Strange Plant - can you help identify?

[angieh]

I asked my gardener this morning to get rid of this vine which was becoming invasive. I thought it was an ordinary sort of gourd perhaps but it had the most amazing tuberous root. The photo of it only shows about half as he couldn't get the rest of it out of the ground!!! It was growing in dry soil in shade, but we found another plant growing around the roses in the front of the house which is also in dry soil, but in direct sun. We also found another young plant growing amongst ferns by the pond, also dry and shady. That one had a tap root like a parsnip and we got it all out. Does anyone have any idea what it is?

Leaf & tendril

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc44/angieh_bucket/Flowers%20and%20plants/P1020195.jpg

Tuber (part of)

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc44/angieh_bucket/Flowers%20and%20plants/P1020194.jpg

Part of plant

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc44/angieh_bucket/Flowers%20and%20plants/P1020193.jpg

Flower (sorry, not as sharp a photo as I'd like. It has 5 petals and is creamy white with green stripes.

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc44/angieh_bucket/Flowers%20and%20plants/P1020202.jpg

[dinahsmum]

It almost looks like a Castor Oil plant angie - that might be a starting point if you're going to go on the RHS website or similar

Pity you couldn't leave it - or maybe you have left a part?

[angieh]

Just looked at castor oil plant DM - not that I'm afraid. Leaves are wrong and it doesn't have a hollow stem.

[borderdawn]

I think its a poison Ivy.

[dandysmom]

Definitely not poison ivy, foliage is wrong and the tendrils rule it out also. It's not a Madeira vine or a yam ... stumped on this one; will do a Google search after lunch. I love a good mystery like this1

[angieh]

Any help very welcome. No, it's not poison ivy Dawn - I handled it with no ill effects. It isn't hairy either.

[SageCat]

I've never anything like that! The flowers on it are pretty. I'll join in the hunt! :D

[Leesy]

Sorry Angie the mystery plant has me stumped as well, never seen anything like that before, very strange indeed.:?

[EmmaG]

Hi,

I think it could either be bind weed, some sort of passion flower or a virginia creeper

[angieh]

Just looked at your suggestions Emma - afraid definitely not a bindweed or a passion flower. The flowers ARE like those of Virginia Creeper, but the leaves are wrong. Good suggestion there.

[Moli]

Its a definite creeper though..

[angieh]

Oh yes Moli - the whole thing had grown around our compost bins and up and over the shed roof - perhaps 20 ft long?

[Donna]

Hasnt anyone solved the mystery yet??? I am keeping out of it cos I no nothing about plants/weeds!!!

[Moli]

I cannot find it anywhere, even google weed vines..

[angieh]

I shall email my photos to the RHS tomorrow if no one comes up with anything this evening! I can't find it either. I think it is probably "foreign".

[dandysmom]

I've been Googling for over an hour with various search terms with no joy! Found lots of really weird vines with large tubers, but not this one. Does Kew Gardens by chance have a plant identification section?

Haven't given up yet, stubborn, but am going over to other forum for a bit to see what's happening there ......

[borderdawn]

Poison Ivy
http://www.clarku.edu/departments/biology/biol110/Rachel/PI_flower.JPG

http://www.carrborocitizen.com/flora/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/poison-ivy-flowers.jpg

http://www.ipm.msu.edu/weeds-nursery/images/PoisonIvyFlower.jpg

Hundreds of species, looks very similar. However, I hope you fond what it is exactly.

[Moli]

It does look like those.....think you may well be right Dawn;)

[angieh]

Thanks for trying so hard everyone. As I said above I'm going to send my photos to the RHS tomorrow, might as well make use of my membership - see what they can come up with.

[EmmaG]

hmm looking at those photos I reckon Dawn could be right :)

[borderdawn]

Well I certainly look forward to a definitive diagnosis, its been driving me nuts!!!

[dandysmom]

You are not alone, Dawn........:roll:

[angieh]

Me too! The RHS website says between 3 - 10 days for a reply, and I guess they don't work weekends ..... so sorry, try a bit of distraction ........ have a look at Dawn's lovely cats and dogs!

