Sorry, I don't own any cameras(!) so I can't supply a photo, but the plant
is quite unusual so if anyone has any ideas of what it *might* be, I may be
able to track it down by websearching etc. Any help would be gratefully
appreciated as I've no idea what it might be at all, as I'm a gardening n00b


I found it in the long-abandoned garden next door, which is supposed to be
the garden of somebody in a council flat who isn't interested (it's not
outside their flat for a start) so they've never tended it, so it was a
dense overgrown thicket. Then the council chopped the thicket down to make
room for scaffolding for some building work some time ago, and now it's a
sort of no-mans land with weeds and trees growing back, which everyone dumps
their organic garden waste in (leaves and twigs etc). So it's all just
weeds, except I spotted this nice-looking thing which appears to be a real
plant that has survived or seeded from when it was a garden.

There is a main stem with a couple of much smaller ones branching off near
the bottom, so it looks like it could if looked after have many stems. The
stem is a medium, clear mauve at the top (not mauvish-green I mean, mauve
from a paintbox) fading to very red at the bottom. The leaves are long and
thin, arranged in pairs up the stem, on the stem, alternating quadrants (a
North/South pair then an East/West pair). They stand out horizontally. The
leaves are a medium green, with a paler vein in the middle. They get a bit
lighter green towards the top of the plant. Where each leaf joins the main
stem (this isn't happening on the two small branched off stems) there is
something poking out of the join that look like buds, as if it's going to
flower all the way up.

At the top is a rosette of five leaves, breaking the symmetry, which are a
bit broader (the couple of pairs of leaves below are broader than average
too) and emanating from the same point are five slim mauve stems with
clusters of leaves at the end (which have a red vein on the underside) which
look suspiciously like developing flowers although they are green and, I've
just looked again and there are a pair of "buds" on little stalks coming
from the joints of the top pair of leaves below as well.

The root system when I dug it up seemed to be one sort of tap root with
finer roots off that and was not particularly extensive. The whole thing is
somewhere over a foot tall and the longest leaves are about 3 1/2" long, and
the thin leaves are under 1/2" wide.

It looks too nice to be a weed to me, and not native British, but I know
very little and could be wrong. Or maybe a wise head here will say, "Egads,
that's Japanese Toxic Spikeweed, burn it with fire!"

Anyway, I've transplanted it to a nice spot in my garden with some home-made
compost and a bit of organic chicken poo fertiliser to see what happens.
There are a few more smaller ones to be rescued if they are "real plants".
Any ideas anyone? Help will be most appreciated!


Ian

Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "Ian B" contains these
words: snip

it sounds as if it could be a euphorbia. Nice plants but sensitive
people can get a very unpleasant longterm contact skin rash.
So be careful/wear gloves for the next suggestion; break a stem or
leaf off and see if milky white sap ooozes out. Like cream.


Thanks, there were in fact some drips of something sappy looking on a couple
of the leaves. I don't want to snap anything off as I've just looked at it
and I don't think it appreciated being moved very much, it's getting rather
wilty


Ian

Ian B wrote:
Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "Ian B" contains these
words: snip

it sounds as if it could be a euphorbia. Nice plants but sensitive
people can get a very unpleasant longterm contact skin rash.
So be careful/wear gloves for the next suggestion; break a stem or
leaf off and see if milky white sap ooozes out. Like cream.


Thanks, there were in fact some drips of something sappy looking on a
couple of the leaves. I don't want to snap anything off as I've just
looked at it and I don't think it appreciated being moved very much,
it's getting rather wilty


I realised I could overcome the picture problem, partially, by doing a
drawing, so here it is. It's a fairly close approximation; the leaves get
darker as they go down the stem.

http://img203.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_461lo.jpg


Ian

Janet Baraclough wrote:
it sounds as if it could be a euphorbia. Nice plants but sensitive
people can get a very unpleasant longterm contact skin rash.
So be careful/wear gloves for the next suggestion; break a stem or leaf
off and see if milky white sap ooozes out. Like cream.

After a bit of googling, I realise - "otherwise known as poinsettia"?
Surely anyone who had been around a shop at Christmas would recognise this
instantly? Mind you, not surprised at one growing wild, as they seem to
just get chucked away each year - surprised it survived the winter, though.

