Can anyone help me identify this weed please?

11 years ago

Hi there. i have just moved house. And in the garden of my new place I noticed this well established weed. It is about 12-15 feet tall. For one horrible moment I thought it was the dreaded Knotweed but it does not have the distinctive "zig-zag' leave formations and the leaves appear to be narrower. Plus there is no evidence of the white flowers Knotweed has.

Is it pokeweed? Where the plant is hanging over the neighbouring property I noticed a small bunch of black berries which I believe Pokeweeds have. But there was only this one small bunch on the plant. They had not appeared anywhere else.

Any advice on what it may be and how to get rid of it would be greatly appreciated. Annoyingly it is growing in a tiny gap between the fence and the garden wall so I fear the fence may have to be taken down to get to it's roots!

Comments (6)

discoqueen
Original Author
11 years ago
Here's another photo of the same weed in case it is needed!
jean001a
11 years ago
Please post an image of the berries
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discoqueen
Original Author
11 years ago
HI there- thanks so much for your post.

I am afraid I do not have a good picture of the berries as I only had my camera phone on me. Plus the only bunch of them are way over on my neighbours side of their garden and I have no access. I am posting the only photo I have but I don't know if it will help!

I am in the UK by the way....in case that narrows down what it could be....
noinwi
11 years ago
I would post this question in the Name That Plant forum(it's a bit more active than this forum). There is also someone from the UK that posts there often that would be of help to you.
discoqueen
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you! I will post on that forum as suggested. Many Thanks
flora_uk
11 years ago
Discoqueen - it's an elder bush. Sambucus nigra - a very common self sowing native. You will need to cut it right down and then, if you can't dig out the roots, apply some sort of brush killer to the stumps.

Before anyone says, why destroy an edible, these things are native here and sprout all over the place. They are a bit too common and a bit too large to tolerate in our small gardens.