"Mike1" wrote in message
...
I have a similar problem with diagnosing a weed that has appeared in my
garden this Summer, but not that I can recall in previous years.

It has green jagged leaves and appears very quickly. In a small patch I
have seen five different clumps of these leaves.

If I dig one up, I see a single thin white root which I can never get to
the
end of. This stuff has already started to appear in other parts of the
garden about 30ft away.

Recently I have started to use Roundup on the leaves and hope this will
eventually get down to the roots and source.

Any ideas whether it is bindweed or some other super weed ?

Mike.

Sounds horribly like coltsfoot to me - at least the desc is how I would
describe 'our' population. In the spring the little flowers come up without
leaves, like dandelion flowers but with a sort of 'sectioned' stem. Then
they do seeds just like dandelions. Then come the leaves which, if left to
grow, turn into dinner plate sized objects. Sort of ace-of-spades shaped
but with a jagged edge but not spiky. Dusky green in colour, slightly hairy
stem. Yes I know what you mean about the root and the tiniest bit will
re-root and rumble away for miles under and along the soil. I tried hard to
dig them out (being as organic as possible even though that sometimes does
your back in!) but they just came back worse. I resorted to painting on
Roundup and it did a wonderful job. IMHO it's on a par with ground elder -
horrible.

--Alison