@ofm, Okay, here ya go. I do think the leaves are the best way to distinguish these however.

Here is that oxalis we talked about:

Very fine roots are clumped in soil and water as I tried to rinse off enough soil to show but all I got was this....

Here is Clover root system:

Looking closely I can see how different they are but I don't think the photo shows it all that well. Also, in the yard the clover grows very densely matted so it was hard to find a good single clump to show. And these leaves are not as distinct either ....

Here is clover again, roots closeup with the nodules that are the nitrogen fixing thingies (notice the botanical technical term here ):

I believe those little white lumps are where the plant has collected nitrogen from the atmosphere and stores it.... ??

Here is a picture of both plants side by side:


Hope this helps!

Wow Kyla, that was a lot of work you went to. You should write an article and submit it to ATP.

I should, shouldn't I?

LOL! Right now I am so tired from planting out this morning I can't even think about a project. Even a sitting down project.

But I probably should, as I am quite low on acorns.

Awesome, thank you!
Man I have a hard time telling them apart still. I'm terrible at this. It looks like the Oxalis has bigger roots and the clover is more uh..."hairy"? "Hair-ish"?

I'll try and get some shots of the stuff I have when I get some "time" . I think I have at least 4 distinct types? Uggh.

The stuff that I have the worst problem with tends to still have the seeds attached when I pull them...shouldn't be hard to get a pic of those at least.

Right, the clover has lots more (visible) little feeder roots off the main ones.

Leaf difference (and flower difference) are going to tell the tale, I tell ya!

Here is one I'm sure you have in your yard OFM, its really prevalent here in Seattle (it is a type of oxalis) small little purple leaves and a yellow bloom!

I have that one Greg. It is a pretty thing.

It's a pretty thing and very hard to control or eradicate. Those closely packed teeny roots grab hold and leave bits of themselves to grow, when you pull the plant. That may be exactly the kind I photographed, which has green leaves, but here the climate is different too. The yellow flowers are precisely the same. Then again, there are something like 200 varieties of Oxalis.

Heh. Look what turned up in the Random Ideas: http://garden.org/ideas/view/S...

That does look pretty familiar Greg. I don't think I've ever seen one of mine flower yet - and hopefully I never will!

I know I have something that I think of as "clover", with purplish leaves and central style (as opposed to "feathery"??) root.

Yes they are all over in the grass and yards in Seattle, which is why I figure its down in PO!
The plants in the photo look large but most of mine are tiny because I've weeded out the larger ones!

Two more pictures, probably not helpful.

I tried to find one growing right next to some actual white clover but failed. Within feet, but not close enough to photograph in the same shot.

With flowers:



with slight purple tinge to leaves:

Looking good Paddy!

I just spotted this on pinterest - how about semp filled hedgehogs in stead of cacti ones?? https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/5...

Edited - ooops wrong thread - sorry!

Kate those would be so cute!!
Kyla, yep, second photo is what I have all in my yard...They're cute plants but take over a bed very quickly!

And, they are not clover.

Nope they're oxalis! but they aren't dandelions! although I read an article that dandelions are the first blooms available for bees in the spring, so one should not be too quick to weed them out - sorry, they would get out of hand too quickly around here, guess the bees will be in the neighbors' yards

We let our yard go to whatever grows and haven't mowed yet this year because of all my new beds and stuff. (Mowing will happen next week; I'm finally organized enough I can clear away and make room.)

We've had all the usual weedy flowers for around here: veronica, chickweed, clover of course, purple lamium (lamiam?) and recently buttercups. Oh! And Star of Bethlehem! But only a couple dandelions. And the oxalis but it doesn't flower that much early on.

I think I actually stepped on a bee and got stung earlier this evening, haven't felt that in years. Was too bad to waste the bee but brought back memories.

I stepped on several yellow jackets - which are wasps so they can bite repeatedly, man that was bad!!! I probably stepped on 5 or 6 of them and they each got me once or twice - and I don't think I even killed any! I thought I'd stepped on broken glass because it hurt so badly! But bees always seem different to me!!

Yeah, not the same thing at all. I got stung by a mean crew of Yellow Jackets once, on my head! I had disturbed their nest and they came after me. Not my favorite memory, no.

I hear ya! Mean ole bugs Oh well, I guess its all part of spending time outdoors,
and I do appreciate that!!