The "what is that plant?" thread

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punkrockcaveman

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Jan 28, 2017
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i can recommend the 'plantnet' app if any of you are in to that sort of thing, i ahve found it to be correct - i spent a while testing it on things i knew before using it on thigns i didnt

Thats what I use to get a quick ID very useful, but I find that a Google afterwards of the Latin name helps enormously as plantnet tends not to use UK colloquial names for plants so it can be misleading. Always recommended to get 2nd and 3rd opinions on plants anyways
 

bushwacker bob

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Not really but according to some blue bugle is the plant you pictured. Others call it red dead nettle.
I have spent lots of time trying to establish what two plants folks is talking about. We have an alternative rsd dead nettle later in the summer. Blue bugle should be wild sage.
 

Broch

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I really don't know how you can confuse bugle (Ajuga reptans) and red dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) to be honest. The leaves are a different shape and the flowers are a different colour (although, rarely, bugle flowers can be pink and dead-nettle flowers can verge on the purple).

It can, however, be confused with several horehounds and woundworts :)
 
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bushwacker bob

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Actual bugle is quite rare around here and the lecturer that I had for my RHS exam refered to most invasive blue flowered plants on lawns as bugles and I have had a life long confusion that I have ignored until your correction, Thanks Broch!
 

punkrockcaveman

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20210506_200147.jpg

Cardamine Amara - large bittercress, a new one for me tonight from a new area, fantastic hot and peppery taste, not too hot mind, cuts through strong tasting food nicely, and will happily stand up to being next to wild garlic on the plate. My new favourite wild edible!
 

punkrockcaveman

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Here's one - Cuckoo Flower.
There were lots out today.
The leaves are edible (never tried them myself. Cuckoo Flower is a member of the bittercress family, so I can take a punt on what they taste like).

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Found my first cuckoo flower this weekend, then spotted it everywhere!

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I also came across it's brother, large bittercress, which has more of a rocket shaped leaf and tasted a little hotter

20210506_200147.jpg
 
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punkrockcaveman

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The edibles ones I can vouch for (I.e. the ones I have eaten) I have stated. Others seem to be referenced in herbal medicine, and others are useful to know as they are poisonous.

The more time I'm taking to ID unfamiliar species, the quicker and more confidently I'm identifying useful species.
 
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