TOPIC: 7-leaves...How common or rare?

I am new to site and had a question for you guys. I have a wild 4 prong in one of my patches this year that has 7 leaves on 2 prongs and 6 leaves on the other two. How common or rare is this? I've been hunting for about 20 years or so, on and off, and have never ran across one. I thought it was a cool plant and wanted to share a couple pics and see how many of ya'll have found these. Thanks and I welcome all comments and feedback. Here are a couple pics taken back at the end of June. --Jason

Jason,

That sure is a bueaty !

I don't think those are very common - they sure are not where I live (middle TN).

I know that Billy finds em like that occasionally up in the KY Mountains, but I think they just have some ideal seng growing conditions in the mountains and that probably lends itself to growth of extra foliage (leaves or prongs) like 5 prongs, or one leaf set with more than the standard 5 leaves.

Billy sent me a root from a plant that had extra leaves when he dug it, but this year it came up with just 5 leaves per leaf set, no extra's.

One of the roots I got from Billy has some small leaves on the berry stem, which is a little odd. Have never seen that in any of my local seng either.

Billy found one late last fall that had, best I remember 6 prongs, then a berry stem that went up about 10\" and had a big knot on it, with a bunch of stems and leaves running off it, then it went on up higher than that with another stem with berries. I think all together it had something like 16 prongs (counting those off that knot on the berry stem).

He put up some pics of it, it was sure a odd but extra ordinary seng plant.

TNhunter

Jason, Congrats on a great find. That sure is a dandy looking plant. I've only found a few like that around my area. I'd say that those are almost as rare as a 5 prong plant. I believe a lot of them would look like that if they got old enough... It seems that they add extra leaves or prongs with age as long as they have a good growing environment. I'd be surpised if that one doesn't have at least 35-40 neck scars. Once again congrats on an incredible find!


P.S. -Sure hope you aren't allergic to poison ivy

WOW!
Nice.
Latt

5-prong,

I noticed that too - reminded me I need to get some of those wipes with alcohol to pack with me seng hunting this year. Someone said last fall that if you goof up and touch some (and I always goof up a few times and do that while clearing out around a seng plant before digging) that you can wipe down with one of those wipes and it will help a lot.

Get that oil off quick and it will save you the itch, blisters, etc.

TNhunter

A towel moistened with bleach works good too.
Latt

Latt and TN

Great tips on poison ivy..Never knew that...I always rubbed down with jewelweed before digging in a ivy patch.It helps also....

FTB,
Thats an awesome tip. My buddy had poison ivy on his cheek and around his eye last year and up and down his arms. He was a mess. The stuff he got from his local pharmacy didn't work. I went down to the creek bed and picked him a couple big jewelweed plants and brought them home and put them in the blender. Just the stalks containing all the juice went in. I ended up with about 4 oz of green juice. I gave it to him and he used it on his spots. He called me the next night and said Latt you are not going to believe this, he said the poison ivy has dried up and he had scabs. 3 days later the scabs fell off and it was gone.

Then my buddy from work had it so bad on his legs he had to go to the emergency room. His legs swelled up and were retaining fluid for a bad case of poison ivy. He was a mess. They gave him steroids to help with it all but he was slow to heal. I told him about the jewelweed and he said he would try some. I made him a batch and he put some on his legs. He said he noticed a big difference the next day and in 3 days the poison ivy dried up and he too was amazed.

I am like you FTB, I usually just rub some juice from the stalk on my arms and face. Bus these guys had it bad so I made them some juice and they applied a bunch of it to their skin. Jewelweed is also call \"Touch-me-Nots\". I remember the first time I touched this plant when I was ginseng hunting in a deep valley along a creek bed. I touched the plant and it shot seeds out from the flower. I mean these things really went sailing by and landed fairly far away, maybe 5 to 6 feet or more.
Latt

Jasson44

That's a nice plant!

I noticed that that the mulch around that plant is Pine needles instead of leaf mulch. Probably White Pine.

I have about 1500 plants growing under the edge of White Pines that are growing well. In fact for their age the ones growing under White Pines are growing better than the ones under Sugar Maples that are the same age.

I read years ago, that seng does well under White Pine. So I started experimenting with the idea. Sure enough, they grow exceptionally well under White Pines.

Thanks for sharing that.

classicfur