Which are the most common weeds with white flowers? How can you identify and eliminate them from your lawn, garden, backyard, or property? And which is the best way to get rid of them?
Weeds are everyone’s nightmare; some are highly invasive and can easily overwhelm other crops or grass.
Unfortunately, most of them are also pretty hard to eliminate and can keep coming back.
However, if you know what weeds you are dealing with, you can have an easier time getting rid of them.
You must identify the weeds to know the best eradication technique to use. One of the easiest ways to identify weeds is by photo and other characteristics that stand out.
These are the 10 most common weeds with white flowers and how you can identify and get rid of them:
1. White clover
White clover is the most common among lawn weeds that have white flowers. It is a herbaceous perennial plant native to Central Asia, Europe, and the British Isles.
However, it can also be found in several parts of the world, including North America.
White clover has trifoliate (three oval-shaped) leaves and distinctive white (sometimes pink) flowers that form a cluster-like arrangement.
It is also a creeping plant, which uses stolons to spread, forming a mat-like coverage on the ground. White clover is aggressive and can be hard to eradicate when it takes hold.
However, there are a few techniques you can use. The first one is to pull it by hand or with digging tools. You can also use homemade weed killers such as vinegar and dish soap.
Lastly, you can use selective herbicides, for example, those containing dicamba, quinclorac, clopyralid, and fluroxypyr.
2. Bindweed
Bindweed is a perennial field weed native to Europe but also very common throughout North America. It is a climbing weed with thin, thread-like vines that grow around plants and other erect objects.
It has arrowhead-shaped leaves and trumpet-shaped white (sometimes pink) flowers. Bindweed is hard to eliminate due to its large and resilient root system.
Therefore, pulling it by hand might not work. Instead, you should use organic methods such as vinegar, dish soap solutions, and boiling water.
You can also use chemical herbicides such as glyphosate and dicamba.
3. Yarrow
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a flowering weed plant native to North America, Asia, and Europe. It is a common sight around fence rows, open forests, meadows, lawns, gardens, and yards.
Yarrow has trifoliate leaves with a smooth surface and an egg-like shape. It is a herbaceous plant with stems that function as stolons.
You can also identify the plant by its little white flowers in the grass, which form a cluster arrangement and rise above the leaves.
Yarrow is a resilient plant that is hard to eliminate. However, you can kill it using selective herbicides such as triclopyr or dicamba.
You can also use non-selective weed killers such as glyphosate, but at the risk of killing other plants.
4. White nettle
White nettle (also known as white dead nettle) is a flowering plant native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa.
However, it is now found worldwide, including in North America. It commonly grows on roadsides, waste areas, woodlands, and even gardens with fertile soils.
White nettle is a tall-growing weed plant with green, four-angled stems. It produces broad, triangular-shaped leaves with soft hairs, serrated margins, and a rounded base. It also produces white flowers on the upper part of the stem.
There are two effective techniques for getting rid of white nettle. The first one is homemade remedies such as vinegar, boiling water, dishwasher soap, etc.
The second is to use systemic herbicides such as glyphosate, which can target and kill the entire plant.
5. Black nightshade
Black nightshade is a flowering weed plant, which is native to Europe, parts of Africa, North and South America, Asia, and Australian regions.
The plant usually grows in dump areas, under tree shades, in woody areas, near quarries, and old ruins. However, it can also be found in gardens, either as a cultivated plant or having invaded the fertile soil.
Black nightshade is a perennial shrub that can grow up to more than a meter high. It has broad, heart-shaped leaves, which can have a wavy or toothed margin.
The leaves are hairy on both the upper and bottom surfaces. The plant also produces small white flowers with yellow anthers and green berries that turn dark when they ripen.
You can eliminate black nightshade using mechanical weed control methods such as pulling by hand (or digging tools) or mowing.
However, chemical herbicides such as glyphosate will be effective if dealing with a persistent infestation.
6. Daisy weeds
Daisy weeds are flowering plants native to Europe and Asian regions but have spread worldwide, including the Americas and Australia.
