Weeds with yellow flowers make up one of the largest and most visually consistent groups in the entire plant kingdom, since yellow pigments are relatively easy for plants to produce and highly visible to the bees, flies, and beetles that most weeds depend on for pollination. That shared color hides an enormous amount of underlying diversity, spanning at least a dozen unrelated plant families, wildly different growth habits, and toxicity levels ranging from completely harmless to genuinely dangerous to livestock.
Many of the weeds on this list arrived in North America from Europe and Asia, whether as contaminated crop seed, deliberate ornamental introductions, or medicinal and dye plants that later escaped cultivation, while a smaller number are native species that have simply proven exceptionally good at colonizing disturbed ground. A handful have become the target of major biological control programs specifically because their yellow-flowered success at spreading made them serious agricultural or ecological problems.
These weeds occupy nearly every habitat imaginable, from bone-dry rangeland and sand dunes to shaded woodland floors and open water, and hardiness spans the full range from tropical, frost-free species to some of the toughest cold-climate perennials in cultivation. What follows covers 50 weeds recognized for their yellow blooms, along with where each one grows and the data that helps tell it apart from its equally yellow relatives.
Common Dandelion
Common dandelion is native to Eurasia and now grows across nearly every temperate country on Earth, typically found in lawns, meadows, and disturbed ground. It produces a single, large yellow flower head atop a hollow, leafless stalk that closes each night and reopens each morning, a rhythm tied to light and temperature rather than any pollinator schedule. Its taproot can extend 2 to 3 feet into the soil, regrowing readily from broken fragments left behind after an incomplete pulling attempt.
A single flower head can release up to 200 seeds on the wind, each attached to a feathery parachute that can carry it well beyond the parent plant. It grows throughout virtually all of North America, tolerating almost any soil type as long as it receives adequate sunlight.
Common Sowthistle
Common sowthistle is native to Europe and now naturalized worldwide, typically found in agricultural fields, gardens, and disturbed ground across a wide climatic range. It produces pale yellow, dandelion-like flower heads on branching stems that can reach 4 feet tall, considerably taller than any true dandelion, and its clasping, spiny-looking leaves and milky sap help distinguish it at a glance.
It grows across most of the United States as one of the most common weeds of cultivated fields, capable of completing its life cycle and setting seed nearly year-round in mild climates. Its rapid growth and prolific seed production make it a persistent presence in gardens left untended even for a single season.
Prickly Lettuce
Prickly lettuce, also called wild lettuce, is native to Europe and western Asia and grows as a naturalized weed across most of North America, typically found in disturbed fields and roadsides. It produces small, pale yellow flower heads in loose clusters on stems that can reach 5 feet tall, and its leaves carry a row of small spines along the underside of the midrib.
The plant characteristically twists its leaves to align vertically with the sun, earning it the nickname “compass plant,” and its milky sap dries into a resinous substance historically dried and used as a mild folk sedative. It grows throughout most of North America as one of the most common agricultural weeds, particularly troublesome in cereal grain fields.
Yellow Salsify
Yellow salsify, also called goatsbeard, is native to Europe and western Asia and grows as a naturalized weed across most of North America, typically found in rangelands, pastures, and roadsides. It produces a single large yellow flower surrounded by 10 or more narrow bracts that extend visibly beyond the petals, a feature no true dandelion shares.
Its seed head matures into an oversized, softball-sized puffball considerably larger than any dandelion clock, and the plant is monocarpic, flowering once and dying after 2 to 4 years of growth. It grows across most of North America, with wind-dispersed seed capable of traveling up to an eighth of a mile from the parent plant.
Common Catsear
Common catsear, also called false dandelion, is native to Europe and now widespread across North America, typically found in lawns, pastures, roadsides, and other disturbed ground. It’s distinguished from true dandelion by its branched flower stems, since dandelions produce only a single unbranched stalk per flower, along with coarse, hairy leaves rather than dandelion’s smooth foliage.
A single plant can produce up to 6,000 seeds in a season, and its low, ground-hugging rosette tolerates repeated mowing better than many competing lawn plants. It grows throughout most of the United States, particularly thriving in overgrazed pastures and compacted lawns.
Common Hawkweed
Common hawkweed, also called meadow hawkweed, is native to northern, central, and eastern Europe, particularly abundant in the foothills of the Alps, and was introduced to North America in 1828 as both an herbal remedy and an ornamental. It produces multiple small yellow flower heads clustered atop a single hairy stem rather than one large flower on a bare stalk, and it spreads aggressively through both seed and creeping rhizomes.
