Yellow Toadflax Weed

Weeds have so many tricks up their sleeves when it comes to spreading. Take Yellow toadflax weed, for example, also known as butter and eggs. The weed’s blooms are so similar to those of snapdragons, that many property owners are initially delighted to see it sprout spontaneously and multiply the following year. Colorado State Patrol officers report cars stopped along highways while the drivers, shovel in hand, head toward a patch of yellow toadflax, intent on digging up this noxious weed and replanting it on their property.
Why would the Colorado State Patrol care if someone wanted to landscape with a weed? Because Yellow toadflax weed is so invasive that it’s state law to contain or eradicate it. Left unchecked, a single mature toadflax plant can produce up to 30,000 seeds. And that’s not toadflax’s only method of reproducing. It also has a creeping root system that works underground to ensure survival.

Yellow Toadflax Weed Description

Yellow toadflax is a perennial. It grows 1-2 feet tall. Flowers are yellow, 1 inch long, with a bearded orange throat. It flowers late June-September. Leaves are alternate and linear-shaped. Prior to flowering, Yellow toadflax weed resembles Leafy spurge but it lacks milky latex.

Toadflax can be pulled, but because its seeds can remain dormant for up to ten years, it’s very important to pull before the plant goes to seed. Even if only one percent of seeds were dispersed through weed pulling, that’s 300 new toadflax plants that could come to life over the next decade.
To the untrained eye Yellow toadflax can be mistaken for Golden Banner, a native plant that should not be eradicated. For this reason, professional assessment and eradication is often preferred over do-it-yourself weed control.
Think you might have Yellow toadflax weed on your property? Contact SprayTech, Colorado commercial and residential weed control experts, at 720-248-0000 to discuss weed control options.