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What Are Silver-Gray Weeds?

Silver-gray weeds are by definition plants found where they're not wanted. The silvery gray coloring of their leaves and stems might camouflage them against the dry background, though in the case of silver moss the color comes when they lose their chlorophyll. Gray coloring, especially if the plant is woolly or hairy, also reflects heat and reduces the airflow around the plant, and so conserves water.
  1. Grasses

    • Soft brome is an annual with soft, hairy leaves and it grows from 1 to 5 feet tall. It bears flowers on stalks and grows in open and disturbed places in much of North America save the deep south and a handful of states and Canadian provinces. It flowers from April until July.

      Common velvet grass has white-gray foliage and is a perennial. It grows in clumps in moist sites, cultivated fields and meadows in most of North America. The flowers, which are wispy and pale green to purple, blossom from May to July, then the plant dies back.

      Blue grama grass is a perennial that grows in the United States and Canada. It grows to about a foot tall and grows well in all manner of soil. Its yellow flowers bloom in early summer.

    West Coast Weeds

    • Turkey mullein or dove weed is a West Coast weed that grows in low, round mounds along roadsides and fallow fields. The California quail eats its seeds. The stems and leaves are prickly to the touch.

      Silver burr ragweed, grows on the West Coast from California, up through Canada and into Alaska. It's a sprawling plant whose leaves and stems are hairy and gray. Each plant has either male or female flowers but not both, and flowers are borne on spikes. It's found on beaches and dunes.

    Moss

    • Silver moss is found on walls, waste places and even in cracks between the pavement, so it will not only infest gardens and lawns, but it can infest the outside of homes. Moss plants have no vascular system and so must grow in damp places, and need water to reproduce. This moss loses its chlorophyll over time and turns silver. It grows in mats around 0.2 to 0.5 inches high.

    Highly-Toxic Weed

    • Woolly, or purple, locoweed is a 4- to 16-inch-tall plant covered with silver hairs. It has racemes of lavender-pink pea flowers that bloom from June to September. It ranges from plains and open areas in pine forests to the Great Plains from Canada to Texas, to the Rocky Mountains in Montana and Wyoming to Utah and Arizona. It is an extraordinarily toxic plant -- it is fatal to livestock if it is ingested.


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