Neighbor walking my alley stopped and took a pic of a mystery plant in my yard. I didn’t know plant apps were a thing. But now I do and I know the plant.

If you don’t have a garden store or county horticultural center, try the apps.

https://thebackyardpros.com/best-free-apps-to-help-identify-plants/

Last edited Mon May 12, 2025, 04:36 PM - Edit history (1)

NOTE: This all happened a year or more ago. I'm bringing it up now because I recently noticed more of those invasive little plants in my garden, and I was intent on "solving the mystery."

Back when it first happened, I had gone to my doctor. I'd never experienced anything like this before and was determined to find the cause. My doctor had said it looked like dyshidrosis. When I looked dyshidrosis up, it said:

"California, plants like poison oak, fig, and ivy can cause allergic reactions, including dermatitis, which can be a trigger for dyshidrosis."

Mystery solved, I would say. Thank you all for your input!! 😎🇺🇸

To the unsuspecting novice, Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum), also called Robert’s geranium, looks to be a splendid native wildflower. Preferring to grow on woodland edges, the delicate pink flowers adorn the long fuzzy red stems against a backdrop of elegant lacy foliage. So effortlessly does it form large drifts among the ferns and salal that it almost seems wrong to assume it’s a stranger from a far-off land. But that’s exactly what it wants you to believe.

No mention of it being poisonous.