Any idea what a weird snake's head like shoot is?

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Posted by redwildgeeza on March 17, 2010, 1:17 pm
 
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Hi,

Please forgive me if I've posted in the wrong area, but I couldn't find
a
"what's this plant" type forum area...

But does anyone know what this plant could turn out to be? You can see
pic at
http://tinyurl.com/yaveuun

We’ve just moved into a new house and have no idea what this could be.
It’s just
started to push through with spring coming a bit late in the
UK, and it kind
looks like a black snakes head!

Because there’s so many of them, I snipped one open to reveal what kinda
looked
like sweet corn inside the tip?  Im guessing it's some form of
bulb, as it has
only just started to shoot.

I wonder if I’m being thrown off the scent of what it could be because
it could
be frost damaged through a harsh cold winter?

Any ideas?




--
redwildgeeza


Posted by Paul Simonite on March 17, 2010, 6:28 pm
 

these words:



Horsetail (I think othwerwise known as Mare's tail).  A very difficult
weed to eradicate.  can regenerate from the smallest piece of root left
in the ground.  When it turns green it will look like a miniature plam
tree.  Try a google imgae search for Horsetail.  A member of an ancient
non-flowering plant family whose ancestors were common in the days of
the old dinosaurs.

--
Compo - sufferer from horsetail.

Posted by Compo in Caithness on March 17, 2010, 6:34 pm
 


Corrections: Miniature PALM tree; Google IMAGES.

Posted by Mike Lyle on March 17, 2010, 6:36 pm
 

redwildgeeza wrote:

Looks like Mare's tail (or Horse tail: people argue) to me. A pernicious
weed which can, I've heard, cross a road underground. Others may well
have better ideas, but my two penn'orth: crush it and then spray with
glyphosate: you'll need to do it several times, but if you shirk it you
may be sorry. Easy if it isn't in a garden bed, but for ones among your
garden plants, try covering the plants with plastic bags or cardboard
shields to keep the herbicide off. It's rendered inactive by contact
with clay particles in the soil, so it won't do any harm to the roots.

I really don't think there's any option but chemical warfare: I wouldn't
suggest it if I knew an alternative. Follow the instructions on the
bottle, of course. I seem to have killed off a small colony of the stuff
growing through the path outside my house, so don't despair.

--
Mike.



Posted by Janet Baraclough on March 17, 2010, 7:06 pm
 

these words:



   From the stem,  marestail. buds., check against this pic

http://www.one2one-development.com/uploads/fitzwilliam/mainsite/Fitzwilliam%20Country%20Park/mares%20tail%20in%20bud.jpg



   Janet