It’s growing in the “patch” (the euphemism I use for the tiny piece of land in front of our house which hosts the mailbox, various and sundry weeds, some dead grass, and a couple of random pieces of litter). My mom says it’s “jewel weed,” but judging by the Wikipedia photos of that plant I think she’s confused.

Because that’s pretty, and our plant looks, well, like nuclear waste.

Someone else called it “butterfly weed,” but that, too, looks much nicer online:

Judging from this picture, our specimen is either a) something else entirely or b) really in trouble. Actually, either way it’s really in trouble. It looks like it’s got one foot root in the grave. I think it might be best just to pull it up, but I feel badly. I don’t think it is actually a weed, and one oughtn’t to go pulling “real” flowers out of the ground. At least not without knowing for sure what they are, right?

So someone please tell me what it is? At least that way I can properly label its tombstone.