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wendyb_gw4

weed id please

WendyB 5A/MA
14 years ago

This really had me thinking poison ivy (leaves of three...), but the client says it is not and it truly doesn't seem like it. Its not a vine. It does not pull out easily at all. The root was frequently left behind, even with my best weeding tool. It is growing amongst other desirable plants. Any ideas? Photos are clickable for zooming.

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Comments (2)

  • farmerjoss
    14 years ago

    It sure looks like a young bramble (I have pulled up 1000s of them), but the key question is whether the _stem is prickly_ or not (can't tell from the photo). If it's prickly enough to hurt your fingers, it is most likely a young bramble or wild blackberry--an endemic, terribly invasive plant that is very hard to eradicate. Like raspberries, the roots (rhizomes?) travel a great distance under the soil and the plant will continue to spring up unless you pull out the whole cluster. Left to grow, it will produce very long _canes_ that are prickly/thorny enough to cut you. The leaves & eventually berries will grow at the _end_ of the canes, the canes that grew the year before. The old canes become very thick (in diameter), woody, very hard to cut through (loppers much better than hand-pruners), with thorns that will shred your skin. With great effort (back-wrenching effort) they CAN be pulled out, roots and all, but wear leather gloves or gauntlets and a long-sleeved denim or canvas shirt. I like this brute force method because I'm more likely to get out the whole plant (and it's a great way to vent my aggressions) but it's hard work.

    Poison ivy leaves have fewer veins, do not have finely serrated edges, and are generally a darker, glossier green. They are NOT thorny or prickly, nor do they grow at the end of canes like the plant in your photo. They are found close to the ground or in a vining habit, crawling up trees.
    I sure hope it's really a bramble and I haven't wasted bandwith and your time!
    Good luck, Farmer Joss in Western Mass.

  • WendyB 5A/MA
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks FJ, I cross-posted (my bad) to Name That Plant gallery and found out that it is Aegopedium/goatweed.

    Now that you mention it, I do see a similarity to brambles/blackberry. I have them on my property at the woods edges and am constantly yanking. My favorite method is to yank them out after a good hard rain. 2nd favorite method is brush killer.

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