A single flower head can produce between 12 and 50 tiny seeds, and seeds remain viable in the soil for up to 7 years. It grows from Quebec to Georgia and Tennessee, with especially dense infestations concentrated in northern Idaho, northeastern Washington, and northwestern Montana.
Mouse-ear Hawkweed
Mouse-ear hawkweed is native to Europe, typically found in dry, sandy, or gravelly soils across meadows, pastures, and disturbed open ground. It’s the hawkweed species most easily confused with dandelion at a glance, since it typically produces just a single yellow flower head atop each leafless stalk, unlike the multi-headed clusters of its hawkweed relatives.
Its rounded leaves, covered in fine gray hairs on the underside, spread into a low mat via creeping stolons that root at each leaf node. It grows throughout the northern United States and Canada, favoring poor, well-drained soils where it can outcompete weaker turf and pasture grasses.
Smooth Hawksbeard
Smooth hawksbeard is native to Europe and western Asia, typically found colonizing lawns, roadsides, and disturbed ground across a wide temperate range. Its small, dandelion-like yellow flower heads appear in loose, branching clusters rather than singly, and its smooth, hairless leaves distinguish it from the roughly hairy foliage of catsear.
A mature plant typically reaches 1 to 3 feet tall, completing its life cycle as a winter or summer annual depending on climate. It grows throughout much of the United States, particularly common in irrigated lawns and turf, where its low rosette can persist through repeated mowing.
Beaked Hawksbeard
Beaked hawksbeard, also called narrowleaf hawksbeard, is native to Europe and Asia, typically found in disturbed fields, roadsides, and rangeland across a broad climatic range. Its seeds carry a distinctive elongated beak between the seed body and the fluffy pappus, a structural difference from true dandelion seed that requires close inspection to notice.
A mature plant typically reaches 1 to 3 feet tall, with numerous small yellow flower heads produced on branching stems throughout summer. It grows extensively across the western United States, where it has become a significant weed in cereal grain crops.
Autumn Hawkbit
Autumn hawkbit, also called fall dandelion, is native to Europe, typically found in lawns, pastures, and meadows across cool-temperate climates. It flowers considerably later in the season than true dandelion, often continuing to bloom into autumn after most dandelions have finished for the year, which is how it earned its common name.
A mature plant reaches 6 to 24 inches tall, with wiry, branching flower stems bearing several small yellow flower heads rather than the single large bloom typical of dandelion. It grows throughout the northeastern and north-central United States and southern Canada, often persisting in lawns well past the point in the season when true dandelions have gone dormant.
Tall Buttercup
Tall buttercup is native to Europe and Asia and grows throughout most of North America as a common pasture and lawn weed. It produces glossy, five-petaled yellow flowers on branching stems that can reach 3 feet tall, and its sap contains a compound called ranunculin, which converts to the blistering irritant protoanemonin when the plant is crushed or bruised.
That toxin breaks down into a harmless compound as the plant dries, meaning dried hay poses far less risk to grazing animals than fresh, actively growing plants. It grows throughout most of North America, commonly found in moist meadows, pastures, and disturbed lawns.
Creeping Buttercup
Creeping buttercup is native to Europe and spreads aggressively via above-ground runners that root at each leaf node, quickly forming dense mats in damp lawns and gardens. It produces the same glossy yellow flowers common to the genus on stems reaching about a foot tall, though its low, spreading habit sets it apart from the more upright growth of tall buttercup.
A single plant can send out several runners in a season, each capable of rooting and becoming an independent plant. It grows throughout the northern and coastal United States, particularly troublesome in damp lawns and irrigated pastures where standing moisture favors its spread.
Bulbous Buttercup
Bulbous buttercup is native to Europe and is distinguished from other buttercups by a swollen, bulb-like base at the stem, which stores energy and helps the plant survive dry summer conditions after its spring bloom fades. It produces the same shiny yellow flowers typical of the buttercup family on plants reaching 6 to 18 inches tall.
Its early spring bloom and subsequent summer dormancy allow it to complete much of its growth cycle before hot, dry weather sets in. It grows throughout the northern and eastern United States, typically found in pastures and disturbed grassland with well-drained soil.
