Weeds or keepers? Upstate NY woodland plants id help please.

17 years ago

Clearing the woodland area (or the GM farm, however you want to look at it!;() Anyway, there are some plants I can't id, and want to know if I should leave them or pull them. Thanks for any and all help!

First, is this a cohosh? It kind of looks like the leaves I"ve seen on the web, but having never seen one in person I can't tell.

{{gwi:1056169}}

Next, whatever this is it seems to give garlic mustard and dandelions a run for their money - where this is they aren't! (UH - except for the one right next to it!!) But what is it?

{{gwi:1056170}}

Next - is this a sedum? I have it in some of the beds I inherited, I guess the birds planted it in the woods for me!

{{gwi:1056171}}

There are more - but I think 3 per post is enough!!Thanks again for any help!

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Comments (15)

dollladie
17 years ago
I'm new to this forum, but I've got that plant in the 2nd photo growing everywhere! I think it came in some cheap top soil last year. It's easy to pull, but comes right back. Doesn't seem to hurt anything ... yet.
waplummer
17 years ago
The first is not blue cohosh (Caulophyllum) and does not look like Actea not Cimicifuga, all of which are called cohosh.
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I'm glad to read all these reports; they're interesting! Thanks to everyone who's written in. Rosemeadowgardener: I don't recognize any of the weeds you list; are they Australian natives, or exotic: do you know their botanical names? Thank God we don't have one of the worst curses of North America here: no poison ivy, oak, sumac. How interesting to read Marianne's weed list from the other end of the European temperate zone and discover that I have all the nasty weeds she does, and several of the nice ones. Galium aperine is an unpleasant plant, sticky and climbing, but there are a number of other Galium species that grow locally that are rather nice. Sweet woodruff is Galium odoratum. Our native primrose is Primula vulgaris; and we too have anemones, hepaticas, wild geraniums--harebells I think not. Connie speaks of the huge weed population of her property, which is an old farm. We too garden on a former farm and downhill from a current one, and I agree with what her post suggests, that agricultural properties present particular weed problems. Ongoing plowing leaves ground permanently disturbed, given weeds fertile ground to grow; grazing animals can trample ground, and the hay brought in to feed them can bring weed seeds from other areas. The year after the shade garden was flooded with manure from a cattle enclosure above, the weed population there was amazing. And we get great numbers of weeds, some of them highly obnoxious, along the drainage ditches that descend from our neighbors' plowed fields through our own land. Then, if fields and pastures are abandoned, they begin to go to brush, and you get brambles and other colonizing species--Connie's plant list is different from mine, but the process is the same. What the heck is Creeping Charlie? A couple of you have mentioned it. The various posts have covered quite a bit of territory, not only in the literal sense, on the topic of weeds. Paula took up the issue of invasive exotics that push out native species on undomesticated land (as well as the native but obnoxious Poison Oak). This is a problem all over the world, of course. I read in that interesting book 'Ecological Imperialism' about how many plants flourished in Europe along with the development of agriculture and became weeds, then traveled all over the world with European colonizers and established themselves in temperate zones everywhere, often at considerable cost to native species. We too have our exotic invasive species--one standout here in the hills is black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia, originally from North America--but I wonder what the effect has been on our native flora of a few thousand years of tolerably intensive agriculture. Were there species that went extinct because they were useless to humans and occupied land that could be used for farming and other useful activities? Some plant populations exist in part as a result of human activities: we have a rich population of native orchids many of which grow in pasture land and are now threatened because grazing is disappearing and the land is turning to brushland and then to woods. But perhaps three thousand years ago the orchids that grew were those adapted to woodlands? Lavender lass: do you know the species name of your artemisia? We have one ugly native artemisia, A. vulgaris, but a couple of nice ones. Another pleasant weed I remembered is lemon balm, Melissa officinalis--what a fine plant to share a name with. It's too invasive to plant, but grows wild at the edges of beds, is fragrant, and has fresh green leaves that are pretty in spring. I feel better every time I see it. I like mulleins too. We have a woolly species similar to what erasmus describes which makes a fine ornamental; the problem is that it seems to need a somewhat lighter soil than is present in most of our garden; otherwise it's not fussy. Melissa
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As far as I know, Garlic Mustard spreads mainly by seeds dropping a relatively short distance from the plant that prodcued them. Occasionally seeds are carried on boots, by water, or similar means, but that is a relatively small amount of seeds. Large infestations come only from seeds growns very nearby. So, once you stop the plants in your woods from setting seeds, you will eventually stop having lots of plants to pull and finding something to out compete them won't be such a big concern. I don't think there is any woodland plant that can outcompete garlic mustard when there are millions of seeds in the ground waiting to sprout. Any healthy woodland floor plant community can temporarily compete with Garlic Mustard when only a few plants are present, but physical disturbance or the presence of tons of seed is too much for most communities and the Garlic Mustard takes over.
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adirondackgardener
17 years ago
#3 looks like the Sedum that I found growing wild around my garden in the Adirondacks. Tamed it inside a rock garden now.

