One of the wonders of keeping a garden in the Georgia Piedmont is Phyllanthus urinaria, a plant so adapted to this place you’d think it has been here forever. But it’s a newcomer from Asia.
The first record of P. urinaria in North America was at a nursery in Texas in 1944. It went across the Southeast to Virginia in a flash. To my eye, it’s as settled as kudzu.
Most of the literature I’ve seen on this plant comes from scientists who study weeds at agricultural colleges. The papers are a chorus of alarmed voices. Of the plant’s many common names, I like “gripeweed.”
Gripeweed is small, topping out at 2 feet. Its leaves might remind you of mimosa, and “mimosa weed” might be this plant’s most common name. The flowers grow directly on the stem.
The griping about gripeweed is about how prolific it is. It can go from seed to flower in two weeks. Each plant can produce thousands of seeds. The fruits are exploders — as they ripen, the chemistry within the fruit builds up enough force to scatter the seeds like shrapnel.
A garden bed I cleaned two weeks ago is covered. You’d have to be a much more conscientious weeder than I am to control gripeweed.
As a gardener, I’m dismayed. As a naturalist, I’m impressed.
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