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Name That Plant!

Very cute tiny seedling with copper-red cotyledons

Rick (zone 6b, MA)

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

I have many hundreds of these recently germinated in a newly-dug seed bed. Each of these plants is only days old, and very small, maybe 1/8" of an inch wide from leaf-edge to leaf-edge. I'm guessing the leaves turn green before long, or maybe the first true leaves will be green, but we've had rain and no sun for three days straight so these fellows may not know what the sun is. I'm just struck by them; their tiny size and mysterious copper-red color makes me feel like I'm being blessed by a magical spirit or garden sprite, even tho' they may be turn out (in later life) to be some "lowly" weed. I know it's virtually impossible to identify a plant by its cotyledons, but I thought the copper-red color might ring a bell for someone. Any thoughts about what these could be?

The photo is not in very good focus, I know:

magnified:

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Comments (3)

macranthos
8 years ago
Maybe a weedy oxalis. An in focus picture of the mature leaves emerging will confirm.
Rick (zone 6b, MA)
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Ah, thanks, macranthos -- I wasn't sure if these were what you were referring to in my post and photo of a couple days ago where you'd first suggested oxalias, since in that photo the cotyledons weren't red. But yes, maybe that photo was of some more-developed seedlings, after the cotyledons turned green? I'm now looking at that older photo, and yes: those green cotyledons have a reddish perimeter to them as if that coloration is a remnant of an earlier phase of growth.

Browsing around the internet, I see in this description of Oxalis stricta on a Univ. of Florida web page:

Seedling: Cotyledons often have a pink tint with alternate,
trifoliate leaves with thin, heart-shaped leaflets that are creased in
the middle

Is he suggesting that even the cotyledons have trifoliate leaves? No, I don't think any cotyledons are trifoliate.I guess he's saying that after the cotyledons, the first true leaves are trifoliate. Here's the photo from that web page but I think this plant is still much older than mine:

This web page of Oregon State Univ. says "Cotyledons are small and round...." and elsewhere I see this photo of the young Oxalis stricta plant with its cotyledons.

Well, time will tell.

I find myself strangely drawn to these tiny, mysterious seedlings.
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Rick (zone 6b, MA)
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
A month later, to the day. My mystery weed/plant has grown and now I can identify it. It's spotted spurge, Euphorbia maculata. Time did tell.

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