Hello everyone, I have three of these plants/weeds in my garden and am trying to find out exactly what it is. It has long red stems with leaves on opposite sides of the stem and has dark brown/black single berries. It seems to grow outwards rather than up. I have included a photo.

I have spent hours going through images on the internet but cant find it. Thank you so much for your help!

On 02/03/2012 14:01, CheshireCouple wrote:
Hello everyone, I have three of these plants/weeds in my garden and am
trying to find out exactly what it is. It has long red stems with
leaves on opposite sides of the stem and has dark brown/black single
berries. It seems to grow outwards rather than up. I have included a
photo.

I have spent hours going through images on the internet but cant find
it. Thank you so much for your help!


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Looks like one of the Hypericums (St John's Wort) to me. If you haven't
yet seen them, it will have yelllow flowers.

--

Jeff

On Fri, 2 Mar 2012 14:01:21 +0000, CheshireCouple
wrote:


Hello everyone, I have three of these plants/weeds in my garden and am
trying to find out exactly what it is. It has long red stems with
leaves on opposite sides of the stem and has dark brown/black single
berries. It seems to grow outwards rather than up. I have included a
photo.

I have spent hours going through images on the internet but cant find
it. Thank you so much for your help!


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|Filename: strange plant.jpg |
|Download: http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14766|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

Sure looks like Belladonna (Deadly nightshade).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_belladonna

On 02/03/2012 16:42, Brooklyn1 wrote:
On Fri, 2 Mar 2012 14:01:21 +0000, CheshireCouple
wrote:


Hello everyone, I have three of these plants/weeds in my garden and am
trying to find out exactly what it is. It has long red stems with
leaves on opposite sides of the stem and has dark brown/black single
berries. It seems to grow outwards rather than up. I have included a
photo.

I have spent hours going through images on the internet but cant find
it. Thank you so much for your help!


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: strange plant.jpg |
|Download: http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14766|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

Sure looks like Belladonna (Deadly nightshade).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_belladonna

Atropa belladonna is a member of the Solanaceae. Members of this family
have their leaves arranged alternately, not opposite (as in the OP's
picture).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanaceae#Description

--

Jeff

Thank you so much for your comments, I think it might be Hypericum. I will be watching out for the yellow flowers to confirm. I hope it isnt deadly nightshade, just read about it and am scared!

On Sat, 3 Mar 2012 00:26:59 +0000, CheshireCouple
wrote:
Thank you so much for your comments, I think it might be Hypericum. I
will be watching out for the yellow flowers to confirm. I hope it isnt
deadly nightshade, just read about it and am scared!

Why would you be scared of deadly nightshade? Do you make a habit of
picking weeds and eating them?

I only eat weeds I can positively identify. For instance, when I weed
in the spring, I pluck wild radish sprouts, rinse them, and add them
to salads. Stinging nettle is said to make a good soup, though I
haven't tried.

"Sean Straw" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 3 Mar 2012 00:26:59 +0000, CheshireCouple
wrote:
Thank you so much for your comments, I think it might be Hypericum. I
will be watching out for the yellow flowers to confirm. I hope it isnt
deadly nightshade, just read about it and am scared!

Why would you be scared of deadly nightshade? Do you make a habit of
picking weeds and eating them?


Actually, I do. Many common garden weeds are edible, delicious and just as
(or more so) nutricious as commonly grown greens.


I only eat weeds I can positively identify. For instance, when I weed
in the spring, I pluck wild radish sprouts, rinse them, and add them
to salads. Stinging nettle is said to make a good soup, though I
haven't tried.


Nettle makes a delicious potherb, much better than spinach IMO.

A friend of mine offered me some weeds to grow indoors. I am currently growing them now but they give off a very strong odour which fills the house. Im not sure what variety they are but they have pointy leaves, 7 or 9 on each stem. Any idea what they could be ? Im new to the whole gardening thing so dont really know much about them.

They sound very similar to the ones I have growing in my conservatory..and while they look attractive, I have also decided to experiment and am currently drying some of the leaves to see if they retain their odour, they may even have some medicinal purpose.. I'll keep you posted...

WD

Thanks WD, id appreciate to hear of your findings. I had a few too many of them and burnt a few along with other garden waste. My neighbour wasnt to happy with the smoke wafting over into her garden but then she seemed to see the funny side of it and slumped to her sun lounger laughing hysterically. What an odd lady.Ive still got quite a few left in the house so i would be most interested in your results from drying them.

It's funny you should mention about your neighbour..I did indeed dry them and decided in the spirit of adventure to add them to some chocolate brownies I was making...I can report that while they added nothing to the overall taste of the brownies, I was overtaken with a sudden urge to take all my clothes off and dance naked in the garden to Meatloaf...unfortunately my neighbours were not nearly so amused as yours...

WD

Dancing naked to Meatloaf is highly inappropriate, though it would be ok to do it to Michael Bolton.

PS Can I try some of these weeds?

The feel of the sun beating down on naked skin is beautiful and should be encouraged, not sure about Meatloaf or Michael Bolton though.

The plant that you used in your brownies could be a wild form of mint. Perfectly safe to use but can have a laxative effect if you use too much.

Also I think it can grow quite rapidly. A house a few doors down from me had it growing, it took over the whole house. A couple of nice men from Vietnam came and bagged it all up and took it away in a transit van. I asked them what the plant was and they told me it was Wild Mint.