Topic: What is it?? Weed or Crop??????

[TrailRat]

Just taken over this plot and I want to know about something that is sporadicaly placed all over half of my plot. I have seen it on some of the untended plots but not on any of the taken plots. It has a thick stem, almost woody with leaves that are narrow and come to a point at both ends with little hairs on but doesn't sting. What is it? Does anyone know of a site where I can identify them? And what is the best course of action for them if they are weeds?

TrailRat

[Spurdie]

Hello, good morning and welcome!
Have no idea what your "plant" might be, but if it is as random as you say it is, it sounds like a weed! Couldn't you dig one up and put it in a pot just in case it turns out to be a flower? ;)

[oubykh]

morning Trailrat

i was directed to this site by a poster some time ago and found it very useful.

http://theseedsite.co.uk/weeds2.html

[Kerry]

hi trailrat :)
first thought:comfrey?
any chance of taking a picture? height, spread, flowers, colour, any more clues?

[TrailRat]

nah not comfrey, I'd know comfrey as I have a tub of that at my mums house. The tallest of these plants was about 5ft, the leaves has thorns running down the underside along the veins and the stems have soft thorns at the top which getter harder as you get near the root. Also when you snap a stem it "bleeds" a white sap.

TrailRat

[Palustris]

Teasel is a possibility.

[Kerry]

agree with palustris-teasel sounds appropriate.
If it is, they're great wildlife plants, but warning, when the seeds ripen you will find them everywhere next spring! I grow them myself, like the architectural look, and wildlife friendliness.
Does it have spiky oval tops to the stems?

[TrailRat]

Just found a pic of teasel on the net and they don't look like what i saw. No spiky oval top, just what looks like a tiny cluster of buds.

TrailRat

[Kerry]

hmm, foxed by this.  ???
Looked in my wildflower book, given the height and leaf description here are those that fit (some you've probably discounted already)
a form of wild rose, or raspberry, wild mullein, meadowsweet, canadian fleabane(conyza canadensis), hawkweed(hieracium umbellatum), prickly sow-thistle(sonchus asper), bristly ox-tongue(sonchus oleraceus), great lettuce(latuca virosa), great willowherb(epilobium hirsutum), rosebay willowherb(chamaenerion angustifolium) himalayan balsam(impatiens glandulifera), hemp agrimony(eupatorium cannabinum), - and if it's none of the above I'll be out of ideas! ??? :-\
Let us know if it looks anything of the above.
Ask your fellow plot-holders?