Black Medic
Black medic is native to Europe and now grows throughout the United States, southern Canada, and temperate Asia, typically found in lawns and disturbed, nutrient-poor soils. Its prostrate, somewhat square stems can extend up to 2 feet long beneath the turf canopy, and its tight clusters of small yellow flowers mature into distinctive, tightly coiled black seed pods that give the plant its common name.
Its trifoliate, wedge-shaped leaves closely resemble clover and wood sorrel, but the center leaflet sits on a noticeably longer stalk than the two side leaflets, a detail that reliably distinguishes it from both look-alikes. It grows throughout the continental United States and Hawaii, thriving especially in dry, nutrient-poor soils where its nitrogen-fixing ability gives it a competitive edge.
Yellow Sweet Clover
Yellow sweet clover is native to Europe and Asia and was introduced to North America as a forage and soil-improving crop before naturalizing widely as a roadside and field weed. It grows as a tall, upright biennial that can reach 3 to 8 feet in its second year, towering well above the low, mat-forming habit of true clover, with small yellow flowers arranged on long, slender spikes.
The plant contains a compound called coumarin that converts to toxic dicoumarol if hay molds during storage, an anti-clotting agent capable of causing severe, sometimes fatal hemorrhaging in cattle that consume contaminated feed. It grows throughout most of the northern and central United States and Canada, especially common across the Great Plains states.
Birdsfoot Trefoil
Birdsfoot trefoil is native to Europe and western Asia and was widely introduced across North America as a pasture forage legume before escaping into roadsides, lawns, and waste ground. Its bright yellow, pea-shaped flowers give way to narrow, curved seed pods that radiate outward in a shape resembling a bird’s foot, which is how the plant got its name.
Its compound leaves technically carry 5 leaflets rather than 3, but the lower 2 sit close to the stem and are easy to overlook, creating the visual impression of a trifoliate, clover-like leaf. It grows throughout most of the northern and eastern United States and Canada, favoring disturbed, well-drained soils along roadsides and in reclaimed pasture land.
Yellow Wood Sorrel
Yellow wood sorrel is native to North America and grows across a huge range of soil and light conditions, typically found in lawns, garden beds, and disturbed ground of almost any moisture level. Its heart-shaped leaflets, each with a distinct notch at the tip, immediately set it apart from true clover, and its yellow flowers, roughly half an inch to three-quarters of an inch across, are notably larger than the tiny blooms of black medic.
Its foliage carries a sour, lemony taste from naturally occurring oxalic acid, a trait shared with several of its Oxalis relatives worldwide. It grows throughout nearly all of the United States and southern Canada, tolerating everything from full sun to deep shade and from moist soil to fairly dry conditions.
Wild Mustard
Wild mustard is native to Europe and Asia, typically found in agricultural fields, roadsides, and disturbed ground across a wide temperate range. It produces bright yellow flowers in dense clusters atop plants that can reach 2 to 4 feet tall, and its young leaves, flowers, and immature seed pods are all edible with a peppery, mustard-like flavor.
Its mature seeds can be ground into a mustard condiment similar to cultivated varieties, a culinary use that hasn’t stopped it from being one of the more troublesome weeds of cereal grain and canola fields. It grows throughout much of North America as a common agricultural weed, competing directly with related cultivated crops.
Field Mustard
Field mustard is native to Europe and Asia and closely resembles wild mustard in both appearance and habitat preference, producing clusters of small yellow flowers atop blue-green, waxy foliage on plants reaching 1 to 3 feet tall. Its smooth, slightly powdery-looking leaves help distinguish it from the coarser, hairier foliage of wild mustard on close inspection.
Both species can hybridize with cultivated canola in some circumstances, complicating management in commercial oilseed production. It grows throughout much of North America, particularly common in disturbed agricultural fields and along roadsides near cropland.
Wild Radish
Wild radish is native to the Mediterranean region and produces pale yellow to white flowers marked with distinctive purple veining, on plants reaching 2 to 4 feet tall. According to research from the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative, a 2010 survey across 14 million hectares of the Western Australian grain belt found that 84% of wild radish populations carried resistance to at least one commonly used herbicide.
Despite its status as one of the most economically damaging cropping weeds in several countries, its young leaves, flowers, and immature seed pods are all edible with a peppery, mustard-like flavor. It grows across every mainland U.S. state, particularly dense in grain-growing regions.