[MadCatLady]

Email someone famous for gardening.... you may have a rare find there.... of course you have dug it up now but ho Hum!!!

[Moli]

You are not alone, Dawn........:roll:
Ill join you in that too.....!!!!

[dandysmom]

Email someone famous for gardening.... you may have a rare find there.... of course you have dug it up now but ho Hum!!!

Oh MCL, got the giggles at that! Remember the Coelecanth fish that was thought to have been completely extinct for centuries ...till a fisherman caught one off the coast of Africa?

I can just see the headline: rare plant known only from fossil remains found and unwittingly destroyed by Hampshire woman ...... :-D

[MadCatLady]

Shes probably missed out on a fortune from RHS & Alan Titchmarsh becoming excited in her garden..... ;)

Glad to see my sense of humour reaches across the pond!! :twisted:

[random]

3-10 days, oh nooooooo, I have been looking too and nothing.

[dandysmom]

The crop circle aliens may have inadvertently dropped some seeds while they were here ......

[dinahsmum]

It just might be this Click here (http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/PlantFinder/Plant.asp?Code=B270)

[dandysmom]

Wow, certainly looks like it foliage-wise. And I know this plant well, it grows wild around the woods and in the alleys, often pick the berries for an Autumn flower arrangement. How embarrassing that I didn't spot that! :oops: But does it grow from a tuber??

[angieh]

From that picture the leaves seem to be more robust and almost waxy. The leaves of Mysterioso were quite fragile and didn't have a "waxy" covering. (There must be a proper word for that, but I don't know it!) Of course, I'll never know whether it fruits or not, but given this summer I doubt it would have come to anything.

[dandysmom]

The porcelain berry's foliage is very like your mystery plant, and being related to grapes has the same sort of tendrils as yours, but I did some more research and can find absolutely nothing about tubers. The only mention of propagation is by seed. One reason that it spreads so well is by bird droppings after they've eaten the beautiful berries. So I'm really wondering if that's it?

[MadCatLady]

From that picture the leaves seem to be more robust and almost waxy. The leaves of Mysterioso were quite fragile and didn't have a "waxy" covering. (There must be a proper word for that, but I don't know it!) Of course, I'll never know whether it fruits or not, but given this summer I doubt it would have come to anything.

Of course if you hadn't dug it up first...... :roll:

[Moli]

Have we a definite answer yet??

[angieh]

I am so glad I got it dug up! It is White Bryony (Bryonia dioica) - I have just had a reply from RHS and checked out images on Google and it's definitely what it was.

This is an extract from the RHS Control leaflet:

"White bryony (Bryonia dioica), is a scrambling
climber which can grow 3m (10ft) or more in a
season, developing several stems and
producing greenish flowers in the summer
followed by red fruits in the autumn. The
weight of the stems can break down smaller
shrubs and smother growth. White bryony
forms a tuberous rootstock, initially small, but
increasing over several years to form a very
large tuber, weighing perhaps several pounds."

Here's a link (http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.succulent-plant.com/families/cucurbitaceae/bryoniadioica02.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.succulent-plant.com/families/cucurbitaceae.html&usg=__iJmE8dT6ssBoSBZG48lS35NloE0=&h=556&w=650&sz=74&hl=en&start=61&tbnid=jHf3EF4FSY5t7M:&tbnh=117&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3DBryonia%2Bdioica%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D2 1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D42) to some info - it's poisonous.

[dinahsmum]

Hooray! An answer.
They were quick at the RHS weren't they? Good service.
Yes, it does sound better grubbed out

[angieh]

Yes, wasn't it good quick service? Just going to copy this over onto the other forum and put those poor folk out of their misery ......... although mainly the same ones here that were anxious to have the mystery solved! I found the plant in my wildflower book, but of course you get no idea of the scale of the thing ..........

[Leesy]

Ummmmmm very interesting, glad you got to the bottom of it, and so glad you got rid of it:D

[jan]

:shock: Phew! What an interesting thread - I just read through and I could nt have slept tonight without knowing! Am so pleased to be shutting down my pc with a happy heart! ;) Jan x