I've just been looking after the MiL's 4 from the past couple of
Christmases, and I know /I/ would like to throw them away now!

"Ian B" wrote in message
...
Ian B wrote:
Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "Ian B" contains these
words: snip

it sounds as if it could be a euphorbia. Nice plants but sensitive
people can get a very unpleasant longterm contact skin rash.
So be careful/wear gloves for the next suggestion; break a stem or
leaf off and see if milky white sap ooozes out. Like cream.


Thanks, there were in fact some drips of something sappy looking on a
couple of the leaves. I don't want to snap anything off as I've just
looked at it and I don't think it appreciated being moved very much,
it's getting rather wilty


I realised I could overcome the picture problem, partially, by doing a
drawing, so here it is. It's a fairly close approximation; the leaves get
darker as they go down the stem.

http://img203.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_461lo.jpg



Could it be a Tradescantia of some sort?

--

Jeff

Ian B wrote:
http://img203.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_461lo.jpg

Just a warning to anyone else who flicks through to this at work - there are
pop up adverts came with this that are definitely not suitable for work
viewing!

Please be aware.

wrote:
Janet Baraclough wrote:
it sounds as if it could be a euphorbia. Nice plants but sensitive
people can get a very unpleasant longterm contact skin rash.
So be careful/wear gloves for the next suggestion; break a stem or
leaf off and see if milky white sap ooozes out. Like cream.

After a bit of googling, I realise - "otherwise known as poinsettia"?
Surely anyone who had been around a shop at Christmas would recognise
this instantly? Mind you, not surprised at one growing wild, as they
seem to just get chucked away each year - surprised it survived the
winter, though.

I've just been looking after the MiL's 4 from the past couple of
Christmases, and I know /I/ would like to throw them away now!

It doesn't look like a poinsettia. Thanks to Janet's suggestion I found
Euphorbia lathyris

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_lathyris

and it's a very similar shape etc, but for the lilac coloured stems. I'm
getting close to the "burn it with fire" angle right now


Ian

wrote:
Ian B wrote:
http://img203.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_461lo.jpg

Just a warning to anyone else who flicks through to this at work -
there are pop up adverts came with this that are definitely not
suitable for work viewing!

Please be aware.

I didn't realise they do that, I have a popup blocker. My apologies. I've
put the picture on my own webspace, which is entirely "clean", here-


http://www.libcabal.net/mysteryplant01.jpg


Ian

"Ian B" wrote
Sorry, I don't own any cameras(!) so I can't supply a photo, but the plant
is quite unusual so if anyone has any ideas of what it *might* be, I may
be able to track it down by websearching etc. Any help would be gratefully
appreciated as I've no idea what it might be at all, as I'm a gardening
n00b

I found it in the long-abandoned garden next door, which is supposed to be
the garden of somebody in a council flat who isn't interested (it's not
outside their flat for a start) so they've never tended it, so it was a
dense overgrown thicket. Then the council chopped the thicket down to make
room for scaffolding for some building work some time ago, and now it's a
sort of no-mans land with weeds and trees growing back, which everyone
dumps their organic garden waste in (leaves and twigs etc). So it's all
just weeds, except I spotted this nice-looking thing which appears to be a
real plant that has survived or seeded from when it was a garden.

There is a main stem with a couple of much smaller ones branching off near
the bottom, so it looks like it could if looked after have many stems. The
stem is a medium, clear mauve at the top (not mauvish-green I mean, mauve
from a paintbox) fading to very red at the bottom. The leaves are long and
thin, arranged in pairs up the stem, on the stem, alternating quadrants (a
North/South pair then an East/West pair). They stand out horizontally. The
leaves are a medium green, with a paler vein in the middle. They get a bit
lighter green towards the top of the plant. Where each leaf joins the main
stem (this isn't happening on the two small branched off stems) there is
something poking out of the join that look like buds, as if it's going to
flower all the way up.

At the top is a rosette of five leaves, breaking the symmetry, which are a
bit broader (the couple of pairs of leaves below are broader than average
too) and emanating from the same point are five slim mauve stems with
clusters of leaves at the end (which have a red vein on the underside)
which look suspiciously like developing flowers although they are green
and, I've just looked again and there are a pair of "buds" on little
stalks coming from the joints of the top pair of leaves below as well.