Wintercress
Wintercress, also called yellow rocket, is native to Europe and Asia, typically found in fields, gardens, and disturbed ground, particularly noticeable in early spring when it’s often one of the first plants to flower. It produces dense clusters of small yellow flowers on plants reaching 1 to 2 feet tall, with leaves that carry a peppery, mustard-like flavor best harvested before flowering.
The leaves become increasingly bitter once the plant bolts and flowers, a shift that limits the window for foraging its otherwise edible foliage. It grows throughout most of the northeastern and midwestern United States, commonly found growing alongside other early-spring weeds like chickweed and henbit.
Turnip Weed
Turnip weed is native to the Mediterranean region and southwestern Asia, typically found in disturbed agricultural fields and roadsides. It produces small yellow flowers on plants reaching 2 to 3 feet tall each spring, and research conducted at the University of Queensland’s Gatton campus has studied its seed persistence and emergence patterns as one of the more troublesome weeds of the eastern Australian grain belt.
Its young leaves and flowers carry a mustard-like flavor and can be eaten in small quantities, though the plant is more often treated as an agricultural nuisance than a foraged crop. It grows across the grain-growing regions of the central and eastern United States and Australia, often found alongside other mustard-family weeds in cropland.
Puncturevine
Puncturevine, also called goathead, is native to southern Europe, forming low, mat-like growth spreading 2 to 5 feet in diameter from a central taproot. It produces small yellow flowers followed by notorious woody seedpods that break apart into hard, spiny burs, each carrying 2 sharp spines capable of puncturing bicycle tires, shoe soles, and bare feet alike.
Seeds can remain viable in the soil for up to 5 years, making established infestations persistent even after removal of visible plants. It grows throughout California and much of the warmer, drier United States, thriving specifically in hot, dry conditions along roadsides, orchards, and pastures.
Buffalobur
Buffalobur is native to the Great Plains and southwestern United States and northern Mexico, typically found on disturbed, overgrazed rangeland and around livestock corrals. It produces bright yellow flowers on a plant thoroughly covered in stiff yellow spines, including on the calyx surrounding its fruit, making it one of the most thoroughly armed weeds in the nightshade family.
A mature plant typically reaches 1 to 2 feet tall, with flowers appearing throughout summer above its spiny foliage. It grows across most of the central and western United States, having spread well beyond its original Great Plains range through contaminated livestock feed and seed.
Common St. Johnswort
Common St. Johnswort, also called Klamath weed, is native to Europe, and according to University of California’s Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program, it once infested roughly 400,000 acres of California rangeland before a 1946 biological control program using imported leaf beetles reduced its abundance by over 99% within a decade. Its bright yellow, star-shaped flowers appear in clusters atop plants reaching 1 to 3 feet tall, with tiny translucent dots visible when a leaf is held up to light.
The plant remains toxic to grazing cattle and sheep, particularly causing sun sensitivity in light-skinned animals that consume it. It grows across the western United States and has become a valued herbal supplement crop in some regions despite its weedy reputation in pastures.
Tansy Ragwort
Tansy ragwort is native to Europe and Asia, typically found in pastures, hayfields, and disturbed grassland. It produces dense, flat-topped clusters of small yellow, daisy-like flowers on plants reaching 1 to 4 feet tall, and it contains toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids that can cause fatal, irreversible liver damage in grazing livestock, particularly horses and cattle.
Unlike many toxic weeds that animals instinctively avoid, tansy ragwort can become more palatable once dried in hay, making contaminated forage a genuine hidden danger. It grows primarily in the Pacific Northwest, thriving in pastures and disturbed grassland with adequate moisture.
Common Tansy
Common tansy is native to Europe and Asia and grows as a naturalized weed across much of North America, typically found along roadsides and in disturbed pastures. It produces clusters of small, button-like yellow flowers lacking the typical petal rays of most daisy-family weeds, atop finely divided, fern-like foliage reaching 2 to 4 feet tall.
Like several other members of the aster family, it can cause allergic contact dermatitis in sensitized individuals through compounds called sesquiterpene lactones found in its foliage. It grows throughout the northern United States and Canada, commonly found along roadsides and disturbed pastures.
Common Groundsel
Common groundsel is native to Europe and Asia, typically found in gardens, lawns, and disturbed ground across a wide temperate range. It produces small, tubular yellow flower heads that rarely open fully, followed quickly by fluffy white seed heads, on plants reaching under a foot tall.
