What is this plant?

[WhichDoctor]

The other day I noticed a strange plant coming up in the garden. I tried pulling some up and they had long, whitish, ground elder like roots. They were growing in a new bed of raspberrys and I wasn't going to let something with spreading roots get established, so I dug up all the ones I could and carefully weedkillered the rest. Not knowing what it was though I kept a bit for identification purposes. So far though I've drawn a blank, can anyone here enlighten me?

here it is, it's been growing on a windowsill for a few weeks now so it mite be a bit leggy.






Any ideas? I thought it mite be some kind of willowherb at first, but it doesn't really resemble any of the ones in my wildflower guide.

Any thoughts are very welcome.

 

[Mesquite]

Looks like it appears to be Fireweed aka Rosebay Willowherb

 

[addo]

I think Steves got it

 

[Toddy]

Fireweed I think. Likes recently disturbed ground for it's seeds, grows prolifically. Very pretty and the dried stems make good firecrackle......the stuff that carries a flame until it catches wood alight. Several folks have commented that the outside skin makes good cordage.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[WhichDoctor]

Thanks for that guys :You_Rock_ .

We have lodes of Grater Willowherb growing round here and I new it wasn't that, Its roots are huge and brittle. My wildflower guide only had a picture of the Rosebay Willowherb flower so I didn't recognize it. Is it invasive in the garden? or can I find my specimen somewhere it can live in peace .

 

[Toddy]

It's not so much the roots as the seeds that are the problem. It kind of stealth bombs everybody's garden with them if you don't dead head really quickly and thoroughly.
It'll grow quite happily in a pot like mint. Just don't let it seed.
Besides, once you've seen it flower you'll be certain which one it is and recognise it when you see it again.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Mesquite]

.
Is it invasive in the garden? or can I find my specimen somewhere it can live in peace .

It's extremely invasive WD. it colonises by the roots as well as the seeds and is very opportunistic. It was one of the first plants to colonise the bombed out parts of London after the blitz and it great for butterflies. If you want to keep some you might be able to contain it in a buried bucket to stop the roots spreading as you would for mint but the seeds will still spread it.

There was an interesting little article by David Bellamy in the Daily Mail about butterflies amongst the bombed out sites

 

[HillBill]

It looks like the same stuff that pops up in our garden. More each year. The plants expanded to cover an area pretty quickly.

 

[Ozhaggishead]

Fireweed,I think that must be it I have very vivid memories of it as a child in Glasgow.One time when I was about seven years old,I gathered lots of fireweed seeds from the local woods.Then I spreed them around the back courts of our tenement with abandon.

Next year a massif croup of fireweed was growing out they wild and free in the council back gardens.I can still remember the council worker cutting them down with a whipper sniper for hours.I was more than a wee bit happy about what I had created.

 

[WhichDoctor]

It's extremely invasive WD. it colonises by the roots as well as the seeds and is very opportunistic. It was one of the first plants to colonise the bombed out parts of London after the blitz and it great for butterflies. If you want to keep some you might be able to contain it in a buried bucket to stop the roots spreading as you would for mint but the seeds will still spread it.

There was an interesting little article by David Bellamy in the Daily Mail about butterflies amongst the bombed out sites

I mite take it out to the countryside somewhere then, or just bin it. We have enough invasive weeds in the garden already, Groundelder, Stingingnettles, Bindweed, Creeping Buttercup, Silverweed, Plantain, Chickweed, Fat Hen . I don't really think we need another, probably just as well I court it early enough to stop it getting established in the first place.

 

[Toddy]

You just need to start eating the stuff
Groundelder, Stingingnettles, Silverweed, Plantain, Chickweed, Fat Hen are all good food

Even the fireweed can be processed to make flour.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[xylaria]

The inner part of the stem of rose bay willow herb can taste really very nice, but the same plant growing other places can taste not to good. It is easy to peel the stems. The leaves can be eaten but can stain your wee a funny colour.

Silverweed has excellent edible roots. The tastiest thing my allotment grew last year was fat hen.

I have loads of nipplewort growing on my allotment, I only managed to ID it for sure a few days ago. Its an eater, so I need to try some, but i will probably call what ever I cook with lapsana which sounds better than nipplewort.

 

[WhichDoctor]

The inner part of the stem of rose bay willow herb can taste really very nice, but the same plant growing other places can taste not to good. It is easy to peel the stems. The leaves can be eaten but can stain your wee a funny colour.

Silverweed has excellent edible roots. The tastiest thing my allotment grew last year was fat hen.

I have loads of nipplewort growing on my allotment, I only managed to ID it for sure a few days ago. Its an eater, so I need to try some, but i will probably call what ever I cook with lapsana which sounds better than nipplewort.

I've seen Ray Mears using Rosebay Willowherb pith in the place of flower in stews. Do the other species of Willowherb also have edible pith? I'm pretty sure the only stuff we get growing round here is the Great Willowherb.

I have tried chickweed, it was quite nice. The Fat Hen I tasted was awful though, same with the Plantain . Although I have herd that the Plantain seeds are edible so I'm going to see if I can try them this year.

Any tips on preparing the Silver Weed roots? From what I've seen of them they look rather thin and wiry.

I didn't know Nipplewort Was edible, we have that in the garden as well. Its amazing just how many edible plants there are once you start looking into it.

Thanks for all the advice:You_Rock_

 

[xylaria]

Greater willow herb in my experiance has a funny after taste, but I might be like rose bay where the flavour is very variable. I have tasted both raw, you do need quite a bit to get a decent amount of grub out of them, personally I would taste the sprout you have and dicide if it tastes munt or mint. Cordage can be made with the inedible outer on both, I have only done that with rosebay.

I have no tips on preping silverweed. I have only got to eat it once as I respect the law on digging up wild plants. It is fiddlly, I washed and roasted it. It was a stable food until europeans where shown a spud. I think the roots are thicker in winter.

I can't make either types of plantain leafs paletable either, but I haven't tried deep frying yet. The seeds on rattails [greater p.] are really nice and easy to collect, toadflax did a post a while on preping them. The leaves work well as a wrapping for other foods. The fat hen I ate was quite small and young.

I have to keep reminding myself that I still need to weed my alloment for the wild plants to be taken out to make way for their tastier cultivated desendants. The pertetual spinach I have has never being reseeded in five years, over time the taste has changed from baby spinach to now tasting like wild sea beet its ancestor. It tastes too stong to eat much of it raw.

 

[xylaria]

We have been on the allotment all day today, building the shed from recycled wood. I pulled up a lot of the nipplewort. It is still very small, but it tastes good raw. It wilted before I cooked tea on the wood fire so I don't know how it cooks. It is byfar my most proilfic weed so I am glad it is such a good eater.