Know Your Weeds
Utah has quite a few species on the official Noxious Weed List, but we are focusing on our top 4 most wanted for this project:
This invasive weed was introduced to Utah as an ornamental plant for peoples' gardens, but it escaped out of yards and is spreading up into the foothills.
Myrtle Spurge has a caustic white sap that can cause serious harm to your skin and eyes. Make sure to handle this plant with caution!
Click here for more info and how to remove it.
This invasive weed grows so big and is so sharp and spiky that it keeps people from recreating and wildlife from foraging on land that it invades. Each thistle head on a plant can contain tens of thousands of seeds, so it's really good at spreading.
Click here for more info and how to remove it.
Originally cultivated as a source of indigo dye, this plant quickly escaped cultivation and spread like wildfire throughout western rangelands. This invader is very good at pushing out native species and taking over entire acres of land. Dyer's Woad has allelopathic properties, meaning it produces chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants nearby.
Click here for more info and how to remove it.
Puncturevine is that flat, mat-like plant that grows sharp, spiny little seed pods known to many as Goatheads. These seed pods are sharp as tacks, and destroy bicycle tires, the pads of animals' feet, and have even been known to puncture car tires from time to time.
Click here for more info and how to remove it.
If you're having trouble identifying a plant, a great tool is iNaturalist. It's a free app that you can download to your phone. You can take photos of a plant and upload them, and the app will help ID the plant in question. It also drops a GPS point where you make your observation, so the location of the plant is recorded as well. For more info and how to use iNaturalist, click here.
