Calling all you garden sleuths out there… Does anyone know what this plant is called? I was weeding my fall vegetable garden last night here on the east coast and noticed a ton of these parsnip looking plants growing between the rows.
The roots look like a parsnip but the leaves remind me of potatoes. I am totally baffled.
I’m not sure if I somehow dropped a packet of seeds because the plant is sprinkled between the rows of my fall veggies or if this thing is just some sort of weed.
Anyone know for sure?
~Mavis
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Jen McClure says
Daikon radish?
Becky says
Almost looks like velvet leaf. Is it soft and fuzzy?
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/velvetleaf.htm
Maggie White says
I think it’s Pigweed – we had a ton of it growing in our garden beds when we bought our house. Ours had red roots, though.
Sandy Taylor says
Wait what?! East Coast?? Mavis – I thought you were on West Coast?
Stephanie says
Go to your co operative extension agency. They will tell u all about it.
Sandy says
Looks a little like Datura — which is extremely poisonous….Moonflower. If it is, it’ll get super big and branchy, with large trumpet like flowers, usually white but sometimes purple, and they will smell heavenly when they open at night. A standard in an all white flower garden. They will seed and grow back volunteer.
Ma Kettle says
That`s my first guess, too. I`d love it but I haven`t had much luck growing it here. Nonetheless, if it looks like a weed and grows like a weed…
Cecily says
Looks like a type of nightshade. It comes up in my garden too and has small white flowers followed by highly toxic berries. As Stephanie recommended seek out your local extension agency for accurate identification.
Heather in MA says
I have a ton of these in my backyard, they grow wild and you’re right they do look like parsnips but aren’t. If we are talking about the same plant they have a leafy green foliage, tall stems that are thicker and stronger than carrots with one main stem. No flowers and a root that is white and resembles a carrot in texture. From what I can tell they are not daikon radish, parsnips or pigweed – but that’s all I’ve got. Lemme know if you solve the mystery!
Susan Walecka says
Exactly Heather! Mine were like this too!! And I tried to eat a bit of it, and spit it out right away. It was very bitter and I had the sensation that it was poisonous, but maybe it was my imagination? I’d love to know what it is!
Sakura says
Could it be horseradish?
Wynne says
Mavis, I don’t know about the plant, but your fall vegetables look great! I’m excited you’ve become a fellow Virginian part-time.
Vicky says
Yes, like mentioned above, it is a Datura – Moonflower plant. If it were larger, it might still make it to maturity and you would have lovely huge white tubular flowers that bloom at night and only for one night each. The are each replaced with a pod that grows quite large – looks like a teasel when dried. They are a great plant – pretty much disease resistant and they are poisonious. They are supposed to be good to deter deer – they supposedly don’t like the scent of them and they don’t eat them as the leaves are lightly fuzzed and not too tasty to them. The plant can grow quite large – mine are around three feet tall and wide right now. They fill a large space and have a tropical look. Enjoy! (You might be able to winter that plant over in your planting zone)
Joy says
Absolutely correct.
susan says
I completely agree with what Vicky says. I LOVE moonflower, and have one under my bedroom window, for the sweet scent when I am sleeping.
If you cannot overwinter it (I can’t here in WI), you can leave the seeds pods on the plant, and it will re-seed. It’s the way I keep mine going from year to year.
Not that you will since you are moving and all, but for future reference…….:)
Chris says
Can anyone help identify a root vegetable? I’m not sure it’s a root vegetable actually, but it has large oval green leaves, several leaf offshoots and a main thick stem. It grew in a shady area of my yard in Massachusetts. When I pulled it out of the ground it had a thinnish tan root that looked like a carrot or parsnip but is not either of those. . The flesh is white when cut open and has a slightly celery like smell. It had just started to grow one “flower” that looked like four little white balls hanging from the same thin green stem. I wouldn’t have pulled it up but a rabbit had chewed the bottom of the plant, sheering most of the plant/leaves off. I don’t see an option to add a photo in the comments, unfortunately. Thank you for any help in solving this mystery : )
niggle says
It’s a nightshade of some sort, depending on your location. If you’re in the US, it’s probably an atropa belladonna, aka deadly nightshade – poisonous. If you were here in Australia, I would say its a blackberry nightshade – solanum nigrum – which is closely related to the deadly variety but with yummy non-poisonous berries provided you wait till they are ripe before you eat them.