Its rapid life cycle allows it to produce several generations within a single growing season, contributing to its persistence as a garden weed despite its small, unassuming size. It grows throughout most of North America as a rapidly cycling weed of gardens and cultivated fields.
Greater Celandine
Greater celandine is native to Europe and western Asia, typically found in shaded, disturbed ground near old homesteads, hedgerows, and woodland edges. It produces small, four-petaled yellow flowers on plants reaching 1 to 2 feet tall, releasing a distinctive orange-yellow latex sap whenever a leaf or stem is broken.
That sap has a long folk history of use as a topical wart treatment, though it can cause skin irritation with repeated handling. It grows as a naturalized weed across the northeastern United States, typically found in shaded, disturbed ground near old homesteads.
Lesser Celandine
Lesser celandine is native to Europe, North Africa, and western Asia, and according to Penn State Extension, it was introduced to North America as an ornamental in the 1800s and has since become a highly invasive spring ephemeral. Its glossy, butter-yellow flowers can reach an inch and a half across on plants under 5 inches tall, carpeting entire woodland floors before most native spring wildflowers even emerge.
It spreads by underground tubers and above-ground bulbils rather than relying primarily on seed, which makes it notoriously difficult to remove once established, since any missed tuber fragment can regrow into a new plant. It grows throughout the northeastern and midwestern United States and the Pacific Northwest.
Marsh Marigold
Marsh marigold is native to North America, typically found in swamps, wet meadows, and stream margins across the northern half of the continent. It produces glossy yellow flowers resembling large buttercups above rounded, kidney-shaped leaves on plants reaching 1 to 2 feet tall, blooming in early spring alongside skunk cabbage and other wetland ephemerals.
Unlike the invasive lesser celandine it’s sometimes confused with, it’s a native wetland species that plays a beneficial ecological role rather than displacing surrounding vegetation. It grows throughout the northern United States and Canada, restricted to consistently wet, swampy ground.
Yellow Flag Iris
Yellow flag iris is native to Europe, western Asia, and North Africa, typically found along the edges of ponds, marshes, and slow-moving streams. It produces showy yellow, iris-shaped flowers on plants reaching 3 to 5 feet tall, and it has become a significant invasive species in wetlands across North America, forming dense stands capable of altering water flow in irrigation channels.
Its thick, spreading rhizomes allow it to form solid colonies that crowd out native wetland plants used by waterfowl and other wildlife. It grows throughout much of the United States in marshes, pond edges, and slow-moving streams.
Common Evening Primrose
Common evening primrose is native to North America, typically found in fields, roadsides, and disturbed prairie habitats. It produces pale yellow, four-petaled flowers that typically open in the evening and close by midday, on plants reaching 3 to 5 feet tall in their flowering second year.
Its root, harvested from first-year plants before flowering, has historically been cooked as a root vegetable, while its seeds have drawn commercial interest for their oil content. It grows throughout most of the United States and southern Canada, favoring the same disturbed, sunny habitats common to many other biennial weeds.
Sundrops
Sundrops closely resembles evening primrose in flower structure and native range but opens its bright yellow flowers during the day rather than at dusk, making it easier to enjoy in a garden setting. A mature plant typically reaches 1 to 3 feet tall, generally more compact than the taller evening primrose.
Native to eastern North America, it favors similar dry, open habitats to its night-blooming relative, though its daytime bloom has made it more popular as a deliberately cultivated garden perennial. It grows throughout the eastern and central United States in dry, open fields and roadsides.
Butterweed
Butterweed is native to the central and eastern United States, typically found in low, poorly drained agricultural fields and floodplains. It produces clusters of small, daisy-like yellow flowers on hollow, purple-streaked stems reaching 1 to 3 feet tall each spring, often appearing in such density that entire fields turn solid yellow before crops are planted.
Its rapid spring growth and prolific seed production have made it an increasingly common weed in no-till farming systems across its range. It grows extensively across the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys, often carpeting entire agricultural fields in a single yellow bloom.
Golden Ragwort
Golden ragwort is native to eastern North America, typically found in moist meadows, stream banks, and woodland edges. It produces clusters of small, daisy-like yellow flowers atop plants reaching 1 to 2 feet tall, rising above heart-shaped basal leaves that persist through much of the growing season.
