Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Sideways on March 22, 2010, 09:48
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Hi all,
I was given a bag of cuttings around a year ago, most of which are now happily growing away. The image below shows what has grown from what I can only describe as 'small cigar shaped tubers' that I put in the ground. It is now growing well.
The roots were labelled at the time but got mixed up in the bag. I thought this was sorrel at first but the images I have found on the web are different. Im pretty certain its a herb of some type.
Any ideas?
(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_WJGb-YKRTWo/S6c7P801RyI/AAAAAAAAAdU/jn6100mccV8/s640/SDC10175.JPG)
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I can't think of any common herbs that grow from tubers. Is it possible to ask the person who gave them to you to identify them? Perhaps if you took a leaf of each different type?
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Thanks, I did consider contacting the person I got them from but Im struggling to find their email address- it was someone off Freecycle, I remember their name and will keep an eye out for when they post next.
Im getting a large crop of this now, it obviously likes the spot I put it in. Dont like the idea of good free food going to waste!
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Wow! Just checked Freecycle and there they were! 8)
Have sent a message with the image, will let you know what it is....hopefully!
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I wondered if it was horseradish as I know you grow that from root cuttings :unsure:
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I wondered if it was horseradish as I know you grow that from root cuttings :unsure:
No. It looks nothing like horseradish. Horseradish looks a bit like a dock. This is much prettier, but I have no idea what it is!
Gillie
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def horseradish the yung leavs have serated edges then the older ones are rounder like docks
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Actually looks more like cornsalad (lambs lettuce) to me although that is usually grown from seed :)
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Gillie says-
No. It looks nothing like horseradish
Nobby says-
def horseradish the yung leavs have serated edges then the older ones are rounder like docks
???
:D
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I would say I'd eat my hat if it's horseraddish but I don't have one.
It's not like any horseraddish I've seen but then I suppose there may be several varieties?
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I'm very curious to know just what it is, so let us know Sideways.
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ooh,that's gonna really bug me now! :wacko:looks like field scabious/knautia leaves a bit.
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Sideways, is the plant in the photo outside in the open or is it covered .
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BTW - why did you plant up a bag of unknown cuttings? Are you sure that there wasn't any Japanese knotweed in there too ;)
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Is it a type of rocket?is there a prize for getting it right,like an Easter egg? :tongue2:
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It is now growing well.
If it is horseradish, it will grow exceptionally well - it can be quite invasive!! ;)
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Sideways, is the plant in the photo outside in the open or is it covered .
Its growing outside, no protection. There are several more plants to the right of the image, considering how early/chilly it is Im expecting quite a crop, hence my keeness to identify it and eat it all!
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BTW - why did you plant up a bag of unknown cuttings? Are you sure that there wasn't any Japanese knotweed in there too ;)
I thought I knew them all but lost track of this one...
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Is it a type of rocket?is there a prize for getting it right,like an Easter egg? :tongue2:
You get to feel smug for a day! ;)
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It looks like American Cress/ Land Cress, but never heard of it being grown from tubers.
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ok,I can cope with that....oh wait,no chocolate? :blink:
If you crush the leaves,do they have a smell?
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It is not a chicory or endive is it?
Gillie
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Actually looks more like cornsalad (lambs lettuce) to me although that is usually grown from seed :)
I've only ever grown it from seed. I wouldn't have any idea what the roots would be like.
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My lamb's lettuce had just round leaves though. Worzel (who dug the bed over) said there were no large roots.
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It is definitely no lambs lettuce. We are eating it at the moment fresh from our allotment and they have only rounded leaves, no incised leaves like the plant on the picture. For me, it looks also more like a Knautia arvensis/field scabiosa or something similar.
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It's not "land cress" is it? http://www.thompson-morgan.com/seeds1/product/616/2/ ;)
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The leaves look different, landcress has more rounded leaves, the leaves of the unknown plant are more pointed. I am really curious now about the real name of the plant.
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maybe send a pic to the RHS? - they should identify it for you
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Im still waiting for a reply from the person who gave it to me, Im pretty sure Ive got the right person.
If this fails I will do as PC suggests and send it in to the RHS.
Im glad so many of you are interested too!
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It is definitely no lambs lettuce. We are eating it at the moment fresh from our allotment and they have only rounded leaves, no incised leaves like the plant on the picture. For me, it looks also more like a Knautia arvensis/field scabiosa or something similar.
Ah okay I wasnt sure what the leaves looked like before it ran to seed as it is many years since I grew it
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I immediately said lettuce...that doesnt help, I know that ???
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its not horseradish
this is horseradish
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Nice :)
What a great patch of horseraddish Monsta
I can feel it burning my nostrils
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Nice :)
What a great patch of horseraddish Monsta
I can feel it burning my nostrils
Try eating it! :lol:
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The hotter the better JayG 8)
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nice pic of mature horseraddish the yonge leves are good in a spring salad that is def horseraddish wate and see ::)
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I'm sure with the horseradish I used to have in the garden, the young leaves were just like the mature leaves only smaller, not a different shape!
It does look more like a salad leaf to me, but salad leaves don't grow from tubers!
We are not being much help are we?? :(
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It does look to me like Field Scabious or possibly Valerian, which both start off with round leaves and become serrated with age.
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have you tried tasting the leaves? surely that's a pretty important clue if it's a herb? :blink:
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Could it be a Winter Radish?
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Could it be Japanese horseraddish? I can't enlarge the picture so can't see it properly
Edit:- No it's not japanese horseraddish, I looked into that idea a bit more
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It's certainly not young horseraddish as we know it though
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Poppies....
Poppy (http://www.life.com/image/72497000)
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I did taste it last year, when it was quite young and the leaves were small, it didnt taste of much back then but the plant is now developing and the leaves are much bigger. I will have another taste at the weekend.
No reply from who I beleived to be the original supplier. I also posted the image on the RHS forum, nobody has come up with an answer as yet.
Its quite frustrating, but fun, I guess... :)
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Agapanthus is probably right, as you can propagate the perennial poppies from root cuttings, could be planted with the herbs to use the seeds in cooking :unsure:
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I don't suppose you could sacrifice a root to show us? :unsure:
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Poppies....
Poppy (http://www.life.com/image/72497000)
Agapanthus is probably right, as you can propagate the perennial poppies from root cuttings, could be planted with the herbs to use the seeds in cooking :unsure:
If you mean oriental poppy, I don`t think the leaves are right. Oriental poppy has hairy leaves which are serrated quite from the beginning and not only the older leaves.
I hope someone at the RHS knows the plant. Otherwise there is only waiting for the flowers. With flowers it is often quite easy to identify plants, if you have only leaves it is more like a guessing game.
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Ive had a reply, it is.....
Valeriana Phu. Aurea Herbaceous Perennial, non edible.
I think HilaryG hinted at Valarian, good call!
Thanks all.
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Thats really interesting, I learnt something today ::) I've got Valerian and the leaves are nothing like your plant. But if I look at Valeriana in my book thats it, its a totally different plant and its what you've got. Just shows what a difference an 'A' makes. :lol:
Thank goodness you've at last found out what it is :lol:
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thank God for that!I had no idea what that was!found a pic that looks just like your bit Sideways, http://www.btinternet.com/~unusualplants/Archives/apr/valer.html