Which of the following is a winter annual weed that forms a rosette in fall?

• A. Shepherdspurse
• B. Henbit
• C. Common Chickweed
• D. Goosegrass

Answer: (A)

Winter annual weeds germinate in fall, survive winter as a low vegetative rosette, and then bolt and flower in spring. Shepherd’s purse is a classic example: it overwinters as a rosette of small, rounded leaves close to the ground and, come spring, sends up flowering stems with distinctive heart-shaped seed pods. That fall rosette habit is a telltale sign you’d use to identify it in fields or lawns. The other plants don’t fit this pattern: henbit typically forms low, leafy winter growth with eventual upright flowering stems; common chickweed spreads as a light, creeping mat rather than a tight rosette; and goosegrass is a warm-season grass, not a winter annual, so it doesn’t overwinter as a rosette.