# help me identify this plant i found by the river

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-plant-i-found-by-the-river/534948>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 4, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-plant-i-found-by-the-river/534948 "2010-04-04T20:47:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-plant-i-found-by-the-river/534948/21 "2010-04-06T14:57:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Oh! I live in Missouri, where might I find this?

Ohio Buckeye, Aesculus glabra is typically found growing in bottom lands along the banks of rivers and streams.

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**Author:** ![Analogue\_Skywalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Analogue\_Skywalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Analogue_Skywalker)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-plant-i-found-by-the-river/534948/22 "2010-04-07T01:37:54Z")

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> [@Bayesian\_Empirimancer](#):
>
> Oh! I live in Missouri, where might I find this?

I live in martin city, kansas city, mo. I found this plant in the blue river parkway public fishing access right off holmes and blue river parkway. Theres a few big trees by the baseball diamonds, and numerous amounts of small plants down along the river path

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**Author:** ![Analogue\_Skywalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Analogue\_Skywalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Analogue_Skywalker)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-plant-i-found-by-the-river/534948/23 "2010-04-07T01:43:08Z")

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QUOTE=Polycarp;12305314]True. It’s been a couple of years since I saw them, in the woods behind our former home here in rural NC. I guess my question is, “What plant is it that has leaves closely resembling those of buckeye/horse chestnut trees, but which is a ground-hugging herb rather than a tree or bush? Is it a taxonomic relative of them, or just something with similar leaf shape?” Location, of course, would be forest understory in the Carolinas. I didn’t see them flowering, so have no clue there; the unusual leaf shape was what made me take notice of them.  
[/QUOTE]

I accuse the mayapple [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podophyllum\_peltatum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podophyllum_peltatum)[

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**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-plant-i-found-by-the-river/534948/24 "2010-04-07T01:46:14Z")

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What you found in a van down by the river is clearly government cheese.

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