Mystery Weed
 

I am new to the UK from the US and haved moved into a wonderful cottage with a rather extensive but overgrown garden. There is something(I can only assume that it is a weed) that has taken over virtually every inch of the beds, but after scouring the internet, I have been unable to identify it. Can anyone help? I would also appreciate any advice on eradicating it. I would like to clear my beds and plant, but would hate for it to take over again, as it looks like it is quite aggressive. Any help would be great!

Mystery Weed
 

In article ,
says...

I am new to the UK from the US and haved moved into a wonderful cottage
with a rather extensive but overgrown garden. There is something(I can
only assume that it is a weed) that has taken over virtually every inch
of the beds, but after scouring the internet, I have been unable to
identify it. Can anyone help? I would also appreciate any advice on
eradicating it. I would like to clear my beds and plant, but would hate
for it to take over again, as it looks like it is quite aggressive. Any
help would be great!


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--
Malisobel

That looks like one of the comphreys, probably symphitum ibericum (check
the spelling!) its difficult to control on heavy soils but on my light
soil makes a good well behaved ground cover under trees etc
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Mystery Weed
 

In article ,
Charlie Pridham writes:
| In article ,
| says...
|
| I am new to the UK from the US and haved moved into a wonderful cottage
| with a rather extensive but overgrown garden. There is something(I can
| only assume that it is a weed) that has taken over virtually every inch
| of the beds, but after scouring the internet, I have been unable to
| identify it. Can anyone help? I would also appreciate any advice on
| eradicating it. I would like to clear my beds and plant, but would hate
| for it to take over again, as it looks like it is quite aggressive. Any
| help would be great!
|
| That looks like one of the comphreys, probably symphitum ibericum (check
| the spelling!) its difficult to control on heavy soils but on my light
| soil makes a good well behaved ground cover under trees etc

Not to me, it doesn't! It looks like what I think of as enchanter's
nightshade (though I may be wrong in that) - a most pernicious weed.
It runs underground, has both stolons and very thin roots, and will
regrow from both (including deep roots).

The question is how big, thick and hairy are the leaves, and are they
'juicy' when broken? Comfrey is all of those, and the weed I am
thinking of isn't.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Mystery Weed
 

On 4/2/08 08:59, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
Charlie Pridham writes:
| In article ,
| says...
|
| I am new to the UK from the US and haved moved into a wonderful cottage
| with a rather extensive but overgrown garden. There is something(I can
| only assume that it is a weed) that has taken over virtually every inch
| of the beds, but after scouring the internet, I have been unable to
| identify it. Can anyone help? I would also appreciate any advice on
| eradicating it. I would like to clear my beds and plant, but would hate
| for it to take over again, as it looks like it is quite aggressive. Any
| help would be great!
|
| That looks like one of the comphreys, probably symphitum ibericum (check
| the spelling!) its difficult to control on heavy soils but on my light
| soil makes a good well behaved ground cover under trees etc

Not to me, it doesn't! It looks like what I think of as enchanter's
nightshade (though I may be wrong in that) - a most pernicious weed.
It runs underground, has both stolons and very thin roots, and will
regrow from both (including deep roots).

The question is how big, thick and hairy are the leaves, and are they
'juicy' when broken? Comfrey is all of those, and the weed I am
thinking of isn't.


I think it is the Comfrey, Nick. I looked at photos of the two side by side
and the one Malisobel has looks like what we have here and call Comfrey. We
just dig masses of it out at a time because it does, indeed, spread like
wildfire. The enchanter's nightshade - v. pretty! - seems to have a whiter
and more open flower that doesn't droop into such closed bells as Comfrey
does.


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Mystery Weed
 

"Anne Jackson" wrote in message
...
The message from Malisobel
contains these words:

I am new to the UK from the US and haved moved into a wonderful cottage
with a rather extensive but overgrown garden. There is something(I can
only assume that it is a weed) that has taken over virtually every inch
of the beds, but after scouring the internet, I have been unable to
identify it. Can anyone help? I would also appreciate any advice on
eradicating it. I would like to clear my beds and plant, but would hate
for it to take over again, as it looks like it is quite aggressive. Any
help would be great!