Unlike some of its more toxic ragwort relatives, it’s generally considered a beneficial native wildflower rather than a serious pasture weed, though it can still spread aggressively in favorable wet conditions. It grows throughout the eastern United States and Canada, typically in moist meadows, stream banks, and woodland edges.
Yellow-Flowered Prickly Poppy
Yellow-flowered prickly poppy is native to Mexico and the southwestern United States, typically found on dry, disturbed rangeland and overgrazed pastures. It produces large, papery yellow flowers on spiny, blue-gray foliage reaching 2 to 4 feet tall, with every part of the plant, including the flower buds and seed capsules, carrying some degree of spination.
Its milky, yellow-orange sap is mildly toxic and can cause skin and eye irritation on contact. It grows across the southwestern and south-central United States, thriving in overgrazed pastures where livestock have depleted more palatable competing vegetation.
Sulphur Cinquefoil
Sulphur cinquefoil is native to Europe and Asia, typically found in dry pastures, roadsides, and hayfields. It produces pale yellow, five-petaled flowers on hairy, upright stems reaching 1 to 2 feet tall, with palmate leaves divided into 5 to 7 narrow leaflets.
Its deep taproot allows it to persist through drought and repeated mowing better than many competing pasture grasses. It grows throughout most of the northern United States and Canada, commonly found in dry pastures, roadsides, and hayfields.
Silverweed Cinquefoil
Silverweed cinquefoil is native to North America, Europe, and Asia, typically found in moist, disturbed soil along roadsides and field margins. It produces bright yellow, five-petaled flowers close to the ground above distinctive silvery, fern-like foliage covered in fine, silky hairs on the underside.
It spreads by creeping stolons similar to strawberry plants, rooting at each node to form dense mats over time. It grows throughout the northern United States and Canada, favoring moist, disturbed soil near roadsides and waterways.
Common Mullein
Common mullein is native to Europe and Asia, typically found in dry, rocky, disturbed ground across a wide temperate range. It produces small yellow flowers scattered along a single tall flowering spike that can reach 5 to 8 feet, rising from a low rosette of thick, fuzzy, gray-green leaves that can exceed a foot in length.
Its dense covering of fine hairs gives the foliage a distinctive soft, felt-like texture unlike almost any other roadside weed. It grows throughout the United States and southern Canada, thriving in poor, rocky, well-drained soil where many other plants struggle to establish.
Moth Mullein
Moth mullein is native to Europe, typically found in fields, roadsides, and waste ground across a broad temperate range. It produces individual yellow or white flowers with distinctive purple, fuzzy stamens along a slender spike reaching 2 to 4 feet tall, considerably more delicate in appearance than the dense, felted spike of common mullein.
Its smoother, less hairy foliage also sets it apart from its more common relative on close inspection. It grows throughout much of the eastern and midwestern United States in fields, roadsides, and waste ground.
Yellow Toadflax
Yellow toadflax, also called butter and eggs, is native to Eurasia, and according to Colorado State University Extension, it was imported into North America in the late 1600s as an ornamental and medicinal plant and had spread throughout the continent by the mid-20th century. Its snapdragon-like yellow flowers feature a distinctive orange throat and grow on stems reaching 1 to 3 feet tall.
It spreads aggressively through both seed and an extensive creeping root system, making it difficult to control through mowing or shallow tillage alone. It’s classified as noxious in Colorado and many other western states, where dense infestations can significantly reduce rangeland forage value.
Dalmatian Toadflax
Dalmatian toadflax closely resembles yellow toadflax but carries broader, heart-shaped, waxy blue-green leaves that clasp the stem, and according to Montana State University Extension’s invasive plant program, its yellow, snapdragon-like flowers appear on plants reaching up to 3 feet tall. It was introduced to the western United States as an ornamental around 1874.
Its waxy, drought-resistant foliage allows it to tolerate drier, harsher rangeland conditions than yellow toadflax typically prefers. It grows extensively across rangeland in Montana and other western states, often outcompeting native grasses on disturbed, well-drained slopes.
Yellow Archangel
Yellow archangel is native to Europe and western Asia, typically found in shaded, moist woodland edges and disturbed ground. It produces small, hooded yellow flowers along square stems with silver-mottled, nettle-like leaves that don’t sting despite their close visual resemblance to true nettle foliage.
Its aggressive, trailing growth habit allows it to root readily at each leaf node, forming dense mats that crowd out native woodland understory plants. It grows as an aggressive invasive groundcover across the Pacific Northwest and parts of the Northeast, particularly in shaded, moist woodland edges.
