Can anyone identify what this is?

jeremyjamesbaker

Hello. I've got loads of these all over my flowerbeds.  They seem to start with a large single leaf and when they are dug up they have a little bulb type thing at the bottom. Also I have lots of daffodil leaves that don't ever flower, not a single one.  Digging out the bulbs is quite hard work is there an easier way to get rid of them? Many thanks.

JennyJ

Skunk cabbage (Lysichiton) maybe?

You've got some hairy bittercress in there too which will be setting seed before you can blink.

Pulling off the daffodil leaves as they appear will gradually weaken the bulbs but will most likely take years to finish them off.  Have you tried giving them a feed to see if that'll help them to flower the following year?

Dovefromabove

Arum maculatum aka Cuckoo Pint, Lords & Ladies, Jack in the Pulpit etc etc etc

A fascinating British native woodland flower which traps insects in order to achieve pollination.  They can be a bit invasive but the leaves die down by mid summer. 

Attractive red berries good for wildlife in the autumn, but they’re not good for you so don’t eat them. 

Rubytoo

I was going to say Arum maculatum. But think jennyj is right the leaves are shinier. Does it have a yellow flower in the middle, that would be the "cabbage".
You also beat me to it about the bittercress. The flowers are so tiny and ping before you know it.
That is the one at the top left by the dead twig and just tucked left side under your big leaf plant.

Obelixx

Try feeding the daffodils to help them build up flowering energy.  Lifting and dividing also helps as they will come up blind if too crowded and thus starved of nutrients and no room to grow big enough to flower.

jeremyjamesbaker

Thanks for your replies!  I googled images for those suggestions and I'm not sure its either of those. Theres certainly no red berries in previous years nor a central yellow flower.

Rubytoo

Glad you got the gist of the "flower".
Just a thought, depending on the size, they are usually the bigger more mature ones that get a flower stalk /spathe on. So if you have been pulling them trying to get rid it is possible you have not seen a flowering sized one yet?
You could leave the biggest one if you like or are curious to see what you have got.
Just don't leave it long enough to set seed

Lyn

I’d agree with dove, are the leaves shiny because they’re full of rain water. ? 

Rubytoo

This is spooky sorry I didn't see Doves reply at all when I first posted :embarassed:

jeremyjamesbaker

The leaves might be a little wet but wet or dry they have an amazing shine to them a bit like a houseplant. Thats partly why I'm so interested to find out what they are.  Theres load of them!

Lyn

It’s definitely one of those,  I’d go with arum, it will invade your garden like ground elder, but harder to dig out, the main root goes down for a very long way, leave one to flower if you like, but as Ruby says, get the flower off before it seeds.