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rainbowgardener
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I'm not for sure, but I'm thinking it may be white snakeroot, Ageratina altissima
(If I am right) Whether you want to keep it depends on your criteria. It is a native wildflower all over the eastern half of the US. In late summer it gets topped with clusters of small flowers that are a very brilliant white. But it is pretty "weedy" I.e prolifically spreading. And it is toxic to animals if they happen to eat very much of it.
(If I am right) Whether you want to keep it depends on your criteria. It is a native wildflower all over the eastern half of the US. In late summer it gets topped with clusters of small flowers that are a very brilliant white. But it is pretty "weedy" I.e prolifically spreading. And it is toxic to animals if they happen to eat very much of it.
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GardeningCook
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I don't think what you have is "White Snakeroot". I'm thinking it might simply be Perilla/Shiso - a common sometimes somewhat invasive herb that has made itself at home here in the U.S. & is a frequent ingredient in Japanese cuisine. I have it growing everywhere around here.
Easy way to tell? Pluck a leaf, crush it, & give it a sniff. Perilla/Shiso has a friendly, slightly minty/herbal scent.
Easy way to tell? Pluck a leaf, crush it, & give it a sniff. Perilla/Shiso has a friendly, slightly minty/herbal scent.
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GardeningCook
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rainbowgardener
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When I posted the 1st pic from my daughter-in-law's house I did not recall what it was. So I asked for help. I was thinking it might be lunaria. When Rainbow said snakeroot I thought that was correct. Then when it was suggested Perills might be correct. I then posted a picture of Perills/Shiso (not the flowering Calendula plant) and a picture of Snakeroot to show the difference between them. I still think Rainbowgardener was correct in IDing the plant as Ageratina.
NOT to make it more difficult, but I had at first thought that it was Eupatorium rugosum. In comparison, and in quick review found that snakeroot 'Eupatorium rugosum' and Ageratina altissima' to be poisonous and one in the same.
https://kgnaturephotography.com/photos-w ... eroot.html
'Ageratina altissima'
https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woo ... keroot.htm
Poison info:
https://books.google.com/books?id=Y4ebB ... ot&f=false
https://kgnaturephotography.com/photos-w ... eroot.html
'Ageratina altissima'
https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woo ... keroot.htm
Poison info:
https://books.google.com/books?id=Y4ebB ... ot&f=false
What Killed Abe’s Mom?
White Snakeroot is a poisonous perennial herb in the family Asteraceae, native to eastern North America. An older binomial name for this species was Eupatorium rugosum.
Nancy Lincoln became ill when she went to help care for her sick neighbors, stricken with the dreaded milk sickness. On October 5, 1818, within two weeks of the first symptoms, Abraham's mother died.
White Snakeroot contains the toxin tremetol; when the plants are consumed by cattle, the meat and milk become contaminated with the toxin. When milk or meat containing the toxin is consumed, the poison is passed onto humans. If consumed in large enough quantities, it can cause tremetol poisoning. The poisoning is also called milk sickness, as humans often ingested the toxin by drinking the milk of cows that had eaten snakeroot.
During the early 19th Century, when large numbers of European Americans from the East, who were unfamiliar with snakeroot, began settling in the plant’s habitat of the Midwest and Upper South, many thousands were killed by milk sickness. Notably, milk sickness was possibly the cause of death in 1818 of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, at age 34, mother of Abraham Lincoln.
(Tom Hanks, the Oscar-winning actor, is
the third cousin, four generations removed, of Abraham Lincoln through the president’s mother, Nancy Hanks.)
It was some decades before European Americans traced the cause to snakeroot, although today Dr. Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby is credited with identifying the plant in the 1830s. Legend has it that she was taught about the plant’s properties by a Shawnee woman. The Shawnee woman’s name is lost to history, but she and her people would have had deep knowledge of the herbs
and plants in the area. The plants are also poisonous to horses, goats, and sheep. Early settlers thought the rhizomes (the underground tubers) of snakeroot removed toxins from snake bites. That’s how the plant got its name. But there is little evidence to show the plant had any curative properties.
A cultivar, sold under the name Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’, is grown in gardens for its dark-tinted foliage. The darkest color, which is a chocolatey black, occurs in plants grown in a sunny location. The plants are shade-tolerant and do best in moist soils. Deadhead spent flower heads to avoid unwanted self-seeding (cultivar does not come true from seed).
White Snakeroot is a poisonous perennial herb in the family Asteraceae, native to eastern North America. An older binomial name for this species was Eupatorium rugosum.
Nancy Lincoln became ill when she went to help care for her sick neighbors, stricken with the dreaded milk sickness. On October 5, 1818, within two weeks of the first symptoms, Abraham's mother died.
White Snakeroot contains the toxin tremetol; when the plants are consumed by cattle, the meat and milk become contaminated with the toxin. When milk or meat containing the toxin is consumed, the poison is passed onto humans. If consumed in large enough quantities, it can cause tremetol poisoning. The poisoning is also called milk sickness, as humans often ingested the toxin by drinking the milk of cows that had eaten snakeroot.
During the early 19th Century, when large numbers of European Americans from the East, who were unfamiliar with snakeroot, began settling in the plant’s habitat of the Midwest and Upper South, many thousands were killed by milk sickness. Notably, milk sickness was possibly the cause of death in 1818 of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, at age 34, mother of Abraham Lincoln.
(Tom Hanks, the Oscar-winning actor, is
the third cousin, four generations removed, of Abraham Lincoln through the president’s mother, Nancy Hanks.)
It was some decades before European Americans traced the cause to snakeroot, although today Dr. Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby is credited with identifying the plant in the 1830s. Legend has it that she was taught about the plant’s properties by a Shawnee woman. The Shawnee woman’s name is lost to history, but she and her people would have had deep knowledge of the herbs
and plants in the area. The plants are also poisonous to horses, goats, and sheep. Early settlers thought the rhizomes (the underground tubers) of snakeroot removed toxins from snake bites. That’s how the plant got its name. But there is little evidence to show the plant had any curative properties.
A cultivar, sold under the name Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’, is grown in gardens for its dark-tinted foliage. The darkest color, which is a chocolatey black, occurs in plants grown in a sunny location. The plants are shade-tolerant and do best in moist soils. Deadhead spent flower heads to avoid unwanted self-seeding (cultivar does not come true from seed).
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rainbowgardener
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It's from the wikipedia article about white snakeroot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ageratina_altissima
Since wiki is crowd sourced and public domain, the poster just needed to identify it as wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ageratina_altissima
Since wiki is crowd sourced and public domain, the poster just needed to identify it as wikipedia.
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sweetiepie
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Well learn something everyday. I have that in my yard and just identify it as a weed that needs to be gone when ever I see it. I did not know it was passed on as poison through milk, so that is great to know. I will make sure I get on top of that a little better in the pasture if I see it. Thank you all bunches!
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rainbowgardener
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Agreed. I have tons of the white snakeroot. But there isn't a cow or a horse in miles, so I don't worry about it. I have never seen any sign that anything else gets sick from it. Apparently the groundhog knows not to eat it. All kinds of other stuff back there gets grazed down, but not the snakeroot.