Tall Plants With Yellow Rat Tails & a Seed Head

Blackseed Plantain

• The plant sporting all of the aforementioned characteristics is the blackseed plantain. It is a broadleaf weed that looks similar to other plantains growing wild in lawns, pastures and along roadsides. The ovate leaves grow in a rosette and the center of the rosette sends up the rattail, which is also the flower spike. This spike becomes the seedhead after flowering. It is in the pre-flowering stage that the rattail appears green with yellow budding nodules. Upon bloom, the flowers are white or purple. In the final stage, the seedhead supports hundreds of small, black seeds.

Plantain Spread

• All members of the plantain family are usually considered invasive as they can take over a lawn in a short time and choke out desireable plants like grasses. The presence of plantain can also indicate inferior soil, as the plant grows best in soil that is infertile and compacted. Blackseed, however, prefers damp, rich soil.

Control

• Control blackseed plantain by pulling the weed up by the roots before it has a chance to set seed. Keeping a healthy, aerated, fertilized lawn will minimize its spread. You may also use a broadleaf weedkiller containing 2, 4-D to eliminate it entirely. Follow all instructions for herbicide use carefully.

Rattail Smutgrass

• Another plant that produces an interesting rattail seedhead is this perennial grass. It is native to tropical parts of Asia and is considered a weed of little use as it has no nutritional value for grazing livestock. It is spread by birds and crops up in pastures and along roadsides. It is easily differentiated from blackseed plantain by the rattail's reddish tint. Many grasses that are planted for hay take on a yellow to tan appearance as they ripen, and these same grasses may bear elongated, slender seedheads with a rattail appearance.