It's a cane, but guess what it is.

[SwampDonkey]

A neighbor makes these canes from a common non native but naturalized plant. You'll be surprised. ;)
Take a guess.

[doc henderson]

:-\

[Old Greenhorn]

Sassafras?

[SwampDonkey]

Ah, no. 

Personally, I was surprised that you could even find one of these to be strong or stout enough to make a cane. None that I have seen around here are.  :coolsmiley:

[Bert]

Grapevine?

[SwampDonkey]

No, not grape.

[beenthere]

Poison ivy

[SwampDonkey]

No, not ivy.


***clue: a common barn yard plant. 

[Bert]

Cornstalk?

[doc henderson]

sugar cane, may be a play on words.
is that the natural color or is it stained.?

[rusticretreater]

Cow parsley

[KEC]

Bittersweet?

[SwampDonkey]

Doc, it has a dark finish on it. The stem is usually a brown color at the end of the growing season.

Not bittersweet, corn, or cow parsley.  Notice that the stem is not smooth, that is the natural grain of it.   You guys are going to get a kick out of it once you figure it out.

*** clue: it produces many hooked bracts in a globular shape.

[SwampDonkey]

And @doc henderson   , cane as in walking stick. ;)

[Old Greenhorn]

I have seen a lot of plants that harden up pretty good when they die off and I am thinking that's what this is, not a tree. But many are very succulent and wither away. I am wracking my (albeit small) mind to think of a plant that will still have some meat on it when dried. Sunflower came to mind, but they have too much water in them. Corn stalk? Cattail? I'm stumped.

[Don P]

bramble on
I'm just a bramblin man

[thecfarm]

bamboo

[Jeff]

Poke weed.

[Hilltop366]

Burdock

[rusticretreater]

Yep, burdock.

[beenthere]

Cactus

[SwampDonkey]

Burdock

You got it!! 

[thecfarm]

I never let my get that big!!!
Took years to get rid of it here.
My Grand parents had sheep.
My father said we never had that DanG stuff here until they got sheep here on The Farm.

[SwampDonkey]

Turkeys, foxes and coons brought it around here from the neighboring farm. I've seen turkeys covered in burdock. They go down in those burdock groves on the neighbor to eat the seeds in winter. :D

[customsawyer]

Well y'all sent me to google.

[thecfarm]

Had them DanG things at the hardware store I use to work at. They would get about 4 feet tall, and I would hit them with some vegetation killer. Never killed them, just set them back. They need more than one treatment to slow them DanG things down.
So called boss did not care. He lived on a 250 foot lot and rented that. I did not need to bring the seed back to The C Farm.

[SwampDonkey]

I keep it at bay here, but on the perimeter of my property it pops up. I spray it within reach of my property line. :D

The top soil they hauled in here because of all the over burden from foundation digging was screened, but not screened for burdock seed. I was a couple years knocking that out. :D

I think the neighbor gets the stalks from his brother's farm a few miles from here. I've never seen one strong enough to be a cane. I'm guessing he might fill them with something because they are hollow around here. I know some places they can grow several feet tall, only about 5 or 6 feet here.

[thecfarm]

They hauled in some soil to cover the septic field about 24 years ago at my house. Wife found a piece of bamboo growing on the field. I pulled it out very carefully.
Wife had bamboo at her house.
I was some lucky that was the only piece we ever found.
Her grandparents thought that stuff was great.
I don't need that stuff at my house either. 

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, bamboo is about impossible to get rid of. I see it here on abandoned or burned down house sites. I don't want it around here either. :D

[Hilltop366]

Burdock

You got it!! 

That's what it looked like but I've never seen it get big enough to make a cane and like you I could not imagine it would be strong enough so I didn't say anything..... until I seen the clue.

[Hilltop366]

When you say bamboo do you mean Japanese knotweed? 

[SwampDonkey]

Yes. I had to look it up.   Always called bamboo up here.

[KEC]

I think the Japanese Knotweed, aka bamboo can be controlled with roundup or something similar applied to young leaves. The trick is to treat it, then go back and check it when the leaves wilt and retreat any leaves that are not wilted and keep at it. 

[SwampDonkey]

Yep, I'm sure. Same with burdock. Gotta keep on top of it. 

[thecfarm]

We got rid of burdock on the farm. Maybe 50 plants.
Bamboo would be like 1000 plants. I suppose you could kill it, but would have to keep the area barren for 3-4 years straight.

[WLzM1A]

sugar cane, may be a play on words.
is that the natural color or is it stained.?

I agree.  I had some sugar cane that was a deep purple in color and it gets pretty hard once completely dry.