Hi - I always thought of this as a fern but really would like to know the name of it. It is extremely invasive. No matter how much I pull it up and throw it away it comes up somewhere else - in the garden or flower pots. I’d like to read more about it if I knew the name. Thanks for any help you can give me.

- MaryBeth

The common name is artillery plant or artillery fern, but it is not a fern. It shoots its seeds a distance from the plant – hence artillery, and its ability to spread. The Latin name is Pilea microphylla.

It is grown as an ornamental pot plant in colder climates, but can become a nuisance in south Louisiana gardens. You see it all over the French Quarter growing in cracks in walls and sidewalks.

Dan Gill
Consumer Horticulture Specialist