Asked on Jul 08, 2014

The last one I am wanting help to identify.

Charlotte Kent
by Charlotte Kent
This plant has come growing up from the bottom of an azalea. I would just like to know if these plants are something desirable, if I might try to move them. At this time this one is about 3 ft high.
This is a close-up of the leaf.
This is a wider view.
  10 answers
  • Victoria Eubanks Victoria Eubanks on Jul 08, 2014
    It Looks an awful lot like an american Sweet Gum seedling to me.
    • Charlotte Kent Charlotte Kent on Jul 08, 2014
      @Victoria Eubanks At one time that is what I thought. Then I changed my mind. Now I've forgotten why. I will have to get a leaf and compare. There are several sweet gum trees behind my house. Def a possibility. But have no clue about the other two I posted.
  • Cheryl Turner Cheryl Turner on Jul 09, 2014
    Looks like Castor Bean. Be careful they say its poisonous you should google castor bean
  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on Jul 09, 2014
    It does look very much like a sweet gum.
  • Katie Price Katie Price on Jul 09, 2014
    Sweet gums are prolific seeders. Their seedlings will pop up everywhere and grow in hidden places (like under your azaleas). I personally dislike sweet gum trees in part for that annoying habit. I hope yours isn't too big to pull out by the roots. If you just cut it, it will continue to sprout from now to eternity. (another annoying habit of sweet gums) And then there are the sticker-balls..., but don't get me started!
  • Jeanette Crawford Jeanette Crawford on Jul 09, 2014
    sweet gum tree
  • Charlotte Kent Charlotte Kent on Jul 09, 2014
    Leaf comparison with sweet gum: left is leaf from mature sweet gum. Right is from the plant growing in flower bed. Do y'all think they are the same?
  • ArachNib ArachNib on Jul 09, 2014
    No, they are not the same.
  • ArachNib ArachNib on Jul 10, 2014
    Here is a step by step identification process to determine if it is a weed. there are too many areas I needed to leave blank and it resulted in nothing. You need to try it since you have the leaf in your hand.
    • Charlotte Kent Charlotte Kent on Jul 10, 2014
      @ArachNib Was there a link? It didn't show up. Will try to find weed identification. Of course, one person's weed might be another's flower. Thanks for trying to help!
  • Katie Price Katie Price on Jul 10, 2014
    Google (or Bing or Yahoo, etc.) images of Sweet Gum trees and you will see that there are subtle variations of leaf shapes. Basically they are five-lobed, usually pointed, leaves. In the photo of two leaves above, the one on the right looks to me more like a sugar maple (like on the Canadian flag).
  • Diana Kosa Diana Kosa on Nov 27, 2015
    This looks like the leaves of the chestnut tree.