They are among the most common lawns and grass weeds in various areas, from neglected grasses to properly managed lawn turfs.
Daisy weeds have spoon-shaped, dark green leaves with a smooth surface. However, their most unique feature is their flowers – the plant produces solitary flowers with yellow inner florets.
While daisies are considered flowers by most people, they are pretty aggressive and can spread easily through their rhizome root system.
However, you can control them using various techniques. For example, pulling by hand or digging tools is effective when you have a few plants.
You can also use selective herbicides such as 2,4-D, dicamba, or triclopyr when dealing with a large infestation.
7. Dandelions
Dandelions are another common weed found in lawns, gardens, fields, forests, wastelands, etc. It is native to Europe and Asia but widespread in other regions such as North America.
The plant is easily identifiable by its basal rosette leaves, which have widely spaced teethed edges. It also produces white or yellow blooms, which grow on a single, hollow stem.
You can eliminate dandelion weeds by mowing your lawn during the flowering stage. Frequent pulling by hands or special tools can also eliminate small infestations.
However, chemical herbicides are more effective when dealing with a huge invasion of dandelions. These include pre and post-emergent herbicides and selective lawn weed killers.
8. Common chickweed
Common chickweed is a low-spreading perennial weed plant native to Europe but widespread in most regions. It primarily grows in fields, gardens, nurseries, lawns, and turf grass.
While low-spreading, common chickweed has erect stems with leaves growing opposite to each other along the stem.
The leaves are broad and egg-shaped, with pointy tips. The weed also produces showy, white flowers with five deeply cut petals at the end of each stem.
Common chickweed has shallow roots and thus can be eliminated by pulling or digging with a shovel or other tools.
However, chemical herbicides such as selective weed killers for lawns are ideal when dealing with several weeds. You can also spot-treat with non-selective herbicides, which risk killing other plants.
9. Thorn apple
Thorn apple, also known as Datura stramonium or jimsonweed, is another weed with white flowers. It is also one of the most popular weeds with thorns.
The weed is native to Central America but has spread over several regions. It commonly grows in disturbed soils, river banks, agricultural fields, and gardens.
Thorn apple has thick erect stems, which branch off repeatedly from where leaves and flowers grow.
The leaves are large, have a smooth surface, and a toothed margin. The plant blooms trumpet-shaped white flowers that have a pleasant odor.
It also has conspicuous green, egg-shaped seed capsules covered with spikes – hence the name thorn apple.
You can eliminate thorn apples by pulling or digging out the entire plant. If you decide to pull, make sure to use proper gardening gloves to protect you from its thorns.
However, you should dispose of it entirely by burning or burying it in plastic wrap if it has produced seeds.
Use broad-spectrum chemical herbicides to kill the plant, but take care not to spray other crops.
10. Henbit weed
Henbit weed is another popular type of weed those blooms white (sometimes purple) flowers. It is common in Europe, South America, North America, Asian regions, and Australia.
You can find it growing in lawns, gardens, waste areas, crop fields, roadsides, pastures, etc. Henbit weed has a square-shaped stem, from where scalloped, heart-shaped leaves emerge.
The lower leaves grow from the stem in a petal formation, while the upper leaves are directly attached. Flowers (white or purplish) are grown at the top of each branch.
You can eradicate henbit weed using natural remedies such as pulling by hand or applying vinegar, corn gluten meal, and dish soap solution.
You can also use chemical herbicides such as selective lawn herbicides, for example, roundup for lawns.
Conclusion
Are you dealing with unidentified weeds with white flowers on your lawn, garden, crop field, or property?
The above are some of the most common weeds that have white flowers. Included is information on where they are likely to grow, identifying features, and effective solutions you can use to eradicate them.
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- Types of weeds with burrs
- List of common weeds with scientific names
Carla is a student pursuing a B.S in Agricultural Systems Technology. With a passion for landscaping for over 4 years, Carla loves plants. She has previously contributed to several other sites in the space before joining InsightWeeds.