Dry Beans

Winter Annual Weed Seedlings

On this page
  • Mustards
  • Common sowthistle
  • Prickly lettuce
  • Prairie cupgrass

Use the photos below to identify weeds in the field.

Click on photos to enlarge. Names link to more information on biology and management.
Mustard seedling.

Mustards (Brassica spp.) Mustard family; all mustard seedlings with broad seed leaves and deep notch at tip; first true leaves bright green on the upper surface and paler below.

Annual sowthistle seedling.

Common sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus): Sunflower family; seed leaves markedly stalked, almost spoon-shaped, rounded at tip and often have grayish powdery bloom.

Seedling of prickly lettuce, Lactuca serriola.

Prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola): Sunflower family; summer or winter annual or biennial; seed leaves about 2 times longer than wide; first true leaves with rounded margins; injured tissue bleeds milky white latex.

Prairie cupgrass

Prairie cupgrass (Erichloa contracta): Grass family; light green seedlings as distinguished from southwestern cupgrass, with short, soft hairs on leaf blade and sheath; hairlike ligule less prominent than in southwestern cupgrass.


Statewide IPM Program, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California
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