The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains these words:

La puce wrote:
Nick Maclaren wrote:
This was introduced into our allotments by someone who thought
that
it was an interesting plant. Well, it was, initially. But it has
become a noxiously persistent weed. How can I get rid of it?

I have never heard of this plant. What does it look like?

It's very variable: medium-tall perennial; colony-forming, often in
large numbers; owes its characteristic coloration to a lack of
chlorophyll; generally pilose, with dense brush-like clusters of
filaments at the top, though this feature is less marked or absent in
many older specimens; fortunately for areas in which it has become an
endemic pest, unable to reproduce vegetatively; frost and drought
tender, but with great powers of recovery; some of the specimens seen
here have exuded a marked foetid odour. Has given rise to bitter
wrangles between neighbours, sometimes ending in the courts. Easily
destroyed with traditional and modern herbicides. Tastes vary, but I
wouldn't have it in my own garden; completely unsuitable as a house
plant. Don't bother with it.

--
Mike.


This is new to me. Is it normally initially grown as an ornamental
and/or house plant? It's odd that there seems to be absolutely no
reference to it on Google. Any suggestions as to why it doesn't exist as
far as Google is concerned - or any reference book that I have to hand?

Janet G