Now that I have a few more pictures, and now that the plants are blooming, I want to quickly revisit three mint family weeds. The first two are often confused, maybe because of similar habit and flowers.

The plant on the left is Lamium purpureum (purple deadnettle), and the one on the right is Lamium amplexicaule (henbit). Both have similar-shaped leaves, but the deadnettle’s are pointier, and note how long the petioles are on the lower portion. The henbit’s leaves are sessile and appear to almost surround the stem. Also, the uppermost stem leaves of the deadnettle are purplish (hence the specific epithet), though not on very young plants.

Lamium purpureum
purple deadnettle

Lamium amplexicaule
henbit

The third species is Glechoma hederacea (gill-over-the-ground, ground ivy, creeping charlie). Ground ivy’s leaves are close in shape to henbit’s, but they have distinct short petioles. Henbit spreads along the ground, but individual stems will stand straight up; ground ivy stays much closer to the ground.

Glechoma hederacea
ground ivy