woodland trail plant.

[caseya]

Any idea what plant this is? (I live in toronto)

[applestar]

In the first photo it looks pinkish, but it's not really is it? I think this looks like seedheads of goldenrod. The flowers would have been bright yellow before they went to seed.

[caseya]

thank you. Of all the searches I did, goldenrod was the closest one I could find, as well.
I didnt see what the plant looked like in bloom.

[rainbowgardener]

I agree, goldenrod gone to seed.

I always love the fall look of goldenrod and purple asters growing together in the roadsides. At one point I tried to duplicate it in my garden, by digging some goldenrod up from a roadside and bringing it home. In my good garden soil it went crazy and got amazingly tall. And then it started spreading itself all over by root and seed and trying to take over the yard. I ended up yanking it all out.

[Kageri]

Goldenrod is considered nasty stuff around here for that reason. It will take over hay fields and pastures and it can be toxic. It's one of the main reasons to cut the field right to keep it from going to seed and hours are spent digging it up. Sometimes the entire first cut of the year is wasted to excessive goldenrod plants. It doesn't need much encouragement to grow.

[applestar]

In terms of natural order, goldenrod has it's place. It's one of the pioneer plants and will take root and grow in scraped down to the subsoil and thoroughly packed down by the weight of heavy construction machinery hard pan, breaking and softening the ground for less vigorous plants to grow in subsequent seasons.

[purpleinopp]

Agreed, Apple. Modern agricultural practices leave the ground in a condition that is perfect for groundbreaking plants like this.

Most Solidagos are native plants, (in the US,) important sources of nectar.

The comment about it being toxic would be less mysterious with some supporting info. The info I found in a brief search was in regard to animal ingestion, sheep & horses.