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I just moved with my husband from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to a house in Knoxville TN. The house we're renting hasn't had much/any maintenance in the last year or more. So, I've got a) lots of plants that I've never seen before in my life b) no real plant books for this area (but I've got Sibley's Guide to Birds, at least I can figure them out!), and best of all c) all these things trying to take over the yard/house... so I'm going to ask for help ID ing a few things... curiosity and ecology and safety. At least my paranoia/suspicion kept us out of the poison ivy until we could ID it positively.
Anyway,
Here's a few pictures of a shub thing in our front yard. The landlady said the berries were edible, and since she and her child have been doing it for years, we tried a few. They're a bit bland to me. They're like black berries in shape, but look rather like some sort of grub while they're unripe-maggoty white pink with little black spike things sticking out. I'm still getting used to this forum thing, but will try to post a picture of the berry itself, if it will help. I'm also going to need help on other pants! Thanks for reading
I thought mulberry at first, but when I compared the leaves (which have deep lobes) to pictures of mulberry I found online, it seemed that mulberry had leaves without lobes. Is this some sort of weird variation? Thanks for the help, folks
Mulberries are famous for having a variety of leaf conformations: unlobed, single lobe, double lobe, mittens, and all the way up to near-snowflake (as you've illustrated). Many times, you can find multiple variations on the same plant at the same time.
Keep watching this plant, and see if you don't observe quite drastic differences between the first leaves of spring compared with the leaves on new growth extensions.
That is, if you don't get rid of it because of its highly invasive nature.
Thanks, I will mark this thread solved then. Hooah! Also, I will be keeping a tight reign on this plant--the landlord has some on her property, and was a bit sad that I'd hacked it back a lot... if I'd found it was buckthorn of some sort, I'd burn it to the ground, and Kudzu would have been weehacking and then burning! I hate invasives... will it spread by berries or just by suckers?
It's invasiveness will be determined by birds eating the fruit and then depositing the seed elsewhere, and these seeds have extremely high germination and success rates.
I doubt you'll ever see a sucker outside of the original trunk.
I've noticed a few small ones in the back yard along the fence...I've decided to hack them pretty well too. Probably to the death. I've got this odd agressive/hate/rage reaction to most invasive lifeforms. Kudzu along the road gives me urge to buy a flame thrower or machete.
Going back to my repost about the leaves-I've actually noticed on a few branches of the main plant (pictured) and smaller on the side fence that there's a progression from the trunk area to the tip area-entire leaves to slightly lobed, to crazy-lobed. On one branch. I think I'll take a picture and post it somewhere.
Thanks
