Flower identification help needed

[Suelle]

Can anyone identify this plant for me? It was seen in Southern Italy, was about 1 metre tall, and the stem looked succulent. The second picture shows the flower head more clearly.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipN ... dZLt4IM_Lw

[4dogsagain]

I could not access the link - message said it was not found.

[suffolk]

nope - I can't see it either - it wants me to sign up for a Google account

[Suelle]

I'm not very good at posting photos - I'll see what I can do!

[Herbidacious]

Thought I'd tag this on the end of here rather than start a new one. Can someone tell me what this is?

[Oat]

Lungwort???

[Badger's mate]

I'll second Lungwort - Pulmonaria. we've got some cultivars in the garden and a couple of plants on the plot for early bee forage.

[Suelle]

[suffolk]

Fourthed ... lots of different varieties, with or without the spots ... all blues of pinks of a mixture of the two ... sometimes they change from one colour to the other.

A good source of pollen and nectar for early foraging bumble bees.

[Herbidacious]

Are they a weed? (I know it's all relative. I won't be pulling up.) I thought they were a wort

[suffolk]

Not a weed not by any interpretation of the word as far as I’m concerned
But it is a native of Europe and Central Asia ... which is why it’s so useful to our native wildlife.

It’s been used for various traditional herbal remedies

http://www.plant-lore.com/lungwort/

hence the “wort”

It got its name ‘lungwort’ due to the ancient Doctrine of Signatures which held that a plant’s appearance was a clue to its medicinal properties. With lungwort the spotted leaves were thought to look like a diseased lung However not all Pulmonaria have spotted leaves.

[Herbidacious]

I suspected it might be something like that. The Doctrine of Signatures.

[suffolk]

[Suelle]

[suffolk]

One of my favourites is P. ‘Opal’ ... gorgeous https://www.woottensplants.com/plant-sh ... ulmonaria/

[Herbidacious]

It's certainly a nice bit of early colour.

[Herbidacious]

Could someone remind me what this is? Growing (prettily) as a weed.

and whilst we are at it, another weed. Any ideas?

[suffolk]

The first looks like Herb Robert, the wild cranesbill (a type of geranium) ... if you crush the leaves it should have a really pungent smell ... I like it some hate it.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=991

The second looks like one of the cruciferae ... a biennial type in it's second year running to flower and seed ... is it in a veg patch? ... could be something like a parsnip or similar that's overwintered. Or it could be Charlock or wild mistard or one of the other similar plants which might have come from wild bird seed. My bet is that it'll have lots of little four-petalled flowers, probably yellow but possibly white. We might get a better ID then.

[Herbidacious]

Ah I did wonder whethter the first was a type of geranium.

The second iss in a pot which contained sweet peas last year. I suppose, as you say, wait and see what the flower is like. The bird feeder is a few feet away.

Thanks, Suffs!

[Herbidacious]

You know the leaves are very similar and when I tear them smell rather like land cress (which seems to be a perennial - some I sowed two years ago came up again.)

need to google if there is anything just like land cress that's toxic. It's coming up in the patio cracks too.

I lkoked up the contents of the bird seed I buy and nothing in that resembles it.

[Herbidacious]

ooh!

https://www.foodforests.eu/products/bar ... land-cress

And I was about to sow some more.

http://todayimade.com/2010/07/land-cress-pesto/

[suffolk]

Well, land cress is a crucifer and one of the mustard family, like charlock

[scullion]

i know it's a bit late now but i was going to suggest land cress. we had a load in the veg patches when we moved here that had seeded from the vendor's previous crop.

[Herbidacious]

I am going to try a bit later. If I don't drop dead, will make the pesto

[suffolk]

We ordered some watercress seeds the other day. You can grow it in pots ... it grows quickly ... you can use it in a lot of ways ... it’s good for us ... and if green veg/salad greens are in short supply this summer it’s an easy way of getting green veg quite quickly.

[Herbidacious]

Interesting. I bought landcress because I thought I wouldn't be able to grow watercress without running water.

[Herbidacious]

As an aside, in the 19th century the area near where I work - Farringdon Road - was famous for its huge watercress market. I wonder where it was grown.

[suffolk]

It grows happily in a pot of damp compost. I usually grow it from rooted bits of bought watercress ... but seeds will be easier for us to get this year as there wasn’t any watercress in Wrose on Monday.

https://www.thompson-morgan.com/how-to-grow-watercress