help identifying strange plant...

this strange root-like plant in growing in my garden and along the edge of my lawn, and i'm afraid it's going to take over my hops. anyone know what it is?
thanks

It looks like wasabi or horseradish.

it does look like wasabi... the problem is i have never planted wasabi and it's popping up all over the place in my backyard. thanks for the help. maybe i should cut one up and see what it smells like.

I'd resist eating it, even if it does smell like wasabi. Actually, I'd probably give in and get some strange disease.

I grow a couple varieties of horseradish...that doesn't look like any of them...and they typically don't surface....looks like my hostas actually

binkman said:

Actually, I'd probably give in and get some strange disease.

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or acquire some really cool super-powers.

That's one of those 15-legged Central American Hop Zombie's I've heard about. The little legs sprout from the buds at night and the plants can actually walk around the garden and have their way with anything they desire (hahaha). It actually looks like something I've seen before but can't put my finger on it. Possibly the basil portion (think it's a 'corm') of a type of Sedum. I'd just dig it up and get rid of it, after tasting of course.

Wasabi is a tempermental plant.. Unlikely it is just growing in a backyard in Chicago. Maybe snap off a chunk and take it to a local garden supply and see if anyone is familiar?
What does the top part of the plant look like?

I grow a couple varieties of horseradish...that doesn't look like any of them

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True! I grew it once. Ground it up in food processor and took a big whiff. Yeeow! Try it!
Thought my head was going to explode. Homemade was so much better than any of the store bought stuff I've had.

my 3 year old niece told me it was "robot arms". i do have hostas, but not where these creatures are clawing out of the ground... i emailed a garden store person the photo. in the meantime i'm going to pull the ones closest to my hops.

I looks like some type of succulent like hens & chick (which will spread) or a hostas... but they do not spread that fast ... would have been growing near by last year. I bet it is a milkweed... break one and see if it has white juice

i do have hen and chick, and didn't know they could spread. i bet they are the culprit. thanks for all the help.

NorthSide said:

i do have hen and chick, and didn't know they could spread. i bet they are the culprit. thanks for all the help.

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Chicks n hen aren't underground though. they will spread but are real slow unless a huge root structure is developed.

It looks like they can spread pretty easily. My mom discovered some in one of her beds a few years ago and have no idea where they came from. Those succulent-type plants can survive a long time before they actually develop roots. Should be an easy fix to move them to another location though. Good luck with the hops!

Pic of hens and chicks for reference. The mystery plant doesnt look like them.

It's definitely the root system of a plant, not the leaves themselves, which makes it hard to identify. It kinda looks like violets. I don't have an image of the roots, but do you remember anything like this growing last year?

Man I wouldn't lean over it to look down at it anymore, for some strange reason it reminds me of the Facehugger from Alien. Like the plant planet's version of it.



I can just see it leaping out of the earth, wrapping around your face and trying to jam it's thingy down your throat.

(This is actually just my way of subscribing, because I can't wait to hear the results.)

Revvy said:

Man I wouldn't lean over it to look down at it anymore, for some strange reason it reminds me of the Facehugger from Alien. Like the plant planet's version of it.

I can just see it leaping out of the earth, wrapping around your face and trying to jam it's thingy down your throat.

(This is actually just my way of subscribing, because I can't wait to hear the results.)

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I couldn't bring myself to the be the one to make an alien or zombie referrence, but, you, Sir, had no such problem! :rockin:

wrench said:

It's definitely the root system of a plant, not the leaves themselves, which makes it hard to identify. It kinda looks like violets. I don't have an image of the roots, but do you remember anything like this growing last year?

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i had a ton of these take over my lawn last year! i never would've thought that they would have a root structure like this. i'm going to pull all these monsters out of the ground and see if i get rid of my violet problem as well.

Revvy said:

Man I wouldn't lean over it to look down at it anymore, for some strange reason it reminds me of the Facehugger from Alien. Like the plant planet's version of it.

I can just see it leaping out of the earth, wrapping around your face and trying to jam it's thingy down your throat.

(This is actually just my way of subscribing, because I can't wait to hear the results.)

Click to expand...

now that's scary. maybe they will mate with my hops and i'll have a new superalpha alien hop that literally grabs your tongue with bitterness.

NorthSide said:

i had a ton of these take over my lawn last year! i never would've thought that they would have a root structure like this. i'm going to pull all these monsters out of the ground and see if i get rid of my violet problem as well.

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I was going to second the "violets" suggestion. I have these all over my yard; the roots look exactly as pictured. Mine are flowering right now (North Atlanta, zone 7b).

Instead of ripping them all out now, wait until the fall. Later this summer you can cut harvest them without worry of killing them and make violet water/tea to use in a brew!

Looks like violets to me. Have the darn things all over my side yard lawn. Root tubers on mine are upto 1 inch long.

Nothing seem to kill them except excising the tuber from the soil. IAW, ripping them out of the ground.

although violet tea brew does sound interesting, i think i'll try and pull them. hopefully they don't fight back.

It may have to come to this;



Or at least sacrificing a virgin...