White comfrey, and it's not a weed, it's a medicinal herb.


Well, it's a weed if it's not wanted :-)

But I think it's very pretty, trouble is it CAN take over.

Mary
--
AnneJ

Mystery Weed
 

Charlie Pridham wrote:
In article ,
says...

I am new to the UK from the US and haved moved into a wonderful
cottage with a rather extensive but overgrown garden. There is
something(I can only assume that it is a weed) that has taken over
virtually every inch of the beds, but after scouring the internet, I
have been unable to identify it. Can anyone help? I would also
appreciate any advice on eradicating it. I would like to clear my
beds and plant, but would hate for it to take over again, as it
looks like it is quite aggressive. Any help would be great!


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
Filename: garden weeds.jpg |
Download:
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=8082|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+



--
Malisobel

That looks like one of the comphreys, probably symphitum ibericum

Looks more like Symphytum orientale, according to my Illustrated Flora of
Britain. That says S. ibiricum is short to medium (rarely more than 20 cm
tall) and the flowers are pale yellow, whereas S. orientale is medium to
tall, and the flowers are white.

Can it be used to make liquid fertiliser, like Common Comfrey?

As it appears to be a biennial or short-lived perennial without creeping
rhizomes, just removing the flowers (and so stopping self-seeding), should
be enough to eliminate it in a year or two. If you can't wait, then
glyphosate will deal with it. But as you've just moved in, why not wait to
see what else is under the comfrey before spraying it? There might be
something rather interesting which wouldn't appreciate glyphosate.

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

Mystery Weed
 

In article ,
Sacha writes:
|
| I think it is the Comfrey, Nick. I looked at photos of the two side by side
| and the one Malisobel has looks like what we have here and call Comfrey. We
| just dig masses of it out at a time because it does, indeed, spread like
| wildfire. The enchanter's nightshade - v. pretty! - seems to have a whiter
| and more open flower that doesn't droop into such closed bells as Comfrey
| does.

Boggle. If it is the common comfrey, it will have BIG leaves (20-50 cm
long), and large, fleshy roots; it also doesn't root run, and spreads
by seed. I am not familiar with the other comfreys, but CTW says that
they all have fleshy or tuberous roots. Enchanter's nightshade doesn't.

Of course, it is quite possible that different parts of the country
call different plants "comfrey" - and, as I said, there are comfreys
with which I am not familiar :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Mystery Weed
 

In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article ,
Sacha writes:
|
| I think it is the Comfrey, Nick. I looked at photos of the two side by side
| and the one Malisobel has looks like what we have here and call Comfrey. We
| just dig masses of it out at a time because it does, indeed, spread like
| wildfire. The enchanter's nightshade - v. pretty! - seems to have a whiter
| and more open flower that doesn't droop into such closed bells as Comfrey
| does.

Boggle. If it is the common comfrey, it will have BIG leaves (20-50 cm
long), and large, fleshy roots; it also doesn't root run, and spreads
by seed. I am not familiar with the other comfreys, but CTW says that
they all have fleshy or tuberous roots. Enchanter's nightshade doesn't.

Of course, it is quite possible that different parts of the country
call different plants "comfrey" - and, as I said, there are comfreys
with which I am not familiar :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The plant usually known as Enchanter's Nightshade is Circaea lutetiana,
which grows in shady places in woods (it took me years to identify
this). This belongs to the Onagraceae. It is not what is shown in the
photograph.

The photograph shows what I would identify as a Symphytum (aka Comfrey),
but I haven't trained myself to recognise the different forms (and the
photograph doesn't seem to be one of the common forms).

I'd assumed, from observation in various gardens, that comfrey did run
at the root, but Google tells me otherwise. Some comfreys don't seed,
and are propagated by division or root cuttings.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Mystery Weed
 

Stewart Robert Hinsley writes
In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

Boggle. If it is the common comfrey, it will have BIG leaves (20-50 cm
long), and large, fleshy roots; it also doesn't root run, and spreads
by seed. I am not familiar with the other comfreys, but CTW says that
they all have fleshy or tuberous roots. Enchanter's nightshade doesn't.

