Topic: unidentified plant

[Big Al]

Help please

I have found a plant growing on my plot and have no idea what it is. It is a new plot (to me anyway)
It grows in a clump like rhubarb. It starts of with bright red "cones" and out of these grow
red stems with green leaves on the top. The leaves look like celery leaves.
New stems grow inside the older stems.
Any ideas anyone. I don't want to get rid of it if it is something useful.
I have shown it to some other people on the allotment but they have no idea.

Alan

[Tee Gee]

Are you sure they look like Celery leaves and not serrated dock leaves, whats in my mind is horseradish.

Then again it sounds like a Paeony.

[Rohaise]

 .....Or  Ruby chard ?      :) Rohaise   x

[cambourne7]

does it look like any of these?

http://vtgcrec.ifas.ufl.edu/pages/HOLLIS%20GARDENS/Hollis-3-19-03/Hollis-garden-veg%20garden-chard.JPG

http://fay.iniminimo.com/herb_pics/horseradish01.jpg
or
http://www.rce.rutgers.edu/weeds/full.asp?curleddock

[knbsallotment]

Are you able to post a pic or two for us? Might help us identify it.

[Big Al]

It does not look like any of those cambourne.
The leaves definately look like celery and it even smells a bit like celery and I know that you can get red celery, but it grows in a clump and I would have thought it was a bit early for celery to be growing outside.
I can not get down to the plot before this weekend but by then it might have grown a bit more.
I will take some pictures and see if I can post them hre.

Thanks for your help.
Alan

[manicscousers]

could it be a celeriac plant left in the ground from last year..we have some coming up but they're browney green, just a thought ?  :)

[Jeannine]

Hi Alan,if it smells like celery could it be ared form of celeriac,??XX Jeannine

[ACE]

I wonder if the previous owners planted ornamental rhubarb by mistake, like rheum palmatum.

[agapanthus]

Try this......lovage
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.kerrysgarden.us/img/2006/lovage-spring.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.kerrysgarden.us/%3Fp%3D192&h=324&w=308&sz=35&hl=en&start=18&tbnid=pWWDGUwJc0QaMM:&tbnh=118&tbnw=112&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlovage%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den

[angle shades]

 :)

I'm with Tee Gee, sounds like a paeony to me. mines coming through on my plot / shades x

[Big Al]

wow I think you are right agapanthus it is lovage.
Thanks a lot.
Now can anyone tell me if you can eat it or do anything else with it?
Thanks for all your time everyone.
Alan.

[Amazin]

Here's some info on Lovage:

Lovage
(Levisticum officianale)   
Also known as sea parsley, lovage is a giant perennial that grows to 5 - 6ft (1.5 - 200m), with yellow flowers in summer. Leaves can be picked as a cut-and-come-again harvest, as required. Gather seeds as they ripen.

Growing: Sow Lovage seeds in the spring (or summer if you want to transplant the plants in the autumn). The roots can be divided in the spring just as the leaves appear, or in autumn. Make sure that the roots have a shoot and replant them 60 cm apart.

Soil condition and garden position: Lovage prefers a rich moist soil in sun or semi-shade. Plant it at the back of the herb garden as it grows very tall.

Culinary uses: the seeds, leaves and stem of the lovage plant add an intense celery-like flavour (use sparingly) to salads, soups, sauces and stews or pork and poultry dishes. It can also be used to enhance potato dishes. The young stalks and leaves are tasty cooked as a vegetable. Peel or scrape the stalks, chop them and boil in salted water until tender.  The young stems of Lovage can be candied like Angelica and a good cordial can be made from this. Lovage broth made from the seeds is traditionally a diuretic and appetite stimulant.

Other uses: Lovage was used in early times as a bath herb. it cleans and deodorises the skin.

[artichoke]

It's good in spag bog, too, and my adult children have never forgotten their lovage baths. Three little creatures swimming among the seaweed. I told them it would make their skins lovely and soft, and they kept piching themselves to see if it was working.

And insects love the flowers.

I have just dug up an overgrown lovage plant and it took HOURS of grubbing out their massive, deep roots. It was towering over my globe artichokes and squeezing even them out. Keep it under control (as I didn't) or grow it in a wild corner.

[isbister]

I've got a Lovage - indispensible for lettuce and lovage soup and for blue cheese and lovage omelette. Trouble is every year it gets leafminer - I pull off all the infected leaves but to no avail, it keeps getting worse - anyone know of an organic remedy for leafminer?

[Big Al]

Thank you very much for the information.
I think that I will leave it for this year and see what happens it sounds useful.
Makes me almost wish I had not had my bath taken out and walk in shower put in.
I will certainly try it in the recipies that you suggest.

Thanks again Alan