United States 
I believe I have one of these in the garden that was neglected for years and now that I am living here and trying to revive my Mother's garden, it put out a good branch of new tender trifoliate leaves. Sadly, the beautiful large leaves were all munched off by deer. I left my garden gate open..I'm more careful now...it made a comeback and something other than deer chomped it off again...it tried again and I started covering it with a plastic bag at night. Success! Strong winds last night blew the bag right off and this morning the leaves were gone. A new little sprout at bottom still had its bag on. Can anybody confirm that this is the pineapple broom? And anyone know what could be loving it to eat? This picture taken 9/30/15. I notice that some of the leaves have 4.
20 Oct, 2015
Well, that's what the leaves certainly look like. A close look at where the leaves join the stem would clinch the identification. A chicken wire cage to protect it from critters would probably be a good investment. My first suspects other than deer would be rabbits or ground squirrels. In some parts of the country, javelina would be a possibility, though any fence that will keep out deer should also keep out javelina.
20 Oct, 2015