Hi,
I thank you all for your efforts. I found a picture of some gopher plants
and I am sure that is what it is!!!

This is the pictu
http://plantsdatabase.com/showpicture/16425/

I have potted one of the plants I found and here are some additional
details:

the leaves are stiff, dark green, pointed on the ends and the largest is 3/8
inch wide by 5 inches long;

each leaf has a distinct white vein running down the center from end to tip;

the leaves have no stem - they are a full 3/8 of an inch where they touch
the stalk;

new leaves sprout vertically out of the top and then stick out at a 90
degree angle from the stalk as further new ones develop;

there are exactly 4 rows of leaves (north, south, east, west so to speak)
stacked up evenly along the stalk;

the plant I potted has two branches sprouting out about 3 inches from the
ground;

in the field where I gathered it, there is a whole patch of it growing close
together in one area of waste ground - an overgrown family cemetery to be
exact which led me to think that it was all attached by the roots but when I
pulled one out the roots came with it and it didn't seem like it was
attached.

Sorry my original description was so vague.

Thanks again! You guys are great! -Dan Stanley




"Cereoid-UR12-" wrote in message
. com...
Euphorbia lathyris, the so called "Gopher Plant" has paired leaves,
distinctly 4 ranked, the whole plant is glaucous and looks nothing like
what
Dan describes.

Even though Euphorbia is a very large genus, none of the native ones or
introduced weedy ones could even remotely be described as looking like a
palm tree.


JPittman wrote in message
hlink.net...
Could be a Euphorbia - like gopher plant.

Dan Stanley wrote:
Hi,

I live in Northern Virginia's Shenandoah Valley (zone six I believe)
and
I
saw some very attractive plants that looked like they should have been
in a
pot by the side of the road today.

They were from one to two feet tall and had thick, soft, red stems.
The
leaves all came out of the single stalk and looked like the top of a
palm
tree except they continued down the stalk a ways. The leaves were
long -
maybe six inches - and thin - about 3/4 inch - dark, leathery green
with
white veins.

We have had a couple of good frosts so most plants are down for the
winter
but these looked very comfortable growing out of the grass. There were
several of them growing side by side.

I looked around a little for a picture of something similar but didn't
have
any luck. Any guidance you might give me would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan