In message , Mike Lyle
writes
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
[...]

Ground elder is an umbellifer (that is related to cow parsley, hogweed
and hemlock, inter alia). Nowadays elder is in Adoxaceae (with
moschatel and viburnum). Both are campanulids, but that's a pretty
large group of plants (also includes holly, ivy, bellflowers, teasel
and daisies, inter alia).

Startlingly, there's actually a cultivated variety: it's variegated, and
not far from here there's a small border full of it...and I do mean
/full/, which shouldn't surprise anybody. Annoyingly, I have to admit it
looks rather nice. There's also a front garden in which the owner has
clearly given up the unequal struggle and allowed the plain type to take
over: the only surviving competitors are a few wispy grasses.


Supposedly the variegated form is much less aggressive than the wild
type, presumably due to lower rate of photosynthesis.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley