Dear Editor,

Bur buttercup is rapidly spreading in Merritt. If you don’t know what it is, take a look along roadsides, parks or the empty lot across from the library.

Right now it’s flowering with a tiny, bright yellow buttercup. It is the earliest flowering annual weed.

When the flower dries, it forms an extremely sharp bur that is full of hundreds of seeds. The bur blows in the wind and settles into any bare soil.

Once it has encroached into an area, children or pets cannot play as the bur is very painful to touch.

Before the flower dries, it can be hoed or dug as the roots are shallow. The lawn care pesticide 2,4-D can be used on large patches but only before it flowers.

If everyone tries, we might control its spread.

Ginny Prowal

Merritt