I have a spot in the yard badly invaded by a plant I never saw before. The leaves look somewhat like lily, but roots do not show same characteristics I use to see in lilies. The plant is not clumping, so it is not an iris, instead it spreads by underground runners white in color, when the roots themself are yellow. I definitely do not want them where they are, but if they are flowers and can grow in the shade, I can move some of them to a creek bank…
Looks like Hemerocallis (Daylily).
Liriope? It’s in the lily family.
Shouldn’t they be clumping? I use to see daylilies in clumps, never saw them running like this
Need to google that one 
No, I do not think so - all the pictures I see are tidy clumps or borders. I can’t imagine amount of work to keep my plant tidy… Look at the first picture, this is what it looks like on large scale:
Several varieties, some clump, some form ground cover…
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Ah, didn’t know that. OK, then I leave them for now in a corner, but I will have to watch for them not to spread. If allowed, how fast they travel in fertile soil, do you know?
All daylilies I have seen are clumpers, but I do not know if all of them are. Just a guess.
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I think they will travel fast and look ratty in good soil, if they’re confined to an area, someway, they thicken up and make good ground cover.
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Their root do not look too deep, so if I put some separator in the soil, they will stay where I want them. At least I can try. Will kill them next year if I don’t like them.
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i think Hristo is right with Hemerocallis.
The roots and leaves make me think of that. There are however many plants and cultivars of plants that look the same. Easiet to ID is when it flowers.
If it is a Hemerocallis, than the flowers are edible and quite tasty.
I have tasted multiple cultivars. But now have a plant of
Hemerocallis hybr. ‘Stella d’Oro’ that I’m curious to taste. It’s supposed to be the tastiest. I’m planning on finding out this year.
Just a word of warning. Never taste before your 1000% sure on the ID of the plant.
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I grow a lot of Hemerocallis including aggressive spreading types. This doesn’t strike me as Hemerocallis so if that is in fact the correct identification then I’d love to see this when in bloom as it would seem to be a very uncommon form…
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I will post an update when(and if) it blooms
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Best post yet…I don’t see hemerocallis or liriope…
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I won’t be at all surprised if this ends up being a rhizomatous species of Carex.
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It’s probably some kind of Fimbristylis. 100% certain it’s not daylily.
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The patch of this plant is growing in one particular area of the yard. If it would be a grassy weed that can spread by seeds I would expect it to grow all over. It looks more like it is some “oh, it’s pretty” plant came out of control. Will see if it flowers…
I find that the lighter yellow flowered forms of daylily are the best tasting.
There is a variety referred to as lemon lily (its a tall yellow daylily) that’s my favorite for munching on. It does not have a lemon flavor, it is just sweet and mild with no funky aftertaste.
Many of the highly bred varieties are ok, but have an unsavory aftertaste.
Scott
btw… I don’t think the original images are that of a daylily. I don’t see any of the storage roots among the roots exposed.
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This is exactly my thoughts, I use to see those thick storage roots in daylilies, not present here.and I never see more then one “stem” per root. Each plant has set of dirty yellow roots and plants interconnected by white thick underground runners.
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May be a spider wort ? ?
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