Here's another attempt at identifying the plants and trees that I pass every day, but don't actually see.
I noticed this guy while on a run near the Pentagon. How sinister does he look?
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRAZyqf4xAa4kC2u1brpjMjKLCODphdRsE92Mlqg0W91uRz_AaJPgLPQu5-WgZqisZISk6FPvEUIq1NiCKzE_txS_jAKCXTWrGH_QGh2A_CYXBD-aCbSAWssvAewIljwxu0e1cw/s400/20121214_162053.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGm-HPs1LUEYrJrH4zsnB55_ygROFJSLfdHDSpBw3ZxfPKit9IwktM_apnqzKHaRGyrc0gGMmfIdvLeu2o1gNu2sqhqUNWnxOtv_dCqXge98sKmu4Txn5pmH0aWqCwjBXKD3Gh8A/s400/20121214_162046.jpg)
Seriously, it looks like something I might see in a tropical rain forest, not along the sidewalk in Arlington.
I used my unscientific approach to identifying this guy: I typed in a bunch of attributes into Google Image search and perused the results. In this case, I searched for green spiky weed and on the first page of the results found this picture:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBgfcXGoQiWIqo3Xsqorq-gDeKPD0LU2lfxXN8pDKPpkyPZQYfT711yFUep7s-U2ACcBPbODBmtbVARwGivZtMEIlVQ5hybaGhI6tkhijNEhQaq6PKTwhz4P6_DygntsNNuk8SZw/s400/found-image.png)
Apparently, I'd found some Jimson Weed.
As the spikes suggest, this sucker is poisonous. I mean, really poisonous. It's not often you see a warning like this on a plant you find on the side of the road:
Jimson weed is a dangerous plant in inexperienced hands, and an overdose is likely to be fatal.
Yikes.
While you can't eat it, and you probably shouldn't mess with it, the plant definitely has a lot of uses. Apparently, it can be used to treat asthma, Parkinson’s and the flu. It can also, apparently, be used as a hallucinogen and other recreational drug.
Yeah, so let's just leave this guy alone.
Still, it was a nice find in my local area.
Jimson weed flowers are quite beautiful but you're rightt; it isn't a plant that you want to experiment with!
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