mystery plant theatre: entry number 2

[the_siobhan]

This one just popped out of the ground in my backyard a couple of weeks ago and is fast turning into a small bush.

(Ignore the flowers, they're from a bush behind it.)

I'm probably just going to yank it out whatever it is, but I'm kind of curious.

Comments

[boxofdelights]

Sumac, maybe? *Not* poison sumac. Poison sumac does not have those toothy edges on its leaflets.


What does it smell like?

[the_siobhan]

Like a plant. Nothing particularly aromatic about it.

I don't think it's sumac, we have tons of that around here and although this has similar leaves they aren't arranged the same way.

I tried using one of those ID websites and it came up with elderberry, but I don't the leaf growth pattern is quite right. It has four stalks coming out of each node, which seems to be unusual.

[nimrodiel]

possibly bur marigold? it's hard to id as that's a plant that can have quite a bit of leaf variation... If it starts blooming with small daisy like flowers it may be one of these :)

[kest]

These photos are the size of a postage stamp, is that just me?

[the_siobhan]

They're thumbnails, the full pic should open if you click on it.

[kest]

oh! so they do. how about that. Hmmmm. Definitely don't think it's elderberry. Nor water hemlock, so that's good. Could be some kind of angelica maybe, or a valerian, but nothing I google imaged is making me say yes that's it.

[cincinnatus_c]

I am the same. Every few days I come back to this and it makes me batty. It looks sort of but not quite like so many different things ... and it looks so bloody familiar.

[cincinnatus_c]

A few days ago I installed iNaturalist on my phone and it seems to work magic for identifying things--is that a thing you've tried?

[cincinnatus_c]

... but FWIW the thing I keep coming back to most is golden Alexander.

[the_siobhan]

My phone won't load new apps any more. It won't let me updated the OS and things like the new covid tracker just won't work. Very annoying.

[the_siobhan]

This might be a winner. It's starting to flower now, and the pics I can' find look about right.

[cincinnatus_c]

Given the work I put into that ultimately wild guess, this is pretty pleasing. :)