(Check out the weathered hands from all that gardening...) :)
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This lovely specimen is about 9" tall, leaves are a bit fuzzy.
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So? What say you?

It looks like it might be Cynoglossum officinale, hound's-tongue. The flower head is very immature to tell for sure though. Is it soft & furry all over?

My weed book is 'Weeds of the Prairies', published by AAFRD (Alberta Agriculture). I mail ordered it directly from them, it was pretty cheap. It has lot of pics but tends to deal mainly with crop weeds.

Hope that helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hound's Tongue

Thanks! I think you're right. Besides being poisonous, "It was once believed that placing a leaf in ones shoe would protect a person from being barked at by unfamiliar dogs."! That could come in handy!

The book I have is published by Ontario Ministry of Food and Rural Affairs. I refer to it often. It not only shows what the weed looks like but how it grows etc. Eric bought it for me 2 years ago and I beleive he paid $15 for it. I think it was a good investment. If you go to the OMAFRA website and type 'weeds' into the search engine, you will also find lots of info. Hope this helps. Marg

The two books I refer to I was able to purchase at Coles Bookstore... They both are full of colored pictures and wonderful descriptions.

Weeds of Canada and the Northern United States by Royer and Dickinson published by Lone Pine Publishing and sold for $29.95. It shows colored pictures of the seedlings, seeds, the mature plant and its flowerhead. I like the information on each including a detailed description of the flower, plant, distribution areas, fruit, leaves, seed, seedling, reasons for concern and similar species. The common name is listed as well as its Latin name and French name and a quick description.

Plants of the Western Boreal Forest and Aspen Parkland by Johnson, Kershaw, MacKinnon and Pojar also published by Lone Pine Publishing for $24.95. It lists trees, shrubs, roses, asters, sedges, etc with the same details as the Weeds of Canada book.

Brenda

I also have Plants of the Western Boreal Forest and Aspen Parkland and I like it very much. It's not as good for introduced weeds though, for some reason it doesn't list some of the common ones around here. For instance, Cynoglossum officinale isn't in it. Dunno why.

Alberta Agriculture has an on-line guide for "Restricted, Noxious, and Nuisance Weeds in Alberta", which lists quite a few weeds - not all. Go to the Ropin' the Web website and type in "noxious weeds". I find it quite handy when I want to know if a weed is a major problem or not. They do have Cynoglossum officinale listed.

Connie

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, time to make a trip to the bookstore. We seem to have every book on wildflowers in our home library, but none on weeds. I never thought to look in my Plants of the Western Boreal Forest and Aspen Parkland book, guess I just assumed it wouldn't be in there.

Connie, I needed that reminder about 'Ropin' the Web', I had forgotten about that one. Good resource! Thanks!