Hello, I am hoping someone here can identify this plant/weed that is popping up in all of my gardens and has even spread to my St Augustine lawn. Its not difficult to pull out of the garden as I have a good thick mulch bed but I cant seem to get it off my lawn and it creeps from the lawn up the trees and up the stone garden borders into places it is not welcome.

I believe it is difficult to get rid of because of the depth of the potato looking root that is in the ground and so if you pull it....well it just keeps coming back.

Is there a way to get rid of this from my lawn without destroying the lawn. Thank-you

You don't mention what area you are in. I don't have a clue myself, but that information might help someone else.

Is that a photo that you took?

I wonder if it could be a variety of Dioscorea, commonly called Air Potato, Wild Yam etc. Some can be very invasive.

I am just outside of Tampa Florida, I assumed that this forum would only have partcipants from Florida but of course now that I think about it I guess that would be silly.

it is a photo I have taken myself on a white background. I thought it would look clearer. Are better pictures needed? Thanks for the replies

There's people from all over the world in this forum.

A photo taken in its natural environment would be very helpful, I think.

Yep ... folks from all over the world participate in many of the forums here at All Things Plants. I live across the state from you (on the east coast in Daytona Beach) and there are many wild (and sometimes invasive) plants here in our state. I've had numerous plants/weeds pop up in my yard over the years and your plant sure looks familiar so I've probably dealt with it myself at one time or another ... I just don't know what it is. I agree with Dave that it might be helpful if you can post a few more pictures of the plant where it's growing and hopefully someone will recognize it and be able to tell us what it is.

.... I'll be watching.

Thanks for all the replies, I hope this loads, dont know what the size requirements are here. I said potato but I should have been clearer with saying more the size of a radish, I had these all over my Podocarpus, Id tear them off and they would grow right back up again.

I wonder if it's related to sweet potatoes or morning glories. Does this ever bloom?

Gee ... I'm stumped! I've looked through lots of plant photo's but haven't found a close match yet. I thought it might be something like Hedge Bindweed but the foliage doesn't match ... off to look some more.

No there is never a bloom that I am aware of but I suppose I could have missed it, it will grow up the sides of my trees and travel to the tops I believe.......Now that you mention it is it possible that this is the weed that grows to the tops of some of the trees in my area and gives off a beutifull yellow flower?

Obviousely I am contemplating out loud but I guess that is a possability, if that is the case than the body of these plants if given anough time can get as large around as a persons wris

I am not stating that this is the same plant that is growing in my grass and in my gardens and up my trees but I guess the more I think about it the the possability is there.

If it is the same plant than the yellow flowers are clumped, rather small, longer than they are wide and just lovely.....now to get this out of my grass.

Thanks for all the replies, as it turns out the plant is called cats claw vine or Macfadyena unguis-cati

Now to get rid of it

It looks like Cats Claw vine to me. I'm in S. Texas and have been fighting it in my yard. Most of the tubers I have pulled up are about radish size, but some have been as large as a sweet potato!

It has yellow blooms for a short time and bean pods later on.

I looked it up and painting the cuts with 100% Glyphosphate is a control. Here is a link to the site I found.

http://www.texasinvasives.org/...

One thing I tried last summer was to fill baggies with brush killer and peg them to the vines, stuffing as much of the vine into the bag as possible. This spring I will try Vine and brush killer at 100%.

Hope this helps because I want it gone too.

David

@David77901 Good eye, it was identified as Cat's Claw (Macfadyena unguis-cati)! Apparently this thread just wasn't marked as closed/identified. I submitted a proposal to move the images to the database.