Weed/unknown spreading everywhere- advice/help please

Hello everyone,
I’ve noticed this weed growing and spreading over all parts of my lawn. It seems like a tree sprouting , as it is very strong, woody and impossible to pull or dig out with a trowel. Not sure whether they are sucks spreading from a tree or shrub in a border , or connected to each other underground. Might be from seeds in droppings spread by a bird or other wildlife. Here’s a picture



Any help with identifying it would be much appreciated, as would advice on what would get rid of it. Thanks

 

Hoping i am wrong,..as i am thinking its Japanese Knotweed 'Fallopia japonica',..not easy to get rid of.
NIEA-ID-Guide-ISNI-website-Fallopia-japonica-Japanese-KnotweedV2.pdf

 

@seneca I think it might be suckers from a blackthorn or other prunus; I've had these coming in my garden from time to time, I just pull them up where possible or use a mattock. Mine come from the scrub just beyond my back fence.
Japanese knot weed is fleshy and has hollow stems.

 

My first thought was blackthorn.

 

Damson?

 

Nearest trees are beech, pear, Apple and plum. I’ve tried digging with a trowel, but impossible. They are quite deep and resist pulling. As they are appearing all over the lawn, I’m reluctant to take a spade to them. Lawns in desperate need of mowing , so I thought maybe cut them and when they reappear it will be wetter, autumnal weather, the ground softer and then attempt digging. Spot treat with SBK?

 

I suspect the plum tree as the culprit. Plums are just cultivated blackthorn trees.

If you don't want to dig them out, you could try driving the spade straight down into the ground, a few inches from the saplings, on the side facing the plum tree. If it is a runner coming off the plum tree there's a good chance you'll sever it. Then try again to pull it up.

 

@seneca if you just cut them off at ground level they will return as a mini forest. As Clueless said above use a sharp spade to sever the root and then pull.

 

Pretty positive it is the gage tree, as it seems to have a lot of new shots coming out at the crown and those look somewhat similar. Some of the saplings are over 10m away! Not even my bamboo manages that. Shape spade seems an excellent idea and definitely worth trying. Also, it won’t make the lawn look unsightly. In a few months I’ll scrarify and finish with the lawn for the winter, so any digging will be less obvious and should sort itself out in spring. Thanks for the advice

 

Gages, plums, damsons, blackthorn, they're all related and I imagine have similar growth habits.

In folklore, blackthorns are considered mother of the woods. How is this relevant? Because if you're lucky enough to find a mature example that has been left to do its own thing for years, they're amazing. They send out runners in all directions, to a fairly specific radius to make an almost perfect circle. The original goes brittle and eventually succumbs to old age, leaving a ring of dense, interconnected thorny bushes. The clear area in the middle is perfect for other tree species to get going, largely protected from browsing deer that would otherwise eat the saplings. I guess the moral of the story in the context of this thread is if you don't sever the saplings from the parent tree, in a few decades you'll have your own natural circular blackthorn fortress in your garden.

 

There is a lot of folklore about blackthorn including that they are protected by Faeryfolk and bad luck attends you if you cut down a mature one without asking permission and paying a fee.
In my garden they came up some 6 to 7 m away so 10 m wouldn't surprise me.

 

I think it is Pussy Willow.