Please ID a possible salad/herb ?

Mountainsandh

Mr M is doing works, and there's one or two lovely clumps of these growing in the sand he uses. Our polytunnel is not far from that spot, and I grew a cress type of salad before, just wondering if this could be some that escaped and survived ?
Thanks

IMG-1826 by Anne L., on Flickr

IMG-1825 by Anne L., on Flickr

Comerman

Chard??

Samuel T. Cogley

Looks like a very small chard to me.

deirdremf

Not Swiss chard - I'd say a Brassica of some sort, but I'm not sure which one.

Mountainsandh

I don't remember ever planting that

Trying to find what is the cress I'm talking about. I'm French so it's something my grandmother used to grow, that grows like a weed, it's quite overwhelming, but is lovely in omelettes. We call it cress in France but it may not be called that here. It's cresson I'm thinking of.


edit : no it's definitely not that actually.

Mountainsandh

Thanks for the IDs, I think I'm going to try and lift it to pot it. Am I likely to ruin it by lifting now ?

Day Lewin

Possibly beetroot?

Lift carefully with a good ball of soil & it should be ok.
#crosses fingers!

Mountainsandh

Yeah I'll do it with lots of space... there are actually 3 or 4 specimens in that same spot. One is a bit taller. There must have been a bunch of seeds that ended in that particular spot, we regularly abandon the polytunnel, and everything goes to seed, then we clean it up, then we leave it go to seed...:rolleyes:

It looks like it could be spinach too ?
I'd be more likely to have grown spinach than chard or beetroot. (then again, if they sell them as mixed salad leaves, I did plant that)

Day Lewin

I've had a closer look: and thought, that looks familiar...

Rub a leaf between fingers and sniff it: if it smells really strong/bad and sort of like butyl (tyre rubber) then you have Figwort: a native wildflower, not rare but not very common. Grows up to a metre high: strange little red flowers later in the summer, and bees love it if I remember right.

NOT edible: but kind of a novelty plant, so you may like to leave it if you're sure that nobody will try to eat it.

That is, if it IS Figwort: of course it may still turn out to be spinach-beet or chard. In which case, the leaf will have a peppery taste, unmistakeable in the Cruciferae

PS but if it IS Figwort, don't swallow!!!

Mountainsandh

Thanks Day Lewin.
I did pull a leaf and smell it already as I thought it could be some unusual mint or something, but there was no particular smell to it. I'll try again in the evening.
I might pot it and just observe this year, with flowers it should be easier to ID for definite ?
They're probably going to be got rid of if I leave them in the spot as works are ongoing.

my3cents

Its a WEED, quite invasive (seeds) but some call it a herb as it has some medicinal properties, doing my head in what the name is.......

Got it, Figwort, can't say for sure which one as its a big family the Green Figwort is very similar but different leaf colour check that last picture on the right here.

In our garden I give them a regular dose of roundup because once one has flowered you've probably got them for life.

Edit sorry Day Lewin see you already IDed it

Day Lewin

my3cents wrote: »

Its a WEED, quite invasive (seeds) but some call it a herb as it has some medicinal properties, doing my head in what the name is.......

Got it, Figwort, can't say for sure which one as its a big family the Green Figwort is very similar but different leaf colour check that last picture on the right here.

In our garden I give them a regular dose of roundup because once one has flowered you've probably got them for life.

Edit sorry Day Lewin see you already IDed it

Ah dear! I really don't agree, but let's stay civil: in my garden, and even my entire neighbourhood, Figwort is only occasional; they must love your garden, @my3cents

In any case, on second thoughts, (that is, about tenth thoughts) the leaves are not toothed enough, the growth habit is too "clumpy", and the acrid smell is absent, so, now I am winding back and thinking, maybe beetroot or chard after all!

my3cents

Day Lewin wrote: »

Ah dear! I really don't agree, but let's stay civil: in my garden, and even my entire neighbourhood, Figwort is only occasional; they must love your garden, @my3cents

In any case, on second thoughts, (that is, about tenth thoughts) the leaves are not toothed enough, the growth habit is too "clumpy", and the acrid smell is absent, so, now I am winding back and thinking, maybe beetroot or chard after all!

I have 300m of river running down one side of the garden and it loves the damp riverbank, however it becomes a problem in gravel and old stone work, just like the OP's picture.

I agree that the smell is very distinctive but I'd be 99% sure its a Figwort.

So did a good bit of googling because I couldn't remember which Figwort we have (same/similar to OP's) and it might be Scrophularia auriculata, Water Figwort.

http://www.irishwildflowers.ie/pages/63a.html
&
http://www.dorsetnature.co.uk/pages-flower/wf-93.html.

Note at http://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/F/Figwort(Water)/Figwort(Water).htm it states

It smells only slightly foetid - (whereas Common Figwort smells foetid)

Day Lewin

my3cents wrote: »

I have 300m of river running down one side of the garden and it loves the damp riverbank, however it becomes a problem in gravel and old stone work, just like the OP's picture.

I agree that the smell is very distinctive but I'd be 99% sure its a Figwort.

So did a good bit of googling because I couldn't remember which Figwort we have (same/similar to OP's) and it might be Scrophularia auriculata, Water Figwort.

http://www.irishwildflowers.ie/pages/63a.html
&
http://www.dorsetnature.co.uk/pages-flower/wf-93.html.

Note at http://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/F/Figwort(Water)/Figwort(Water).htm it states

Ah, good points: Water Figwort is likelier at the edge of a polytunnel, too, where it may collect some damp.

Mountainsandh

And our land is very boggy indeed with lots of open water drains ... Not sure I want to keep it now

Although we have so many weeds already, it's like a big family here !

I have to say I like the looks of it as a young plant.