The root system when I dug it up seemed to be one sort of tap root with
finer roots off that and was not particularly extensive. The whole thing
is somewhere over a foot tall and the longest leaves are about 3 1/2"
long, and the thin leaves are under 1/2" wide.

It looks too nice to be a weed to me, and not native British, but I know
very little and could be wrong. Or maybe a wise head here will say,
"Egads, that's Japanese Toxic Spikeweed, burn it with fire!"

Anyway, I've transplanted it to a nice spot in my garden with some
home-made compost and a bit of organic chicken poo fertiliser to see what
happens. There are a few more smaller ones to be rescued if they are "real
plants". Any ideas anyone? Help will be most appreciated!

Take a look at "Caper Spurge"...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_lathyris

Very architectural plant but don't let it seed around, that said they are
easy to remove anyway when small.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

Bob Hobden wrote:
"Ian B" wrote
Sorry, I don't own any cameras(!) so I can't supply a photo, but the
plant is quite unusual so if anyone has any ideas of what it *might*
be, I may be able to track it down by websearching etc. Any help
would be gratefully appreciated as I've no idea what it might be at
all, as I'm a gardening n00b

I found it in the long-abandoned garden next door, which is supposed
to be the garden of somebody in a council flat who isn't interested
(it's not outside their flat for a start) so they've never tended
it, so it was a dense overgrown thicket. Then the council chopped
the thicket down to make room for scaffolding for some building work
some time ago, and now it's a sort of no-mans land with weeds and
trees growing back, which everyone dumps their organic garden waste
in (leaves and twigs etc). So it's all just weeds, except I spotted
this nice-looking thing which appears to be a real plant that has
survived or seeded from when it was a garden. There is a main stem with a
couple of much smaller ones branching
off near the bottom, so it looks like it could if looked after have
many stems. The stem is a medium, clear mauve at the top (not
mauvish-green I mean, mauve from a paintbox) fading to very red at
the bottom. The leaves are long and thin, arranged in pairs up the
stem, on the stem, alternating quadrants (a North/South pair then an
East/West pair). They stand out horizontally. The leaves are a
medium green, with a paler vein in the middle. They get a bit
lighter green towards the top of the plant. Where each leaf joins
the main stem (this isn't happening on the two small branched off
stems) there is something poking out of the join that look like
buds, as if it's going to flower all the way up. At the top is a rosette
of five leaves, breaking the symmetry, which
are a bit broader (the couple of pairs of leaves below are broader
than average too) and emanating from the same point are five slim
mauve stems with clusters of leaves at the end (which have a red
vein on the underside) which look suspiciously like developing
flowers although they are green and, I've just looked again and
there are a pair of "buds" on little stalks coming from the joints
of the top pair of leaves below as well. The root system when I dug it up
seemed to be one sort of tap root
with finer roots off that and was not particularly extensive. The
whole thing is somewhere over a foot tall and the longest leaves are
about 3 1/2" long, and the thin leaves are under 1/2" wide.

It looks too nice to be a weed to me, and not native British, but I
know very little and could be wrong. Or maybe a wise head here will
say, "Egads, that's Japanese Toxic Spikeweed, burn it with fire!"

Anyway, I've transplanted it to a nice spot in my garden with some
home-made compost and a bit of organic chicken poo fertiliser to see
what happens. There are a few more smaller ones to be rescued if
they are "real plants". Any ideas anyone? Help will be most
appreciated!
Take a look at "Caper Spurge"...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_lathyris

Very architectural plant but don't let it seed around, that said they
are easy to remove anyway when small.

Thanks, it certainly is. I've read enough up now about the toxicity that
it's now in the rubbish bin in two plastic sacks


Ian

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Ian B" contains these words:

Ian B wrote:
Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "Ian B" contains these
words: snip

it sounds as if it could be a euphorbia. Nice plants but sensitive
people can get a very unpleasant longterm contact skin rash.
So be careful/wear gloves for the next suggestion; break a stem or
leaf off and see if milky white sap ooozes out. Like cream.


