A whole slew of plants
 

Hey everyone, I have a bunch of plants that have been bugging me that I'm looking to ID. Thanks in advance for any help!

First one is growing in the shade, and has put out a lot of new growth this year (maybe 5 feet tall overall). It had a couple small clumps of reddish berries that reminded me of ash, but they only lasted a couple weeks.


http://lifefromthegroundup.files.wor...7/plantid1.jpg

Second is a little bugger of a weed - grows in the margins, has a square stem, and is covered with little barbs just waiting for an unsuspecting victim to walk by and get torn up. We called this sawgrass when I was younger, but it's not really a grass.

http://lifefromthegroundup.files.wor...7/plantid2.jpg

Next is some kind of tough grass.

http://lifefromthegroundup.files.wor...7/plantid3.jpg

Some kind of groundcover-type thing, also grows mostly on the edge of the woods. I've never noticed it flower, stays low, and has big, leathery leaves.

http://lifefromthegroundup.files.wor...7/plantid4.jpg

Ragweed? I've noticed this for years, but never put a name to it.

http://lifefromthegroundup.files.wor...7/plantid5.jpg

And last one. I think the leaves and flowers look like nettles, but it doesn't sting me.

http://lifefromthegroundup.files.wor...7/plantid6.jpg

Thanks so much for your knowledge! Sorry if I broke some kind of rule and posted too much in one thread.

Sorry, this should be under the plant ID, not sure why it ended up here.

Mods, are you able to move this?

gw, I'm no expert, but the first photo you have is, I think, a raspberry, part of the rubus family. I have a plant with an identical number of compound, oppositely-positioned leaves, and the field guide I used says that's what it is. The fact that yours had some berries kind of seals the deal for me. Are there tiny hairs or spines along the stems? That would be another indicator.

By the way, the rubus family is part of the larger Rosa genus, which includes roses. Sorry, but after spending a couple hours online messing with plant identification apps, I just have to show off some of the geek knowledge I picked up along the way.

Oh, the next to last photo looks a little like wild carrot. But again, I'm very, very far from being any kind of expert.

I'm no expert either, but I have a strong interest in weeds, particularly those that can be fed to rabbits. In the course of sorting out edibles for bunnies, I rule out a lot of others.

Sorry, but no way #1 is raspberry.

I don't recognize #1-3 or #6, but #4 just might be garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) Bruise the leaves and sniff... Does it smell kind of like garlic? Those look like first-year leaves... Next year, if it is garlic mustard, it will get lanky and have white blossoms. Edible when young, but a very invasive plant and not one you want to encourage.
http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/garlicmustard.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliaria_petiolata

#5 looks very much like common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) but the flowers do not look right. It may be one of those species that has male and female flowers on different plants. In any case, now that you have the Latin name, you will be able to research it more thoroughly and decide for yourself.
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/...cm_ragweed.htm

It would be really helpful if you would add your state or province to your profile. Questions of this sort are easier to field if we have a rough idea of where you live.

First one looks like young sumac

For IDing all of those plants it would be helpful to know what part of the continent you are located at.

Picture #1 looks like elder. Depending on your location and the variety of elder plant the ripe berries may be yellow, orange, red or black. Elder berries are small and grow in clusters similar to the ash berry clusters that grow on mountain ash.

OK, from the pics you've taken, and from the info you've given, it can be very difficult to ID the pics. Also, not knowing what part of the country you're in makes it hard.

1. Not sure. There are a number of different things it could be. But, not having a picture of the berries and/or flowers makes it hard to ID. But, it's not raspberry.

2. Again, I can't tell by that pic. It's too close for me to see what's what.

3. Does this one get blue flowers on it? If so, it's Asiatic day lily. If not, I'm not sure.

4. Looks to be broad leaf dock. Very similar in appearance to rhubarb, but will have a very long tap root. It can be hard to get rid of, but it will take over if not dealt with.

5. Looks to be ragweed, but can't say for sure from the pic. It's not a wild carrot. Wild carrot, or Queen Anne's lace has a more feathery looking leaf, and the flower is a white umbel w/a dark center. It will smell like a carrot.

