I'd love some help identifying this plant that came with our new house. It's maddeningly aggressive! We tried to tear it out last fall, and the root web was impressive. All the work was for nothing--it's back this spring. Thanks!
This looks like a weed (or very similar to) that grows native in my garden. Extremely tough to get rid of. Best course of action is to remove most of it and smother it using bark mulch or landscaping fabric. I don't have the name for you but I would be interested in learning the name. There are herbicides such as Roundup, a systemic, broad-spectrum herbicide that would kill the existing plants but it would not kill the pre-emergent weeds lying dormant in the soil. I use Roundup only as a last resort as its inactive ingredients are known to kill fish and have an acute toxicity in humans. I also found on Wikipedia.org that Roundup has been found by researchers at Texas Tech University to disrupt the expression of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) which has a role in testosterone production in males. Sorry I couldn't have been more help -Eric
The plant reminds me of Rubus which is in the Rosaceae. But this is only a guess. Have you tried rototilling the area and then repeating when more appears? The plant may be a very good plant to use for difficult sites in stabilizing soil or providing cover in hard to plant areas. I would suggest saving some and grow in a pot!!
Looks like Aegopodium podagrica, Bishop's Weed. Here's a site for comparison: http://www.wildflowergraphics.com/Resources/bishop4.gif
This is not the best advice until the plant is identified, to my mind. Consideration of whether the plant is invasive (and therefore needs to be eradicated / highly regulated) trumps gardening concerns such as providing a groundcover or stabilizing soil - alternatives almost always exist. I suspect you mean Aegopodium podagraria (and I agree). Using educational sites as resources (see the forum's charter on "Promotion of university and government web sites as sources of information and references."): Aegopodium podagraria via Invasive Plants of Wisconsin at the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity Aegopodium podagraria from the Univ. of Wisconsin Stevens-Point Herbarium (note: listed by herbarium as Status: Introduced - escaped; ecologically invasive and advises -> Invasive - Eradicate!)
Thank you all! It is definitely Aegopodium podagraria. It has the white worm-like roots. They do stabilize the soil (making it hard to loosen the soil to remove the roots), though I can't imagine planting this one--I guess it depends on one's objective and perspective. I, too, am relucant to use Roundup, but I broke down last year as a "last" resort. It didn't work--the leaves were mature by then though, not young. I think we will just have to dig it all out again and use landscape fabric under the bark mulch this time. Perhaps I will rent/borrow a rototiller to speed things up. Unfortunately, the neighbors on both sides have the same problem (and seem to be unbothered by it!). Thanks again, Julie
Sorry, I had Jatropha podagrica on the mind. I tried to find a better site, but I couldn't find anything that had a good photo. Everything was variegated, which I figured would throw off the ID. Next time I'll just post an info. site instead.
Not a problem, L.plant. Do you know of the site:edu trick for searching Google? If not, preface your search with site:edu to restrict your search. For example, site:edu Aegopodium Wisconsin
Amen to that, Daniel. A great thing you just passed on. It works with countries like .de and .gov too. Wondeful! Now you will probably tell me that it was explained somewhere in the fine print on the forum. :) Harry
Oh! This plant/weed is very difficult to get rid of and very invasive. Roundup wont work. Mulching will help but not totally eradicate this weed.
