Unknown plant help!
 

Please see attached photo of a branch of a plant I found growing in my plot - amongst strawberries, rhubarb and potatoes.

I thought it might be a potatoe plant but it is very strange and as well as these white flowers have these small green berries that are forming.

Dont want to dive to the base in case I disturb something good.

Can anyone give me some advice on what it is?

Certainly same family as potato (Solanaceae). Picture not good enough for a firm identification but I'd hazard a guess at one of the nightshades, possibly black nightshade.

Unknown plant help!
 

Stephen Downie wrote:
I thought it might be a potatoe plant but it is very strange and as well
as these white flowers have these small green berries that are forming.

It's a potato. Don't eat the berries. Also, watch out for something very
similar but slightly darker (leaves and berries), which is nightshade. We
get a lot of nightshade where potatoes have been growing previously, not
/entirely/ sure why (I presume it's something to do with leaving potatoes to
grow, so because they are similar they don't get weeded out - or possibly
trying to optomise growing conditions for potatoes means we get a
nightshade-friendly patch, which helps them establish)

Kay

Thanks for that - there are a couple of rogue potato plants that have sprung up from last year's compost and I initially thought it was a potatoe but it is quite odd in that the leaves are smaller and smooth as opposed to the usual bristly larger leaves on the potato plant. Additionally there are these white flowers and unripened berries growing quite close.

I assume it is not possible for a tomato to cross pollinate with a potato? The odd thing is that the berry looks like the tomato plant (as do the leaves) but the flower and general size of the plant look like a potato.

Sorry about phot but best I could do on a camera phone.

Steve

the other posters are right, it could well be a potato, though I thought the flowers were a bit on the small side. The berry looks like a tomato because the two are related. Potato berries grow to a bit larger than hazelnut size, and are poisonous.

Unknown plant help!
 

In article ,
Stephen Downie wrote:

Thanks for that - there are a couple of rogue potato plants that have
sprung up from last year's compost and I initially thought it was a
potatoe but it is quite odd in that the leaves are smaller and smooth as
opposed to the usual bristly larger leaves on the potato plant.
Additionally there are these white flowers and unripened berries growing
quite close.

VERY small berries? Look up Solanum nigrum - a common weed.

I assume it is not possible for a tomato to cross pollinate with a
potato? The odd thing is that the berry looks like the tomato plant (as
do the leaves) but the flower and general size of the plant look like a
potato.

It's been done in the laboratory, I believe, but effectively doesn't
happen. However, potato berries DO look exactly like tomatoes!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Unknown plant help!
 

On 8 Aug, 08:58, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,
Stephen Downie wrote:



Thanks for that - there are a couple of rogue potato plants that have
sprung up from last year's compost and I initially thought it was a
potatoe but it is quite odd in that the leaves are smaller and smooth as
opposed to the usual bristly larger leaves on the potato plant.
Additionally there are these white flowers and unripened berries growing
quite close.

VERY small berries? *Look up Solanum nigrum - a common weed.

I assume it is not possible for a tomato to cross pollinate with a
potato? *The odd thing is that the berry looks like the tomato plant (as
do the leaves) but the flower and general size of the plant look like a
potato.

It's been done in the laboratory, I believe, but effectively doesn't
happen. *However, potato berries DO look exactly like tomatoes!

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

It's a nightshade, not potato or tomato a Nightshade, probably Black
nightshade I'd get rid of it.
David Hill

Congrats on being a rare person to pose such a question and not to have Nolanea solanoides (shoo-fly plant). I think Dave Hill has the best answer, as is often the case.