Wayne
ladyslppr
17 years ago
I think #2 looks like geranium maculatum - a native geranium that should have pink/purple flowers soon.

#3 looks like a sedum that I see in gardens Round here. I do not think it is native. it spreads to the woods because any small piece that gots tossed into the woods tends to grow in to a clump of plants.
shesheupstny
Original Author
17 years ago
Darn - I was hoping the first was a keeper - there's alot of it as well as the GM!! And it seems to control the GM a bit as well! I'll wait a bit on the second and see if it blooms, If so, I'll leave it be for now. And I'm going to leave the sedum as well, it's actually quite pretty and doesn't seem invasive.

Thanks so much for the help - more coming soon!
davidl_ny5
17 years ago
Not sure what no. 1 is, but no. 2 is definitely a weed, not geranium maculatum (a nice little plant just now going into pink flower). The geranium does not have leaves in whorls like the pictured weed. I'll look the weed up when I get a moment. I was pulling it up all week-end (and wasn't pulling my little geraniums).
shesheupstny
Original Author
17 years ago
Oh boy!! Well, at this point I'm concentrating mainly on getting the garlic mustard out and only pulling others when they're right in with the GM. Hopefully the 2nd isn't as prolific as the GM, or I'll be in another world of hurt next year! I'm still dealing with the remnants of Jerusalem artichoke as well! Yeesh!

OH BTW - could #1 maybe be an Actaea? I'm really hoping not to have to pull it - I've got a bit of it in there and it's actually kind of pretty in a group - I'm gonna keep an eye on it, and see if it blooms and what they look like.
davidl_ny5
17 years ago
That second one is only moderately proflific, although enough so to be annoying. Your plan to clean it up only incidentally is right.

The leaf of #1 looks a little like actaea to me, but I'm not that familiar with it, and I would defer to waplummer above, who thinks it is not.
peter_6
17 years ago
The second one looks like Motherwort (Mint family). See if it has a square stem, and produces pinkish flowers in June where the leaves join the stem. See if it matches any pictures on Hortiplex or whatever. If it is Motherwort, it's an invasive alien, so I would pull it. Regards, Peter.
shesheupstny
Original Author
17 years ago
Oh - oops - I missed the Actaea in waplummer's post! Oh well - guess I'm gonna be a busy little bee! Thanks much!! I have some more to post - one of which I've positively id'd as poison ivy - yippeee! I actually don't seem to react to it, but I'll be wearing some protective gear when I go at it just in case!
davidl_ny5
17 years ago
Well, I wouldn't pull the No. 1 until I was sure. Wait to see if it flowers and do a positive ID on it. It looks like an inoffensive sort of thing (not an obvious invasive thug), and I looked at some actaea pictures that seemed similar. Even if it's not that, it might be something you could just leave alone. Just go get the garlic mustard.
orsogna
17 years ago
#1 looks to be Osmorhiza, I would leave it.
#2 is Leonurus cardiaca, a weed but actually very pretty.
#3 is a Sedum.

You should post future pics at the "Name that plant" gallery, you would get answers much more quickly.

Have fun,
Dan
Iris GW
17 years ago
Per Dan's suggestion, here is a link to Osmorhiza longistylis (which apparently has a distinctive anise smell).

Here is a link that might be useful: Osmorhiza longistylis
shesheupstny
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks so much!! As to the Osmorhiza - I thought something smelled nice down there! The "path" runs through it and some of the leaves end up getting stepped on! Definately going to leave it!
adirondackgardener
17 years ago
Say, shesheupstny, is that plant #1 getting a flower spike with a white flower about the size and shape of a dandelion gone to seed?

I just found some of this in bloom down by the creek and the leaves look like yours.
{{gwi:1056172}}

White baneberry - Actaea pachypoda

Wayne

Weeds or keepers? Upstate NY woodland plants id help please.

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Weeds or keepers? Upstate NY woodland plants id help please.

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