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Hi,
I hope someone can help me out with this.
I was digging some plants from around a house in south Georgia that is going to be bulldozed. As I dug plants that I recognized, some odd little dormant tuberous roots made an appearance. Most were a few inches long, creamy white, and look a lot like a large grub as you can see from the photo. Being curious, I brought some home. So, do I have a treasure or a pernicious weed???
Hi dahlianut,
That does look really similar but I don't think that is it exactly. These roots are more blunt on the ends and it appears that the roots will grow from only the bottom of the shoot like a gloriosa lily. It actually reminds me of a gloriosa lily tuber a little, but they don't have the bumps and are bigger. It is obviously something that is summer dormant. Unless I find out that it is a weed, I'm going to pot some up to see what they do. :)
It is likely the roots of Florida Betony- Stachys floridana. I have spent many an hour battling this weed. In Charleston, SC, the foliage is only around during cool season and dormant from mid Spring to Late Fall. I was told the tubers are edible and ventured a bite once, actually sweet tasting. Check this site for more details.
Bob, I believe you are spot on in your identification of Stachys floridana. It looks just like the photos and everything I read about its habits seems to confirm it. Thanks so much, you saved me a lot of trouble. :)
Good guess dahlianut, you had the right genus! :)
Oh well! It was such a fun looking little tuber that I just had to find out what it was. Now I know it's a semi-cute weed that MUST BE DESTROYED!!!
If you till the ground where these ^@&*$!!! are take a wild guess what happens? It's like breaking a string of pearls, they regrow *everywhere*!!! Learned THAT lesson the hard way! I'm *still* trying to kill them! They're all over here. We started with two huge pine trees on an acre, other than that just weeds and barren *nothing* and some kind of grass that reseeds horribly but is easy as all get out to pull up (unlike bermuda!) I've been working for 5 years and I keep telling myself, someday...ha! Started a plot on the other side of the house and found more tubers... arghhhh! Thanks for the ID Bob!
