TOPIC: Anyone Know What This Is?

This low lying plant is in the part of a cove in my woods that used to be the dampest. At growth season there is cohosh and seal interspersed randomly amongst it but wondered if it was any indication either way for seng's survivability. I built a pond up the hill from this area which diverted the spring as I put the ponds outlet another direction sending it down an old logging road onto neighbor's property. Its output was only a trickle anyway. Sure would like to know what this plant is if anyone knows. Spent some time trying in google images to no avail.

jimsenger66,

That looks a whole lot like Garlic Mustard. If that is what it is, it is an invasive species and you need to pull all of it up that you can find. It is a big problem.

Hugh

Hugh:

Thanks for the quick reply. Looks like I may be busy as soon as it comes up then. I will eradicate it. Is it any indication of soil type or moisture bonus/downfall?

Thanks,
Jim

Hugh:

I just google imaged garlic mustard but I think this may not be that because it shoots up no stalk or blooms. It only has a group of leaves that stay low to the ground and each leaf at it's biggest is about 3x5\" with just the stem to each leaf being about six inches long. Not sure how it reproduces. May be root layering.

Thanks,
Jim

Is it a wild violet?

I believe that I am going to have to agree with Kyginseng. That looks much more like wild violet.

Hugh

KYginseng & Hugh:

Do you mean wild violet as in the plant that has the little purple or white flowers? This stuff never flowers and I really havn't noticed it growing anywhere else and I am kind of a plant lover so I usually notice the plants in my surroundings. The leaves on this stuff get way larger than violets and are glossy and smooth. Kinda large but not as large as burdock. I appreciate the suggestion though. Don't know if there is any correlation but there was wild grapes all over the place in the canopy until I eradicated it just this fall when I decided to grow seng.

I would say that this is golden ragwort. It stands a little high for a violet, and the size of the leaf is much larger than violet. Ragwort grows in moist low lying woodlands. It produces a short stalk of yellow flowers in spring/summer. If it is ragwort, I wouldn't consider it a very good habitat indicator for 'sang, but it is a common plant and can grow in a variety of locations. So if there are other indicators there as mentioned, then you never know, sang might survive if it is not to moist of an area.

There is a violet leaf in the background of the photo, it has a slightly different shape than the ragwort, and is low growing, almost being covered by leaves.

Tanner (rural action):
Thank you very much! That is exactly what it is. After reading your post I google imaged it using \"golden ragwort leaf\" since that's all I have ever noticed of the plant and it is for sure the golden ragwort. The same patch grouping and branching of the leaf veins off the main leaf veins. I was kind of glad to see the pic of the ragwort in my woods was darker green than any pics on the google image search. Might be a good sign for the seng I planted just 20' out of the area this plant grows.

Glad I didn't plant any seeds in them areas. The soil just seemed wrong, as in slightly too damp, or just unsenglike compared to where I usually see wild seng growing. The ragwort is in areas lower on the slope in the low of the concave and just at the bottom of the slope (on level), yet don't grow just 20' from the base of the slope (a level area with a steeper slope another 50' downhill) as companions there (including wild seng) indicate a dryer soil.

So, do you think, since I diverted the surface runoff water away about three or so years ago and just last June the springs and local wells dried up from the deep coal mine longwall mining, that this plant will die off and if so will it be the only indicator that it is gonna be good for seng? Can seng grow very near this stuff even if it don't die? The Wikipedia article was very very short and uninformative as to it's soil dampness requirements. I'm just thinking the plant might have a good hold and hang on for decades now even if the soil has dried up enough for seng. It's about a quarter to half acre area so with me only having four acres of woods you can see my want to plant as much area as possible.

Thanks,
Jim