Thanks, there were in fact some drips of something sappy looking on a
couple of the leaves. I don't want to snap anything off as I've just
looked at it and I don't think it appreciated being moved very much,
it's getting rather wilty


I realised I could overcome the picture problem, partially, by doing a
drawing, so here it is. It's a fairly close approximation; the leaves get
darker as they go down the stem.

http://img203.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_461lo.jpg

Hey, you're good at drawing! It's caper spurge, euphorbia lathyris.

foliage at

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_rWksMjEBTQk/Sa...thyris-887.jpg

Gosh, we have one of those growing along side our service path!


better look at flowers at

http://www.english-nature.org.uk/Ima...web/5/5488.jpg

don't be misled by the common name, it's not the edible caper used in
sauces and you certainly wouldn't want one of its seeds in your mouth.

Janet, is this because it is poisonous, or just that it tastes foul? Would
like to know as one of the neighbours has a 5 year old and another has a 3
year old grand daughter who visits regularly.

--
Kathy

"Kathy McIntosh" wrote in message
...
"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Ian B" contains these words:

Ian B wrote:
Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "Ian B" contains these
words: snip

it sounds as if it could be a euphorbia. Nice plants but sensitive
people can get a very unpleasant longterm contact skin rash.
So be careful/wear gloves for the next suggestion; break a stem or
leaf off and see if milky white sap ooozes out. Like cream.


Thanks, there were in fact some drips of something sappy looking on a
couple of the leaves. I don't want to snap anything off as I've just
looked at it and I don't think it appreciated being moved very much,
it's getting rather wilty


I realised I could overcome the picture problem, partially, by doing a
drawing, so here it is. It's a fairly close approximation; the leaves
get
darker as they go down the stem.

http://img203.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_461lo.jpg

Hey, you're good at drawing! It's caper spurge, euphorbia lathyris.

foliage at

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_rWksMjEBTQk/Sa...thyris-887.jpg

Gosh, we have one of those growing along side our service path!


better look at flowers at

http://www.english-nature.org.uk/Ima...web/5/5488.jpg

don't be misled by the common name, it's not the edible caper used in
sauces and you certainly wouldn't want one of its seeds in your mouth.

Janet, is this because it is poisonous, or just that it tastes foul?
Would like to know as one of the neighbours has a 5 year old and another
has a 3 year old grand daughter who visits regularly.

OK. I read on, and it comes out tomorrow.

--
Kathy

"Ian B" wrote
Bob Hobden wrote:
Take a look at "Caper Spurge"...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_lathyris

Very architectural plant but don't let it seed around, that said they
are easy to remove anyway when small.

Thanks, it certainly is. I've read enough up now about the toxicity that
it's now in the rubbish bin in two plastic sacks

No reason to do that, so many of our garden plants are toxic anyway. Even
those beautiful Lilies are lethal to cats. Councils often use a plant in
their bedding displays that contains the most lethal poison of all.
If you have children it's better to teach them not to touch plants than pull
the plants up.
--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

In message ,
writes
Janet Baraclough wrote:
it sounds as if it could be a euphorbia. Nice plants but sensitive
people can get a very unpleasant longterm contact skin rash.
So be careful/wear gloves for the next suggestion; break a stem or leaf
off and see if milky white sap ooozes out. Like cream.

After a bit of googling, I realise - "otherwise known as poinsettia"?
Surely anyone who had been around a shop at Christmas would recognise this
instantly? Mind you, not surprised at one growing wild, as they seem to
just get chucked away each year - surprised it survived the winter, though.

There are hundreds of different types of Euphorbia. Some of them are
pretty good imitations of cacti, and few of them look much like a
poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima).

The Wikipedia page gives you an idea of the variety in the genus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia

I've just been looking after the MiL's 4 from the past couple of
Christmases, and I know /I/ would like to throw them away now!


--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
Having said all that, for people old enough to take reasonable care
of themselves the euphorbias are magnificent garden plants; and
there are far deadlier plants in many gardens including mine.

More years ago than I care to remember, I worked on the toxic effects of the
Euphorbias. All Euphorbias are to some extent, poisonous (even our native
common spurge and sun spurge). The greatest danger with the Euphorbias is
that they are co-carcinogenic, that is that they do not immediately cause
cancer but after exposure to activating agents e.g. heavy metals, cancer can
form. There is the well documented case of a Carribean island where
Euphorbia leaves were dried and then infused to make a tea-like drink. All
went well until heavy metals got into the water supply and this was followed
by a massive outbreak of throat cancer - so beware!

Phil