Potentilla norvegica (Norwegian cinquefoil)

Today's weed is Norwegian cinquefoil (Potentilla norvegica).



There are several of these weeds in the woods behind our house. I let them grow basically because I didn't know what they were. Most of the compound leaves have five lobes, but other than that, they look a lot like strawberry leaves, which are everywhere in our yard. Actually "ubiquitous" would be a more appropriate word than "everywhere", but "ubiquitous" has become -- well, it seems to be showing up everywhere lately.


A note about the pronunciation of cinquefoil:

I guess because the last language I learned was Italian (40 years ago), I was pronouncing the common name something like "chink-wuh-foil", until I finally looked it up and saw that it is normally pronounced more in a more Spanish way, "sink-foil" or in the more French way, "sank-foil".

Lamiastrum galeobdolon (Yellow Archangel)

Weed of the hour:
This is a common variegated variety of Lamiastrum galeobdolon (Yellow Archangel), introduced to the yard by me. I was told that it's called aluminum plant, but that common name is usually reserved for a house plant native to Vietnam, Pilea cadierei, also called "Watermelon Plant".

Yellow Archangel however is native to Europe, where it is a common wildflower/weed. It has become quite invasive in the vicinity of where I placed it, by a big rock in our woods, as well as around the foundation of our house, where I had originally planted it.