photos combined in PDF document: http://www.michaeltangen.com/documents/unidentified_plant.pdf
The plant is about three feet high, about five feet in diameter and is definitely a sprawler, as it's taking up a great deal of real estate. It has small, yellow flowers (about an eighth of an inch in diameter) that produce more leaves and shoots, serrated leaves in groups of threes, and has YET to produce any sort of fruit or vegetable.
The "sap" running through the stalks is extremely pungent and the stalks are relatively "fuzzy" in texture. Any clue as to what sort of plant this is? It doesn't really seem like a weed to me, but I could be wrong. Any thoughts?
2006-07-20 06:46:11 · 7 answers · asked by design_by_michael 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Garden & Landscape
Jules, it's not marijuana. That plant variety has a set of FIVE serrated leaves.
And yes, the plant IS ugly...but then again some vegetable and fruit plants aren't all that appealing in appearance either.
We just want to know what in the world it is.
2006-07-20 06:57:12 · update #1
To the suggested answers thus far, there've been some really good guesses, but they don't seem to quite fit the bill. The flowers are extremely small and are a single bud, which seems to produce more branches, each with segments of serrated leaves in groupings of threes.
I'll try to post some better photos later this evening.
2006-07-20 10:57:50 · update #2
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I've checked on the various suggestions and think it's not really of the traditional "floral" perennial variety and might be closer to a weed or something that sprang up from a seed that a bird (or birds) may have dropped in the garden.
It's almost August and hasn't produced anything to speak of except for more real estate-consuming foliage.
The flowers are quite small, much smaller than the Cinquefoil that has been suggested, and is looking less and less appealing. Needless-to-say, it's going to get pulled.
Thank you everyone for your help...even if I still couldn't identify it. I think I may take a sample to one of the local garden supply shops or to a local university as suggested.
2006-07-26 07:02:11 · update #3
I don't know what it is but it grows in my flowers beds no matter how many times I pull it out. I think the birds drop it when they have " droppings ".
I wouldn't mind it if it would not choke my other plants to death.
I ust pull and pull- i have tried Round Up but it keeps coming back.
Good luck.
2006-07-20 07:47:44 · answer #1 · answered by bootsjeansnpearls 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I thought I had seen this plant in one of my books....so I went and looked...and looked! I believe it to be a "Cinquefoil"......Potentilla
God Bless
Grandma
My computer crashed before I could give more info...heres a little bit more:
Potentilla Warrensii:
all zones
grows to 15 feet. tolerates wide range of soils.
There are many species to this plant, blooms which are small range in color from yellow to pink to salmon
Some grow wild in the rocky mountain regions but they are found about everywhere. I don't know if this particular name(warrensii) is the one you have but like I said there are many varieties to this species.
Hope this helps, I had a plant I could not identify and it drove me crazy too!
Grandma
2006-07-25 14:30:21 · answer #2 · answered by grandma 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It looks like a type of potentilla (hard to tell from the picture). If you don't think it is a weed, then it is not! A weed is a plant out of place, and if you like it, that is good news for the plant!
Check this out:
http://www.all-creatures.org/pics/wfshl-cinquefoil2.html
It looks sort of like that, but like I said there are many types of potentilla. I was thinking for a minute that it could be some kind of verbena, but verbena has purple flowers!
That is my guess! If you could get a picture of the flowers and a single shot of one of the leaves, that may help. Or take it to your local university and see if someone in the Plant Science Department can ID it for you!
Another thought... maybe sida spinosa?
http://biology.missouristate.edu/Herbarium/Plants%20of%20the%20Interior%20Highlands/Flowers/Sida%20spinosa.JPG
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://spectrum.troy.edu/~diamond/pikepics/sidaelliottii.jpg&imgrefurl=http://spectrum.troy.edu/~diamond/PIKEFLORA.htm&h=544&w=820&sz=73&hl=en&start=13&tbnid=9ti0JwQSOtB_PM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=144&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsida%2Bspinosa%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D
2006-07-20 09:39:40 · answer #3 · answered by plantmd 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It looks like Cinquefoil to me. The birds drop the seeds. It's not poisonious. It's actually a wildflower.
2006-07-20 10:48:46 · answer #4 · answered by dragonmomof3 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Looks like some sort of wild berry bush. Must be a male plant....no fruits, no flowers?
2006-07-20 10:47:20 · answer #5 · answered by educated guess 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not really sure but it kinda looks like a marijuana plant.
2006-07-20 06:50:48 · answer #6 · answered by Jules 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Looks like a weed of some sort. Not very attractive either.
Oh, and that's not "sap" it's "pith."
2006-07-20 06:50:41 · answer #7 · answered by DEATH 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