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Herbaceous plant ID

Started by Dodgy Loner, May 15, 2008, 03:38:10 PM

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Dodgy Loner

A client sent me this photo and asked me to identify the plant.  Please help me look smart ;).
It's a wild plant growing in a forested area of the north GA mountains, if that helps.

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

HOOF-ER

Looks like wild rhubarb to me. Just my guess  :D
Home built swing mill, 27hp Kawasaki

Bro. Noble

Well,  I think the DanG thing is going to get burrs on it >:(
milking and logging and sawing and milking

Gary_C

Looks like rhubarb to me too.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Timburr

I think Bro. Noble is on to something, 'cos my first impression was what we call a burdock (family asteraceae, genus arctium....).  Our green ground coverings are vastly different to yours, so it's a stab in the dark to us!
Sense is not common

Dale Hatfield

Looks like Burdock from here. Its been kinda odd spring the burdock is up and about a foot tall. Its usually a later season weed .

Dale
Game Of Logging trainer,  College instructor of logging/Tree Care
Chainsaw Carver

Corley5

Burdock :)  It's usually tall enough up here by the middle of June to cut with a sickle bar.  We've got a patch along Dad's barnyard that we mow when we cut hay.  For a change of pace I sprayed it with 2-4D a few days ago  8) ;D
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Dodgy Loner

Nope, not burdock I'm afraid, although the leaves do look very similar.  This plant has a single leaf on a thick, fleshy stem.  It won't get any taller than it is right now.  Burdock would have many leaves, and as you said, it would get much taller.  It also tends to grow in open fields, not rich woodlands.  I'll probably have to throw in the towel on this one :-\.
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

WDH

I have scratched my head on this one too.  We need a flower.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

OneWithWood

Yep, Danny, that is what Linnnea said too.  :)
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

Timburr

Danny, we may have to wait a decade or so for it to flower!!  ;D

Another notion that comes to mind is a species of butterbur - Petasites.....   It grows in moist deciduous woodland and has single or a few leaves.  Do you have them over there?
Sense is not common

WDH

Timburr,

Yes, there are some here, but I am not familiar with them.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Gary_C

I know these plants are Ruhbarb.





This is what the stems look like.


Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Dodgy Loner

Quote from: WDH on May 16, 2008, 11:45:07 AM
I have scratched my head on this one too.  We need a flower.

I looked up every "wildflower" that is supposed to occur in the southern Appalachians, and this plant didn't match any of them.  Not even close.  So apparently, the flowers are very inconspicuous.  Part of the problem is that I don't know of a single good resource for identifying native herbaceous plants (I'm pretty confident that this plant is a native).  There are books for IDing trees, shrubs, vines, wildflowers, grasses, fungi, important wildlife plants, edible wild plants...but none that cover just plain ol' herbaceous plants.  What's a feller to do ???
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

WDH

Vascular Flora of the Carolinas is the best resource I have ever used.  Very technical though.  The flowers must be inconspicuous or you would have found the answer.

You just need to learn them all and become the expert :).  You are still young.  It will probably only take about 50 years to find them all and key them out ::).
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

metalspinner

QuoteThere are books for IDing trees, shrubs, vines, wildflowers, grasses, fungi, important wildlife plants, edible wild plants...but none that cover just plain ol' herbaceous plants.  What's a feller to do

Uhmmm... I think your book is waiting to be written. ;)
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

scgargoyle

Hurry up and eat some, so we'll know if it's poisonous or not! :D :D :D
I hope my ship comes in before the dock rots!

Dodgy Loner

Quote from: metalspinner on May 17, 2008, 10:44:43 PM
Uhmmm... I think your book is waiting to be written. ;)

Looks like I've got some work to do :-[

WDH, now that you mention it, I am familiar with the vascular flora of the carolinas.  My dendro professor used it to key out some hawthorns I brought him when I was an undergrad.  Definitely very technical, but that's what I need.  I'll see if I can find a copy on amazon.com
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Bro. Noble

If I found that plant and wanted to know what it was,  I'd look it up in a book written by Stermark (sp?),  do you have access to it"

Course if I found it,  I probably wouldn't care what it was  and would just spray it with 2,4,-D ;D
milking and logging and sawing and milking

WDH

Quote from: Dodgy Loner on May 18, 2008, 02:09:18 PM
Quote from: metalspinner on May 17, 2008, 10:44:43 PM
Uhmmm... I think your book is waiting to be written. ;)

Looks like I've got some work to do :-[

WDH, now that you mention it, I am familiar with the vascular flora of the carolinas.  My dendro professor used it to key out some hawthorns I brought him when I was an undergrad.  Definitely very technical, but that's what I need.  I'll see if I can find a copy on amazon.com

My tattered copy is well used.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

SwampDonkey

Looks like a species of Cacalia and appears to be a sterile specimen, which takes up to 3 years to finally flower. It is in the aster family.

One is known as pale Indian plantain C. atriplicifolia, another great Indian plantain C. muhlenbergii

I use Peterson's field guides. Audubon doesn't even mention these species.  :-\
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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