I know this is probably not going to get me anywhere, but I don't know what else to do other than to check out a book in the library on weeds, but the library's closed today.

Here's the problem. There is a weed that grows in the fields and pastures all around Dinwiddie. I have never seen this weed flower, so, when it does, it must have the least significant flowers in the universe.

My grandmother called it "Devil's Shoelaces," but she was wrong. I've goggled that name, have pulled up photographs, and the weed I have in mind definitely isn't Devil's Shoelaces. That's a altogether different-looking kind of weed.

Then I went up to B.T. Hargrave's Feed and Grain Store, asked about my weed, and one of the men there confidently said, "It's called 'Mare's Tail,' but sometimes is called 'Dog Fennel.'"

Oh, I was a happy soul! Finally a name for this weed, that I really think is a very pretty weed.

So, last night I googled both Mare's Tail and Dog Fennel (or dogfennel, of which there are many varieties), and neither is my weed. Most definitely not.

And I just finished unsuccessfully googling my weed this way:

[weed Virginia 'feathery leaves']

Too many hits. And nothing I clicked on was helpful. I needed pictures.

Now here's a description of the weed and maybe, just maybe, somebody out there will know this weed that grows in Virginia and probably in lots of other places, too:

It grows on a single stalk that reaches about 3' high.

Usually you see two, three, four, five, six, maybe seven of these single stalks rising from about the same location. I don't think I've ever just seen one stalk by itself.

From the stalk sprout long, very, very soft, feathery-like "leaves." They point slightly upward, rather than downward, from the stalk.

If you run your hand up the length of the weed, you feel a very surprising softness--it feels very much like feather.

It's not mare's tail, it's not any kind of dogfunnel--it looks more like a green feather with the little featherets unattached.

Oh, and it is lightly and sweetly aromatic.

Maybe somebody here knows what it is or knows how I might better google my information...

Best regards,
WW