“Florida weed with little pink flowers” might very well be one of the most popular phrases searched on Google each fall as local lawns take on the appearance of a snow-covered meadow with the flowering of Richardia grandiflora from September through January. The flowers can also be white, blue or violet and masses of them give a surreal snowy look to tropical lawns.

This prolific grower is often referred to by the common name of “Mexican clover” because the old flower head resemble spent red clover seed heads. Also known as largeflower pusley, it is a native to South America. A creeping herbaceous perennial rooting at the nodes, it reproduces by seeds and stem fragments.

Although it is not officially an invasive plant, it has become a big problem in many south Florida lawns, primarily St. Augustine lawns. The herbicide used to control largeflower pusley is Atrazine. We have discussed the use of Atrazine before, as it relates to ambient temperatures for proper application. Atrazine should not be applied when the temperature rises 88°F.

Atrazine in its granular form (usually blended with fertilizer and sold as a weed & feed product) is not of a sufficient concentration to control largeflower pusley. A liquid formulation with a 4.0% concentration should be used and several applications will be necessary, spaced several weeks apart.

Tags: pusley, Richardia grandiflora

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 17th, 2011 at 1:14 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.