Creeping Jenny
Creeping Jenny, also called moneywort, is native to Europe, typically found near streams, ponds, and other consistently moist ground. It produces small, cup-shaped yellow flowers along low, trailing stems that root at each node, spreading into a dense, mat-forming groundcover within a single growing season.
Its glossy, rounded leaves and vigorous spread have made it popular as an ornamental groundcover despite its tendency to escape garden beds into surrounding wet habitat. It grows as an escaped groundcover across much of the eastern and midwestern United States, favoring consistently moist soil near streams and ponds.
Water Primrose
Water primrose is native to South America, typically found in ponds, ditches, and slow-moving streams. It produces bright yellow, five-petaled flowers on floating or emergent stems, and it’s become a significant invasive aquatic weed capable of forming dense mats that clog waterways and reduce oxygen levels for fish and other aquatic life.
Its ability to root in both submerged and saturated soil allows it to spread rapidly along shorelines and into shallow water alike. It grows throughout the southern and western United States in ponds, ditches, and slow streams.
Velvetleaf
Velvetleaf is native to China and India, and it was introduced to North America in the 1600s as a fiber crop, having been cultivated in China for that purpose since around 2000 BC. It produces small yellow flowers on densely hairy, heart-shaped foliage that can reach up to 10 inches long, giving the entire plant a soft, velvety texture that gives it its common name.
A mature plant typically reaches 5 to 6 feet tall in soybean fields, sometimes growing as tall as the surrounding crop and competing aggressively for light. It grows throughout much of the eastern and midwestern United States, particularly troublesome in reduced-tillage row crop fields.
Prickly Sida
Prickly sida is native to tropical regions of the Americas, typically found in disturbed fields, pastures, and roadsides across warm-temperate to tropical climates. It produces small yellow flowers on wiry, upright stems reaching 2 to 4 feet tall, with sharp paired spines at the base of each leaf stalk that distinguish it from similar-looking mallow relatives.
Its tough, fibrous stem can be difficult to mow or cultivate through, occasionally damaging or clogging farm equipment in heavily infested fields. It grows throughout the southeastern and south-central United States, particularly troublesome in cultivated row crop fields.
Wild Parsnip
Wild parsnip is native to Eurasia, typically found along roadsides, in restored prairies, and in pastures across the Midwest and Northeast. It produces flat clusters of small yellow flowers atop plants reaching 4 to 5 feet tall, and its sap contains furanocoumarins that cause severe chemical burns when exposed to sunlight after skin contact.
Affected skin can remain discolored and sun-sensitive for up to 2 years afterward, and concentrations of the irritating compound actually increase if the plant is cut back and allowed to regrow. It grows throughout most of the United States, particularly common along roadsides and in restored prairies.
Curly-Cup Gumweed
Curly-cup gumweed is native to central and western North America, typically found in dry, disturbed rangeland and roadside soil. It produces bright yellow, daisy-like flowers surrounded by distinctive curled, sticky bracts coated in resin, a defense that deters many would-be herbivores from feeding on the flower heads.
Its deep taproot and resinous, drought-tolerant foliage allow it to thrive in poor, compacted soils where few other flowering plants can compete. It grows throughout the Great Plains and western United States, thriving in dry, disturbed rangeland and roadside soil where few other plants compete.
Further References
- UC IPM — Dandelion
Useful for identifying dandelions by their yellow flower heads, deeply lobed leaves, hollow stalks, taproots, and fluffy seed heads. - Cornell University — Lawn Weeds
A helpful resource covering several common lawn weeds, including yellow-flowering species such as birdsfoot trefoil, black medic, dandelion, and others. - Penn State Extension — Yellow Woodsorrel
Provides identification and growing information for yellow woodsorrel, a common yellow-flowering weed found in lawns, gardens, parks, and other disturbed areas. - UC IPM — Sowthistles
Useful for distinguishing annual and related sowthistles, including their yellow flowers, prickly or toothed leaves, milky sap, and seed production. - USDA NRCS — PLANTS Database
A valuable reference for checking plant names, taxonomy, distribution, characteristics, images, and other identification details for yellow-flowering weeds found across the United States. - University of Minnesota Extension — Perennial Weeds
Includes identification characteristics for perennial weeds such as perennial sowthistle and can help compare yellow-flowering weeds with other common field and agricultural species.