Can you take a photo of it in the ground, with a solid background like a piece of propped up cardboard if necessary?

I'm afraid this is the best I can do... the lobes of the leaf or leaves are minimally joined at the bottom; it's about 6-8" tall at most. The other picture was of a plant that had been slightly taller.

Maybe Sassafras?

Thanks for the additional photo. Not sassafras if it's a spring ephemeral (it dies back in summer) and the leaves aren't right anyway.

Any idea on the flowers?

Also, zone 5 covers a fairly wide territory. What state?

Prenanthes

I spaced out and forgot about it being a spring ephemeral Babs.The leaves are so odd the only thing that came to mind was Sassafras. It doesn't look like any mayapple, and we'll,Prenanthus? I grow that curiosity for it's strange leaves and blooms,and it is an ephemeral,but I have never seen leaves on one that we're that strange.I only grow one species though and don't know anything about the others in the genus,so all in all I think it's a good candidate.

Eleanor is there any chance you can snap a pic when it flowers? I agree with Carol but the info on this plant says the leaves are highly variable and not a good way to ID.

I'm certain it is not sassafras, as it is not woody, and I know sassafras. Prenanthus is a real possibility, but I do not know when it flowers, and my field guide to wildflowers say it is found in thickets, clearings and open slopes. But this guy is in the woods. I will keep a watch on it and do some research! THANKS!

"White Rattlesnake Root" (Prenanthus alba) blooms in Aug \ Sept.

Prenanthus is one of the things I considered, but the leaves I saw on line look really different from those pictured and so I figured my memory was off.

I grow Prenanthus alba and the basal leaves are more ivy shaped. I have never seen leaves on it as oddly shaped as in the photo. I think there are more species of it,but I just read that through dna testing all the Prenanthus species are not as closely related as once thought,so all the current Prenanthus species are going to be assigned to other genuses except for P.purpura. I haven't been able to get any info or pics of the other still existing P. species, I was hoping maybe one of them might be a match.

Old Forester, those are the same plant? That's a lot of variation, then! There is another plant nearby in my yard that does look similar, I will have to do more puzzling! Sorry about the picked status; it would have been impossible to take a pic in situ:

God certainly knows how to throw curve balls in nature!

Prenanthus is now listed as Nabalus per Weakley and BONAP. Eleanor, when we're considering options, we really need a specific location (i.e. north-central TX, Crawford County).

There are about six potential Nabalus species that are fairly common across the northern US. For some reason, they have been poorly collected and photographed. They are also often misidentified on Internet photos. The leaves in your photo are generally like the Nabalus altissimus that grows in my Arkansas area. However, Nabalus species identification from leaf shape is very shaky. The dichotomous keys generally rely on form of the inflorescence, phyllary characteristics, pubescence of upper stems, number of florets, etc. Since your plant will not flower, we'll never know, for sure, which species you are featuring. Per Weakley, of the six Nabalus species most often found in the northern US, altissimus, albus, crepidineus, and trifoliatus grow in forests. N. racemosus grows in fens. N. asper (sometimes listed as apera or asperus) grows in prairies, glades, and barrens.

Yes, they were the same.

I forgot to add that I am in northern Indiana. Hm, more research needed! Not only that, but I think I might just have three of the Nablus species right here in my back yard!

This genus is also frustrating on another level. Some species are random in flowering, and can go for several seasons with only basal leaves showing.