Can someone identify please. hoping it is giant plantain

Yvonne G

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You'll know for sure when it puts out a seed spike. But it sure looks like plantain to me. Here's a picture off the web:
maxresdefault.jpg
 

Maro2Bear

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It just looks too big to be a plantain. Ive seen large ones, but not that large. Are there others nearby....we have similar large broadleaf plants that pop up like that here early in spring in marshy/boggy areas.
 

Tom

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Not plantain.

I grow plantain that gets that big and bigger. Got the seeds form @Carol S a few years ago. I feed it to all of mine all spring and summer. It goes to seed every year and new ones pop up all over the place, much to my delight. :)
 

Pointydog

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Albany NY and creekside and plentiful = skunk cabbage
High in oxalates like most members of the arum family.

Crush a few leaves and smell to be sure. Symplocarpus are called skunk cabbage for a reason.

You can eat the new leaves if you cook and rinse, same as pokeweed greens. I would not feed to tortoise, the oxalate crystals in the raw leaves are a strong irritant.
 

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