AboutRobin Expertise I can answer questions relating to the identification, growing and ethnobotany of native plants in the Midwest and East Coast of the United States, particularly the Great Lakes Region.
I am not so good with grasses and I cannot answer questions related to the West Coast or the deep South.
Experience I maintain a half acre woodland garden in Michigan. I have attended many native gardening workshops and I studied field botany in college. I have taken groups on native plant walks.
Organizations Michigan Native Gardeners
Wild Ones
Education/Credentials I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology with a Biology minor.
QUESTION: Recently, I've found a very tall wild-flower growing near my house. It's configured like a very sparse Queen Anne's Lace, only with yellow flowers, and the leaves are deeply cleft instead of fringe-like. It has a finger-thick ribbed stem, and a few of the plants are close to six feet tall, based on my own height. I can supply photos if needed.
I am living about halfway between Cleveland and Columbus, OH, in a relatively rural town.
ANSWER: Sure a picture would be great. The problem is the Apiacaea (carrot) family to which Queen Anne's Lace belongs has alot of very similar plants and many plants in the Brassicaceae (mustard) family are also very similar to those, which makes plants of that general appearance very tricky.
In addition to the picture, can you tell me the arrangement of the pistil and stamen of the flowers. You may need a magnifying glass.
If there is one pistil (Female part) and four long and two short stamens (male part with pollen) (like on this webpage http://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com/Plant_Families/Brassicaceae.htm) then we are definitely dealing with a Brassicaceae plant, which narrows things down some- except that that family is among the hardest to identify individual members!
If this is an Apiacaea plant, the leaves will be alternate on the stalk and clasp the stalk. That is, they won't be right across from each other and there will be a little sheath at the base of the leaf that goes partially around the plant stalk. Look at the leaf grouping that come off the main stem, not the leaflets in a group.
Finally, before getting back to me, put on some gloves and crush a bit of the plant and sniff it. Let me know what it smells like. Make sure you wear gloves unless you're absolutely sure it's a brassicacea and not an apiacaea, because many apiacaea are poison. On the other hand, if it's a mustard, you can eat it. (though it may not taste very good)
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QUESTION: The flowers are incredibly small and 5-petalled, but I was able to make out what looked like 4 stamens around a disk-shaped pistil. The leaves are alternate and sheathing on the main stalk. Some appear to be fruiting, and have a large flat oval body to them. The flowers have a very light scent, but crushing the leaves and immature seeds didn't have a very distinctive smell to it, so based on the page you sent me to, I doubt it's a Brassicacea.
Answer It looks like a wild parsnip but a wild parsnip has a distinctive parsnippish smell. You'll know for sure if you uproot one as the root looks and smells like well, a parsnip.
They don't usually grow that tall, and the leaves are a little off, but there are alot of different types. Checking the root will tell you for sure.
Although the root is edible, contact with the leaves can cause contact dermatitis after exposure to sunlight, so make sure you wash your hands and wear gloves when you handle the plant.
Other members of the carrot family that produce yellow flowers that I don't think are seriuos contenders, but you can do a search to see what you think are sweet cicily, biscuitroot and golden alexander but none of these have similar leaves.
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