blog. At the current time we have a long-running series that covers useful, edible and medicinal ‘weeds’ that you can commonly find in the southeastern states of the United States. While our survey area is just within Cumberland County North Carolina it’ is possible you can find some of these forage plants in other places. This series was begun to give folks a detailed look into the resources they might not have known were right there in their lawn. Given that the world situation is not that great and there are already shortages of critical grains and fertilizers forage foods may be the most useful answer on a local level. LITFM will keep this series going as long as we keep finding wild resources to photograph and write about. If you have any questions or comments about our articles please leave a comment either here or on our YouTube Channel (The link is at the end of the article). Thank you for reading, and remember just one thing, you can’t eat lawn grass.

 

 

 

This lovely specimen was found at the Fayetteville border.

This small specimen demonstrates that plants less than a inch tall still can bloom. Bitter Sneezeweed only reproduces by seed which makes this a clever ability.

Practically hidden amongst other lawn weeds Bitter Sneezeweed can go unnoticed.

This specimen was the largest I spotted while snapping photos. It's a pretty weed that's for sure.

 

 

Common Name: Bitter Sneezeweed

 

Other Common Names: Yellow Sneezeweed, Fiveleaf Sneezeweed and, Yellowdicks (LOL!).

 

Botanical Family: Asteraceae (The Daisy Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Helenium amarum var. amarum

 

Season to Harvest:  Cut flowers in summer.

 

Habitat:  Bitter Sneezeweed is a native plant that originated in the south-central united states, specifically Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. It is also native to parts of Northern Mexico but has spread to the southeastern United States and other places as an introduced species. Bitter Sneeze weed is a fairly common and opportunistic plant that appears readily in open fields, by the roadside, and in waste places, it also tends to appear in places with sandy soils. The plant’s preference for sandy soils means that you might find it anywhere in the Sandhills region of North Carolina.

 

Parts to Harvest: None, this plant is inedible. It can poison livestock.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None.

 

Related Edible Species: Helenium amarum var. badium

 

Description: Bitter Sneezeweed is a warm-season annual with an upright growth pattern. If not in an area with regular foot traffic or if it is not mowed it will become bushy.  Bitter Sneezeweed can get as tall as 28”. The leaves on this plant are narrow and thread like and it bears a medium green color and a bit of a sparkle as if the plant’s leaves are succulent. Additionally despite being an annual Bitter Sneezeweed has a strong taproot that can go fairly deep allowing it to fin moisture that might otherwise be unavailable to other plants.

The plant freely branches and its stems may have a purplish color to them. Overall this plant looks a lot like Chamomile and its foliage might smell a bit like chamomile but, its flowers are a solid golden yellow color and the two plants are not directly related.

 

Recipe:  No recipe this plant is inedible and if cultivated it is a pure native ornamental and pollinator attraction.

 

 

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 8:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.

 

Fresh Produce:

Garlic Bulbs

Soup Kit – Parsnip

Soup Kit – Turnip

 

 

Garden Stuff: ($2.00) ON SALE!

Cauliflower – Snow Crown

Cauliflower – Flame Star

Celery - Tango

Collards – Green Glaze

Kale – Ragged Jack

Mustard – Japanese Red Giant

 

 

Coming Soon:

House Plants (November the 25^th!)

 

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

 

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (2): A Intermission, Harvesting Okra seed.

 

Meetings still going on! We now meet at LeClair’s General Store on the First and Third Thursday of every month. Our next meeting is on November 17^th  between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.