Maybe Goat’s Beard? I have a patch in my yard and that was my first thought. But then there’s False Goat’s Beard; very similar.
Could be an astilbe.
It’s not poison ivy or relative of same.
If it produces small white flowers with 5 pointed or rounded petals and then fruits that resemble blackberries, it is probably a Rubus species. In other words, letting it flower will help with identification.
I think you may be on to something. One of the distinctive things about the leaves in the OP is the reddish dots on the stem between the leaflets. This is also found in False Goat’s Beard, aka False Spirea, aka Astilbe. Here’s an example. Since there are a lot of cultivated varieties, it may not be possible to get it closer than that.
I don’t know if that’s a photo from the op’s backyard, but the plant in the photo isn’t poison ivy nor poison oak nor poison sumac nor stinging nettles.
It does look like young astibile, but i don’t know that (and its look-alikes) to be sure. I IMG think it’s a rubus, but it might be. I agree that waiting to see its flowers would help to id it. My guess is that it is harmless. If you don’t want it, pull it out. If you were just nervous about it, I’d wait and see what it is.
Looks like a new crop of stingy nettles to me. If you wait until summer when it gets leggy, we could be sure.
As has been said several times already, one thing it is certainly not is nettles. Nettles have simple leaves, and this has compound leaves.
Rubus usually has prickles on the stems. Unfortunately the photos in the OP don’t show the stems. Some better photos showing more of the plant would be helpful.
Correct. the pictures I posted were from my yard.
What are the stems like? Do they have prickles?
South Carolina
I’m thinking Astilbe too. Is it a shady-ish spot? If so you have pretty flowers coming soon.
https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=astilbe%20leaves
Adding to the chorus of “definitely not nettles”. Doesn’t look anything like nettles.
I don’t see any thorns, leading me to exclude the most common volunteer Rubus spp. My differential is between Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) and Goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus), and I can never tell the difference between the two until they flower.
I’m thinking blackberry. Young plants can have insignificant thorns. There are also “thornless” varieties now. Huzzah.
Only way to be sure is wait and watch. OTOH, if you don’t want a random plant next to your house, pull it now.
The second photo in the OP shows some flowers just starting. That looks more like Rubus than Astilbe to me.
ETA: but on second look, those might be a different weed pushing through the leaves of this one. The flowers have a different arrangement than the Rubus I’m familiar with.
Yes, those flowers belong to the small weed to the right of the photo.
Have we ruled out the Umbelliferae? I agree it does look like Astilbe, but it does also look a bit like some of the umbellifers with not-so-finely cut leaves - it’s similar to Ground Elder (although clearly is it not actually that plant). The leaves are maybe a little bit too toothed for an umbellifer - I’m not sure.
You said in a sunny area, right? I saw many of these plants on my dog walk this weekend… they’re sprouting-out all over the place right now.
**Colibri **nailed it: Rubus, spp. <— google image link.
You could check for thorns to confirm.
Rubus is a large and varied genus, so it’s possible. But it doesn’t look like Rubus to me. It looks more like Astibile.