Over the past few years I have been noticing a rather unusual and intriguing plant species in the vegetable garden and flower beds. I have not seen these diminutive plants growing anywhere else, so I doubt that seeds from them were brought in inadvertently in compostable materials or with cuttings from others' gardens. Though they are rather plentiful here now, they are not a problem to control, but before thinning them out or tilling them in, I'd like to know what they are. Can any of my readers identify these plants?

Though they look somewhat delicate. they are actually rather hardy. The recent late winter and early spring cold snaps have not affected them adversely at all. They have proved to be quite able to withstand prolonged dry spells, though this past year has not been particularly dry.

Pictured are the plants at two stages: The first two illustrations show the tight ground-hugging nearly "stemless" 4-inch diameter rosettes of young leaves on the first of March, whereas the others show the stems up to about 10-inches in height and the small clusters of flowers of five-petals.

The leaves are light green, basically oval with pinnate venation and acute tip, somewhat glossy, and very delicate (with texture like the feel of a chickweed leaf).

The geographical area here is coastal Texas, about 55 miles south-southeast of Houston.