Found this plant growing outdoors and it looked alot like weed but I knew it wasnt so I transplanted it as its starting to get real cold at night here and I wanted to keep it alive.
Since transplanting its been in really rough shape, probably because of the poor quality transplant i did.

I know its not cannabis ive also been told it may be hibiscus and poison ivy but im not sure its either of those plants.

Anyone have any ideas?

Hi greenest,
It reminds me a bit of Ivy Leaf Maple but I'm not really sure. Check out some of the photos down this page for comparison: http://www.wcisel.com/treetopi...

Can you give us an idea of where this plant is growing, either the city or area of the country. That should help to narrow it down. It could be a lot of things and if it's getting cold where you live, it may just be going into dormancy with the changing of the season.

Oh im in upstate NY, western part of the state. The plant was growing in the shade, no direct sun all day, normal garden soil.

I was pondering Acer griseum, paperbark maple, because the end leaflet tapers towards the base like the ID plant but the leaflets seem less elongated and anyway it has opposite leaves. The ID plant appears to have alternate leaves. Ivy leaf maple also has opposite leaves and the end leaflet has a clean petiole rather than a taper so can't be that either.

are plants like this normally hard to ID? did I find something unique?

It's harder because we don't have flowers or fruits, or mature habit. It may be that someone recognizes it who's seen it as a young plant. It does have some characteristics that would help, like the hairy reddish stems, no/short petioles, alternate leaves and three leaflets.
We can say it's not poison ivy Did you look around to see if there was a mature plant that looks similar? It's not necessarily something unique, it may just take a little while for more people to see the thread who might know it.

If it has a strong spice like smell is Epazote it is edible, it has medicinal properties for stomach parasites. It does Not like to be tranplanted. It also called Mexican tea in english. Here in mexico we use it in several dishes like a spice it could be poison if eaten to much. Epazote nahuatl name and Dysphania ambrosioides.

Not Epazote.
Photo for comparison:


Edited to add:
Have you looked at Acer negundo?

Acer negundo is a good thought but again, being a maple, it has opposite leaves. A real long shot that I wondered about was Cardiospermum. Like maple it's in the Sapindaceae family but has alternate leaves. I wonder if it's something else in the same family.

As im sure you guys can see the plant is in really rough shape. Any advice on keeping it alive so that i can do an update on this as it grows?

Thanks for all the insight so far =)


Edit: I forgot to answer your question I did look around quite alot for any similar plants and I couldnt find anything.

Are you looking for little seedlings that are similar? or looking up at the mature trees?

greenest said:As im sure you guys can see the plant is in really rough shape. Any advice on keeping it alive so that i can do an update on this as it grows?.

It doesn't look all that bad assuming it was only recently transplanted. The only thing I noticed is that the potting mix looks a little dry in spots. If you've only transplanted it in the last few days and it is drooping more than it was when you dug it up, you could try encasing the plant and pot in a large plastic bag for a while, making sure the leaves don't touch the sides. Gradually open the bag a little more as it seems to recover.

It was confined in a small garden beside my house. Most of the plants I know what they are, the ones I didnt/weeds I checked all of them. Outside the garden is all grass so it was easy to check every plant.

I also walked around the house checking everywhere and saw nothing similar.


@sooby thanks I will try that.

Seeds can go a good distance. Have you checked farther away? In the neighborhood and other streets?

im on a country street but I will look around tomorrow.