Virginia Copperleaf

What is Virginia copperleaf?

Virginia copperleaf is a native summer annual in the spurge family. Unlike many spurges, it has no milky sap. Virginia copperleaf identification gets easy once you know its two signatures: leaves that turn a copper or reddish color as summer goes on, and tiny flowers wrapped in a leafy bract that is slashed into many deep lobes, like a little frilled cup sitting in each leaf joint.

It is more of a nuisance than a menace. Virginia Tech notes it is common in poorly managed turf and pastures, and big populations often show up after soil is tilled. NC State calls it a native weed that spreads less aggressively than some of its relatives, and points out that birds eat the seeds and deer browse the leaves. In a lawn or flower bed, the goal is to stop it from seeding, not to wage war on it.

Virginia Copperleaf identification: what to look for

Look at the upper leaf joints first. If you find a small, toothed green cup with lots of narrow lobes wrapped around tiny flowers, you are in the copperleaf group. Then check leaf color, stem hairs and sap to narrow it down.

• Leaves: Lance-shaped to slightly diamond-shaped, up to about 3 inches long, with blunt, widely spaced teeth. Leaf stalks are shorter than the blades. Young leaves are rounder and opposite; later leaves are narrower and alternate.
• Color: New leaves often start brownish or copper. In sun and late in the season the whole plant takes on a coppery-red cast.
• Stems: Upright, round, hairy and mostly unbranched, with no thorns. Break one and you will find no milky sap.
• Flowers and bracts: Clusters in the upper leaf joints. Female flowers sit inside a leafy bract with about 9 to 15 deep lobes; male flowers form small spikes. The flowers themselves are tiny and greenish.
• Seed pods: Three-lobed capsules holding three small, egg-shaped seeds that are dull reddish-brown or gray and spotted.

Where it grows in the United States

This is an eastern and central native. Virginia Tech maps it from Maine to Florida and west to South Dakota and Texas, covering much of the eastern two-thirds of the country, and NC State lists it in more than 30 states plus Ontario. Iowa State notes it is more common in home landscapes, woodlands and disturbed natural areas than in crop fields.

It grows in clay, loam or sand, in full sun or partial shade, and it tolerates the occasional dry spell. That flexibility explains where it pops up: thin turf, freshly worked beds, nursery crops, pasture edges and woodland margins. Disturbance helps it most, which is why heavy flushes often follow tilling.

Virginia Copperleaf look-alikes

A few plants get mixed up with it:

• Rhombic copperleaf (Acalypha rhomboidea): Nearly identical before flowering. Its flower bracts have fewer lobes, and it usually stays mostly green with only copper accents late in the season, while Virginia copperleaf turns more fully copper.
• Hophornbeam copperleaf (Acalypha ostryifolia): Carries irritating hairs that Virginia copperleaf lacks; otherwise the two look much alike, so check for those hairs before grabbing a handful.
• Asian copperleaf (Acalypha australis): A newcomer turning up in Midwestern crop fields. Its bracts are round to heart-shaped with toothed edges instead of deeply lobed. Iowa State asks people who suspect it to contact Extension, since it has resistance to several herbicide groups.

How to get rid of Virginia copperleaf

Pulling, digging and mowing: Hand-pulling is usually all it takes, since the small taproot lets go easily. Pull plants before they flower, or at least before the three-lobed pods ripen, then mulch the bare spot so new seedlings don't move in. Because it is an annual, every plant removed before seed set means fewer next year.

Cultural control matters most, because the right conditions keep it from coming back.

• Keep turf thick and healthy; this weed is most common in thin, poorly managed lawns and pastures.
• Mulch beds after weeding to shade out new seedlings.
• Limit tilling and digging where you can, since big flushes tend to follow soil disturbance.
• Don't let plants set seed; birds and dropped seed start the next generation.

Herbicides: For larger infestations in landscape beds, NC State Extension notes that an herbicide can help and names glyphosate as one example. Glyphosate is nonselective, so treat only the weed and keep it off lawn grass and ornamentals. In lawns, pick a broadleaf herbicide whose label lists copperleaf (or three-seeded mercury) and is safe on your grass type. Because copperleaf species are hard to tell apart and some, like Asian copperleaf, resist several herbicide groups, confirm the identification first. Always use products labeled for the site, and follow the label, which is the law. If you hire someone to spray, make sure they hold your state’s pesticide applicator license; the rules for each state are in our pesticide applicator license guide.

Keeping it from coming back

Since Virginia copperleaf lives only one season, prevention means breaking the seed cycle. Pull or treat plants before they flower in June and July, and catch stragglers before fall, when pods ripen and drop seed.

Beyond that, give it no openings: maintain dense turf, keep beds mulched, and avoid leaving freshly disturbed soil bare. If it shows up in a natural or woodland area where it isn't causing problems, consider leaving it, since it is a native plant that feeds birds.

Questions we get about Virginia copperleaf

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