What's this plant?

[Jim Davis]

And, is it good for anything? leaves look extravagant in their arcs, lobes and points. This particular plant is around 8 feet tall.  It is on a field edge next to a creek, but not an especially wet or damp spot.

[nclonghunter]

Mulberry...

[Pat B]

What type of plant is it? woody? Herbaceous? multi stemmed? single trunk? tree? shrub? How about a pic of the plant.

[Jim Davis]

It seemed to be woody, but was a group of small shoots up to  a half inch in diameter, mostly. Really,  there can't be any other leaf that looks like this, can there?

[Pat B]

No, but that could be one variation of a certain plant leaf.   It does resemble a paper mulberry somewhat but it would have a single stem or trunk unless it was on suckers from a stump.

[PrimitiveTim]

We gonna need a picture of the plant.  It does look very paper mulberryish to me.  That would be weird for them to be in Kentucky though...

[stickbender]

     Are there any spiny looking green seed pods, with grayish speckled elongated seeds?  It looks like a castor bean plant.  It is highly toxic if it is!  The seeds contain RICIN!!!!!  I don't know what they do to make the castor oil from it, without including the ricin with it.  But if it is a greyish green looking plant, it could be that.  It is an invasive plant.  The seeds, may be brownish, I haven't seen any in a while.  Every now and then I will see some on the side of the road.

                                           Wayne

[Eric Krewson]

Caster bean plants have a lot of red in the stems and leaves. Used to see them around old house places a lot. I asked and old guy why they grew them, he said country folk would eat a bean for the laxative effect when they needed it.

[Pat B]

...and also to keep moles and voles out of the garden. I don't think it is Caster bean though.

[Jim Davis]

Here are some photos of the tree--I'm saying tree now because a closer look at the ground revealed  that these are stump sprouts.  I cut the original tree 2 or 3 years ago in the winter when there were no leaves to make me notice them.

There is  a caterpillar tent in the photo to, unless those are silk worms :-)

[Pat B]

Still hard to tell but looks like some potential arrow shafts in the bunch.

[PrimitiveTim]

I'm settling on a weird red mulberry.

[Pat B]

Are there any similar trees in the area you can compare it to? ...and take pics of?

[Jim Davis]

Have not seen other similar trees--yet.

Jim

[mullet]

That's not a Mulberry or Castor plant.