[wildandwooly]

Anyone have any idea what this plant is? There is a patch of it on a steep slope of rough grassland down towards the beck at the bottom but a bit up from there. The area looks quite blackish muddy and it's quite wet and slimey there  I guess it might be easier once it's grown a bit.......
I'm worried in case it's something not nice for grazers 

[wildandwooly]

Can't download the photo as too big and I've tried various ways of doing it but it won't so I'll try later!

[Steph Hen]

Guessing butterbur?

[arobwk]

No trace of a picture coming through here.

[wildandwooly]

Morning

Think have finally managed to sort the photo! 

[wildandwooly]

Not a great photo only half of it but the bit you can see is the top of it. They have runners that go underground like a mat and there is only one small area of it. It might be easier to identify once there are some shoots or whatever. I've looked up the '10 most noxious weeds' and pictures of their roots and from what I can find it's not any of those.....

[doganjo]

According to picturethis it's broomrape or orobanche - "Orobanche (broomrape or broom-rape) is a genus of over 200 species of parasitic herbaceous plants in the family Orobanchaceae, mostly native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere."

I'm none the wiser, are you? 

Another name is hellroot so maybe you need to get rid 

[Fleecewife]

So, broomrape or butterburr?  Both are parasitic, butterburr has lots of root-like strands like couch. Broomrape mostly only grows on its very specific host plant.  Butterburr sounds non toxic as the leaves were used to wrap butter, and the flowers support early bees and insects.
I think you have to wait and see the flower and leaves before destroying what could be an interesting inhabitant of your ground, if not actually rare.


https://www.first-nature.com/flowers/petasites-hybridus.php

http://www.bioref.lastdragon.org/Magnoliophytina/Orobanche.html

[wildandwooly]

Thanks both. I have enough pests already round here 

I agree I'll wait and see what happens once it's grown a bit and hope it isn't anything nasty 

If it's something unusual/rare maybe I can diversify and get people to pay me to come and see it 

Watch this space 

[Fleecewife]

I don't think it's that rare 

[arobwk]

Completely new to me so no comment on what your specimen is:  however, I did note while following Fleecewife's links and beyond that some potentially relevant plant species ARE endangered & therefore protected !!  Will be interested to know what it turns out to be idc (when any specimens, still in the ground, have developed above ground).

[wildandwooly]

Yes quite. As I don't know I'm waiting until I can get a better idea of what it is 
A fair bit of my land is SSSi so there are lots of wild flowers that need protection. It has been badly neglected for at least 8 years by the previous owner so I'm in the process of finding out what is still here from the last survey 8 years ago, what may have gone ( but hopefully will be re generated) and what shouldn't be there or needs some sorting out/managing i.e. through topping or basically me pulling it out! Prob a mix. I took photos of stuff last year but it was at the end of the flowering season unfortunately but I'm repeating that in May and again in June and July. I have a list of the flowers/plants they identified 8+ years ago but nothing like this current plant on it. 

[Fleecewife]

That all sounds really exciting wildandwooly - what an adventure.  We had very few wild flowers here when we arrived 25 years ago, just lumpy grass, so we decided to leave it to see what appeared by itself.  The answer was still not much, although a few orchids have popped up recently.  We planted a load more trees this winter and have a whole lot of wildflower plants, chosen to suit the area, still to get in around them before spring (which hasn't quite arrived here yet)

[wildandwooly]

Yes the grass here is a bit lumpy too  I know there are orchids here but sadly I only got photos of them when they were finishing last year so not sure what sort. It'll certainly be exciting to see what grows this Spring. Spring not started here yet either. Snowdrops out but not the daffs at all but I am pretty high up! And North in Englandshire but not proper North as in Scotlandshire as my daughter would say

[Fleecewife]

I'm not actually that far from you @wildandwooly, just about an hour over the Border in soon-to-be The People's Republic of Scotland  ), and probably about the same elevation: 1000 feet.  The main thing we suffer from is cold winds, so we have planted windbreak hedges all around, which have given us a slightly calmer micro-climate.  We do get lots of snow, as will you, and the temps are at least 3 degrees lower than forecast for sea level. The area around us is mixed farming, with cattle, sheep and horses, plus chemical grown arable crops - too cold for commercial scale veggies. There is quite a lot of coniferous plantation too, increasing by the year.  I imagine you are up on the high moors - lovely and open