Of course, it is quite possible that different parts of the country
call different plants "comfrey" - and, as I said, there are comfreys
with which I am not familiar :-)


The plant usually known as Enchanter's Nightshade is Circaea lutetiana,
which grows in shady places in woods (it took me years to identify
this). This belongs to the Onagraceae. It is not what is shown in the
photograph.

The photograph shows what I would identify as a Symphytum (aka
Comfrey), but I haven't trained myself to recognise the different forms
(and the photograph doesn't seem to be one of the common forms).

I'd assumed, from observation in various gardens, that comfrey did run
at the root, but Google tells me otherwise. Some comfreys don't seed,
and are propagated by division or root cuttings.

There is one leaf in the picture, a little way up from the bottom RH
corner, which could superficially be mistaken for Enchanter's
Nightshade. The others are wrong, being too dull and too undulating -
Enchanter's Nightshade leaves are small and lie smoothly.

But the killer is the flowers which are unmistakeably
forget-me-not/comfrey family and are right for comfrey. And totally
wrong for Enchanter's nightshade (which has small flowers towards the
top of the shoots).

It is perfectly possible for some of the comfreys to have small leaves,
especially when growing in shade or poor soil.


--
Kay

The leaves are actually very thin and not very hairy..not juicy when broken.

Mystery Weed
 

In article ,
K writes:
|
| There is one leaf in the picture, a little way up from the bottom RH
| corner, which could superficially be mistaken for Enchanter's
| Nightshade. The others are wrong, being too dull and too undulating -
| Enchanter's Nightshade leaves are small and lie smoothly.

Hmm. It may well be that what I have is not that - I shall have to let
one weed flower and identify it properly.

| But the killer is the flowers which are unmistakeably
| forget-me-not/comfrey family and are right for comfrey. And totally
| wrong for Enchanter's nightshade (which has small flowers towards the
| top of the shoots).

I misread the picture, and thought that they were extraneous.

| It is perfectly possible for some of the comfreys to have small leaves,
| especially when growing in shade or poor soil.

I should be flabberghasted if the common one grew like that, though.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Mystery Weed
 

In article ,
Malisobel writes:
|
| The leaves are actually very thin and not very hairy..not juicy when
| broken.

It's not the common comfrey, then.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Mystery Weed
 

In article ,
says...

In article ,
K writes:
|
| There is one leaf in the picture, a little way up from the bottom RH
| corner, which could superficially be mistaken for Enchanter's
| Nightshade. The others are wrong, being too dull and too undulating -
| Enchanter's Nightshade leaves are small and lie smoothly.

Hmm. It may well be that what I have is not that - I shall have to let
one weed flower and identify it properly.

| But the killer is the flowers which are unmistakeably
| forget-me-not/comfrey family and are right for comfrey. And totally
| wrong for Enchanter's nightshade (which has small flowers towards the
| top of the shoots).

I misread the picture, and thought that they were extraneous.

| It is perfectly possible for some of the comfreys to have small leaves,
| especially when growing in shade or poor soil.

I should be flabberghasted if the common one grew like that, though.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I didn't suggest it was the common one, I thought it may have been
Symphitum ibericum Creeping comfrey (certainly not officinale which is
large and blue flowered.) I knew this as S grandiflorum for years but am
told what I have is a garden form of ibiricum, it has cream flowers with
a pink edge in spring and early summer, there are also plain cream
flowered forms around, I think describing the flowers as yellow is
stretching the point!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Mystery Weed
 

In article ,
Charlie Pridham writes:
|
| I didn't suggest it was the common one, I thought it may have been
| Symphitum ibericum Creeping comfrey (certainly not officinale which is
| large and blue flowered.) I knew this as S grandiflorum for years but am
| told what I have is a garden form of ibiricum, it has cream flowers with
| a pink edge in spring and early summer, there are also plain cream
| flowered forms around, I think describing the flowers as yellow is
| stretching the point!

Perhaps I should say, at this point, that I had misjudged the picture,
and thought the flowers belonged to something else! NOT very clever
of me :-)

Until I looked it up, I didn't even know that there were other native
comfreys, though I knew that there were other natives in that family.
It's S. officinale that it so clearly isn't.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.