G: From the photo, I'd put the most likely identification as American burnweed (Erechtites hieraciifolius), formerly called fireweed (not the pink wildflower).

Here's why I think that:

It has a large basal rosette of long, lance-shaped leaves.
The leaves are mostly smooth with fine, shallow teeth along the margins.
The leaves have a prominent pale midrib and relatively smooth surface.
It's growing in what looks like a disturbed woodland edge, exactly the sort of place burnweed loves.

A couple of alternatives that are possible but seem less likely:

Horseweed / marestail (Conyza canadensis) – similar rosette, but the leaves are usually noticeably narrower and hairier than yours.
Wild lettuce (Lactuca spp.) – often has more irregularly toothed leaves and, as it matures, develops spines on the underside of the leaf midrib.
Evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) – another rosette-forming plant, but its leaves are usually more wavy and often have reddish spotting near the base.

A quick test

If you don't need to remove it immediately, wait a week or two.

If it shoots up a single tall stalk (3–8 feet) with clusters of small greenish flowers, it's almost certainly American burnweed.
If the leaves develop small prickles along the underside of the central vein, it's more likely a wild lettuce.

Should you keep it?

If this is in your grove project, I'd probably pull it now unless you specifically want native pioneer plants. Burnweed is a native annual, so it's not invasive in the ecological sense, but it grows quickly, produces lots of wind-blown seed, and can shade out young grasses and smaller plants.

One question that would help confirm it: When you crush one of the leaves, does it have much of a smell? Burnweed often has a somewhat resinous or unpleasant odor when bruised.

2026-07-23 13:35:04 EDT

M: I'm pulling it out. I was just making sure that it wasn't something interesting or positive. We've had a bird feeder around here and I'm not exactly sure, but there's part of me that kind of wants like a sunflower pop-up. I think I pulled one up to identify it a while ago and regretted it. So I was making sure there wasn't any kind of problem going on there. I'll ask again if something else looks healthy and robust. I'm pretty sure I saw something come up with, sorry, saw something come up which might have been wheat or something similar. But for the first time in like a month, someone came around with a lawnmower, so that's been kind of knocked down. Thank you.

G: That makes perfect sense. Around a bird feeder, you're essentially running an unplanned germination experiment. Sunflowers, millet, wheat, sorghum, cracked corn, safflower, and all sorts of other seeds can sprout depending on the mix.

And yes—young sunflowers are one of the plants I'd be cautious about pulling without checking first. They can be surprisingly plain-looking at first.

A few quick "bird feeder volunteer" clues:

🌻 Sunflower: Thick stem, broad rough leaves, prominent veins, and the cotyledons (the first pair of leaves) are large and fleshy.
🌾 Wheat/oats/barley: Looks like a tuft of grass, but the leaves are broader and more upright than most lawn grasses. Usually harmless if you're curious to see what happens.
🌽 Corn: Broad, flat leaves emerging from a central rolled shoot. Easy to recognize once it's a few inches tall.
🌼 Safflower: Begins as a rosette, but the leaves soon become stiff and eventually spiny.
🌿 Millet: Another grass-like seedling, but tends to form a more robust clump than lawn grass.

The plant in your photo didn't resemble any of those. It looked like the sort of vigorous woodland pioneer that will happily take over if given the chance, so I don't think you're sacrificing anything particularly interesting by removing it.

Given your grove project, I'd actually encourage the approach you're already taking: if something appears healthy, unusually vigorous, or different from everything around it, snap a picture before pulling it. It's much easier to identify a living seedling than to guess after it's been composted, and there's always the chance one of those bird-feeder volunteers turns out to be a sunflower or some other pleasant surprise.

I'm happy to keep helping identify them as they pop up. After a while you'll start recognizing the common volunteers at a glance, and you'll only need to ask about the occasional oddball.