6. Can't tell.

What you can do is try to get pics that show the following, or at least answer these questions.

1. Are the leaves opposite, alternate, or whorled? Pic 1 is only of a leaflet, and there are many different types of shrubs and trees that get leaves like this.

2. Do the leaves have any "teeth" to them, or is the margin of the leaf smooth? Are there any hairs on either side of the leaf?

3. Do any of them have flowers? If so, how many petals do they have?

4. What shape are the leaves?

If you're not sure of the answers to any of these questions, try posting pics that show these characteristics, and I may be able to help you.

#1 looks like red elderberry.. red berries are poisonous.

4 ragweed
5 cuckleburr
dont know about others

I think 4 might be burdock. Good indicator is you'll normally find stinging nettles growing nearby.
Burdock is the remedy for nettles.
Actually 5 might be nettles.

I want to say #4 is burdock. Watch it for 2 years and if it is, then it'll put out a long stalk with spiky burrs on it. Taproot is edible and nutritious but hard to get.

#5 looks like a variant of wormwood. If so, it will have a strong odor. The little pollen bulbs on it are throwing me though. I've not seen wormwood that has those, but there is a variant of wormwood in almost every climate on every continent. It has a lot of medicinal properties to it, but can kill you if you're not careful. It's an ingredient in absinthe.

Sometimes if there's a plant I want to identify, I have to watch it for a season or two in order to see what its flowers and seeds look like.

Hi, thanks for all the input!

I'm in NE OH; sorry, I thought I had already filled that out in my profile.

I'm going to agree that #1 is red elder - obviously, it's a little late for flower and berry pics, but I did a little more research and did find some more pics that have the same flowers/berries that I saw earlier in the year.

#2 has smooth leaves, alternate, and gets very small white flowers a little later in the year. The barbs do extend up a little onto the stem (underside) of the leaf.

#3 has never produced any flowers that I've seen.

Some kind of dock was my initial guess for #4, but I have curly and broad dock elsewhere, and it's not that. The leaves are easily the size of my hand, and are more circular than elliptical. The leaves also pull out easily without any root attached, not like any docks I've pulled in the past. No flowers that I've noticed, and it's not garlic mustard. These leaves are smooth and thick.

#5 I'm pretty sure is ragweed.

#6 I think has opposite leaves; I'll check later. The flowers are tiny, but I'll look closer to see how many petals.

Thanks again!

Might be ragweed, but all the variants of ragweed I've ever seen have longer seed stalks. Those tiny little bulbs are puny and curled. They would not be tall.

Nice close ups!

So, my i.d. was off and red elderberry it is. Mea culpa.

Here is the plant at my house in southern Indiana that I thought was some sort of raspberry. At least, Mr. Google produced an image of another plant that had the same number and arrangement of leaves with same odd "hand" shape (like a thumb on one side) that mine has, and some plant i.d. website pronounced it to be rubus idaeus, the wild raspberry. Now, the leaves on my plant are not lanceolate, like gw716's plant, but otherwise the characteristics are similar: 7 leaves on each stem and 6 of the 7 leaves oppose each other. It also has hairs or spines on the stems. It's growing from a 1-1/2" woody 'stump' that had been cut back before we bought the house this past spring. Can any of you smart guys tell me what it is?
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...18578023_n.jpg

the last one is white vervain....Verbena urticifolia....and #3 looks like deer tongue grass.

White vervain, also known as nettle-leafed verbena. Good call.

And I think you nailed the deer-tongue grass too.

I love learning new stuff. Thanks!

I let a little stand of the white vervain grow by my garden shed....it's not real showy, but I like it for some reason....the flowers are kind of quirky. :) It has a rich history going back at least to the Romans, which is pretty neat.

Bruceandis, I wonder if your plant might be some sort of mulberry? We had one when I was growing up that my dad was always cutting down because it was right next to the house, and it always grew back from the stump aggressively. That would have berries that resembled raspberries, if it were allowed to remain long enough to bloom.

It's not mulberry. Leaves are wrong. Mulberries don't have a compound leaf.

Ah, I see. I hadn't noticed at first that the "leaves" in bruceandis's picture were actually "leaflets" with no individual stems.