What is this evil plant?
What is this evil plant?
This plant assaulted me with prickly spores. I think the other spores might be related. Zone 6b
16 comments
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Looks like what I call thistle. Bumblebees love 'em.
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Thistle?
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that does look likely i guess. which would mean it's either native, or not lol.
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We have them in British Columbia and they’re Scotlands flower so I imagine they are hardy.
Like that damn Scotch Broom.
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I often wonder whats really the difference between a native species and an invasive one besides the relative time it was introduced to an environment in relation to the present?
On a geological and evolutionary timeframe species are getting introduced, competing for resources, and going extinct all the time in every part of the world. The plant you consider a 'native' was really only introduced 25,000 years ago which might as well be an hour ago as far as life is concerned.
If it takes 500 years for an ecosystem to rearrange and adapt to incorporate an 'invasive species' into the new balance, does that plant now quality as 'native' to the generations of people 500 years down the line? At what point does the line sperating invasive species vs native dissolve until it just arbitrary definitions set by what's convinent to current humans and the present status quo in the ecosystem?
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The second and third pictures look like an American sweetgum to me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidambar_styraciflua
Seedpods from it:
When they're still on the tree and before they're all dried up, they're softer and green.
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Makes sense
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We have a relative of it here in northern Japan where the dialectal term for it is 'baka'. This also means 'idiot' but I'm unsure if that's just coincidental
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Check out the app called Pl@ntnet! A super cool citizen science project to identify plants.
16 comments
Awesome! The land is private and might be a brownfield though. I'm just pulling trash out of bushes.
TIL! Thanks for the factoid: my dogs have definitely gotten covered in burdock plenty of times too, maybe I should invent something about it