It is a Mallow, perhaps Malva parviflora, but without flowers hard to tell. It’s just a plant. No reason to be concerned.

Thank you, floral.

I now have some idea where to start my research. I will post photos when/ if it flowers.

I would call that pennywort

Maybe. But it isn’t Pennywort.

If it were smaller, I'd think creeping charlie, but its leaves are much smaller than that.

According to my "plant snap" app, it's "muscadine" (vitis rotundifolia)

Vitis Rotundifolia is a vine specia described by Andre Michaux Vitis rotundifolia is part of the genus family and family vineyards

Well Deb, that shows how crummy your plant snap app is LOL. Definitely not a grapevine.

This is a totally sincere question. Can someone explain what about @User plant makes it clear that it is not pennywort?

(To explain: When folks tell me that their neighbor/friend/grandpa has a horse and I ask them what kind it is and they reply "it's brown", THAT is my level of plant identification ability.)

The size and shape of the leaves, primarily. 'Pennywort' is the common name give to a number of plants, most of which have smaller rounded leaves about the size of a coin. Those plants with that common name with larger leaves are mostly tropical aquatics that would NOT pop up spontaneously in Alberta!!

The leaf size, shape, texture, vein pattern, leaf margin, habit of growth and every other detail other than being green and roundish are different from any plant usually called Pennywort. Eg Hydrocotyle or Umbilicus rupestris. Also the petiole of Pennyworts comes from the centre of the leaf, like an umbrella handle. The Malva petiole comes from the base of the leaf.

I'm in east central Alberta and it's a malva, either parviflora as floral suggests or neglecta. It's possibly toxic to horses if you have any. It has a long taproot, so if it's somewhere in your garden as opposed to out in the middle of nowhere I would yank it out now before those roots get any longer, and definitely before the plants flower and go to seed (which is how they spread).

Stay cool tomorrow!

My app says ”small mallow”.

Which is a common name for Malva parviflora. Does the app give a botanical name?

Whatever it is, it looks very healthy!

Most of the time plant ID Apps are like:

How tall are the plants? Malva neglecta can reach 20", Malva parviflora 4.5'. If you measure height measure the length of a stem. Malva parviflora can sprawl.

Just a friendly PSA. I've downloaded several plant ID apps just out of curiosity. For anyone with a familiarity with plants beyond Boston ferns, they are mostly good for a good laugh :P At best, for more common plants they perform at about 50% accuracy. For any plant remotely uncommon, their success rate is abysmal.

I too have not found one that identifies plants correctly if the plant is not in flower. I have given them up for foliage identification.

Google lens is a decent app. It gives several choices that have to be narrowed down. For this plant it listed both M. parviflora and M. neglecta, but it also listed Pelargonium, Zucchini, Centrella, Ladies Mantle, Malva verticillata, etc. You have to use leaf close ups, so the app can see the details. If I used the 1st picture of the whole mass of plants, the app would probably say something crazy like slime mold or mint milkshake.

“Which is a common name for Malva parviflora. Does the app give a botanical name?”

They’re identifying it as malva pusilla.

Thanks for everyone’s input.

I do believe that floral is quite correct about what it is.

I’ve read up on it and was a little concerned about it being toxic to horses as I did have (until 3 weeks ago) two horses that could access it. Both horses were/are older horses and the 26 year old Morgan died suddenly 3 weeks ago but he had been diagnosed with equine Cushings so I’m pretty sure that is what he died from. His death showed no signs of poisoning nor did he exhibit any signs when he was alive. Plus, there was no sign of ”the plant” having been grazed.

My other horse, the American paint, Chex, was moved to a neighbours shortly after Shadow died and I don’t plan on keeping horses any longer so I’m not concerned about it being toxic to horses.

I’m waiting for it to flower and then I will post the photo.

beckysharp, I got my nine holes of golf in this morning and plan on hunkering down in the shade tomorrow.🌞

M pulsilla is a possibility in Alberta. But the most usual common name for that species is round leaved Mallow. This is why using botanical names is to be encouraged. There’s no ambiguity.

I spread the leaves apart this afternoon and found little blossoms like this about halfway on two foot stems.

"26 year old Morgan died suddenly 3 weeks ago but he had been diagnosed with equine Cushings"...curious re:symptoms of equine Cushings because my daughter had it (pituitary adenoma).

I know it’s neither creeping Charlie nor pennywort (gotu kola). I have both of these one is an invasive weed, and one is an herb which can be mixed in salad.

Marcie, equine Cushings is actually Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID).

Generally, the signs in a horse is age, failure to shed his winter coat and laminitis among other things. He also had lost a lot of his energy.

My daughter's symptoms were too numerous to list but once the pituitary was removed,(when she was 10) she is left with lifelong deficiencies requiring multiple hormone replacement therapies. She's doing quite well and even has 3 children, albeit with lots of help (IUI fertility treatments).

I’m happy to hear that your daughter is doing well. And lucky you being a grandmother.🙂

I am a great-grandmother! We have 13 grands and 4 great-grands...life is good!