Plant ID, please

[Secuono]

Forget if we figured this one out, but it's only growing in one spot.

 

[MaggieJ]

It looks like burdock (Arctium lappa) to me -- the plant that produces those annoying burrs that stick to everything.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctium
http://www.mdidea.com/products/new/new02512.html

I would not feed it to my rabbits. Some parts are edible and some medicinal, but there are cautions that it may cause miscarriages.

 

[Dood]

:yeahthat:

New shoots are edible - old ones mildly toxic

It also looks like rhubarb which doesn't have fuzzy leaves and does have red streaks.

 

[Stormy]

Provided it is burdock, I would definitely feed it to my rabbits. Burdock has been eaten as food for thousands of years! If concerned, skip the pregnant does. Maybe cuz I'm in California burdock is served quite often in many places - and does not come with a warning label for pregnant women. Its a very nutritious food, eclipsing any concentrated medicinal uses. Usually the root is eaten - see if you can expand your patch and harvest the roots which are the best part! The plant kingdom provides us with so much medicine and nutrition rolled up into one - I feel variety is the best route to go

 

[mystang89]

I was going to say it looks almost exactly like the rhubarb I have growing in my garden. The stem is a bit more brown that what I have though but I know that rhubarb comes in a variety of different colored stems.

http://blog.hedgebrook.org/2011/05/rhubarb-cake/
http://www.spadespatula.com/2012/06/13/yes-you-can-grow-rhubarb-at-home-and-its-not-even-that-scary/

 

[MaggieJ]

It looks a lot like rhubarb, Mystang, but the leaves are furry instead of smooth and the stems are thinner and drier. When I was a kid, I thought it was "wild rhubarb" until the burrs appeared.

Stormy, that is good information. A lot of the cautions about plants are exaggerated, I know... but I tend to err on the side of caution. You are perfectly correct that there is safety in variety.