Another wild flower ID please
- Thread starter Bodshi
- Start date
Now you ask! Lol, I didn't smell it at the time but if I remember I'll go and see tomorrow.
Thanks - I googled this and the leaves look right but it is described as having a 'star shaped flower' and this flower definitely isn't star shaped. It also said (on the RHS website) that it is 1-1.2 m tall and this plant was much smaller. That picture I posted isn't the best, I could do with using photobucket to get a bigger and better one.
Only thing coming up that looks like that on google is marsh hedge nettle but it looks like it's native to America..........
http://www.friendsofthewildflowergarden.org/pages/plants/marshhedgenettle.html
http://www.friendsofthewildflowergarden.org/pages/plants/marshhedgenettle.html
I thought those were just a nettle variant in flowerthey haven't killed my neddies yet
I clicked on the link and saw the name 'Woundwort' which rang a bell, so googled Woundwort and find that there are two types in the UK - Hedge and Marsh. I think it may be a Marsh, as the leaves of Marsh are elongated, but Hedge are heart shaped. Only thing is that the plants are said to grow to 80 cm tall and the one I photographed is just a little plant, but maybe it is a bit stunted. I need to go and find it again.
@Jessey - it said in one of the descriptions that they can often be mistaken for dead nettles ...
@Jessey and @MrC salvia, mint, dead nettle are all from the same plant family so it could be anyone of them, salvia have square stems which is what made me think that's what it was, where's @Jane&Ziggy when you need her she's the best plant identifier here.
she's the best plant identifier here.
Hello there, was someone calling me? I'm on holiday and away from my normal reference books but I think that might be wild basil. Where was it growing, what sort of soil and exposure?
Hi @Jane&Ziggy, hope you're having a fantastic holiday!
The plant is growing in amongst nettles and brambles alongside a dry ditch between one of the paddocks and the farmers corn field. I can't tell you what the soil is but I think it will get a fair bit of sun. This pic shows more of its situation - you can see the bottom strand of electric fence.
ETA - no you can't because the file size is too large and I can't seem to make it smaller no matter what I try, sorry.
The plant is growing in amongst nettles and brambles alongside a dry ditch between one of the paddocks and the farmers corn field. I can't tell you what the soil is but I think it will get a fair bit of sun. This pic shows more of its situation - you can see the bottom strand of electric fence.
ETA - no you can't because the file size is too large and I can't seem to make it smaller no matter what I try, sorry.
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Hi - mystery solved! I went to see my mum today who sadly has dementia, but was a very keen bird and wild flower spotter when she was younger. I showed her my pictures and she was able to talk about square stems and ?sepals then we got her best wild flower ID book out and positively identified it as Marsh Woundwort. So thanks for the pointers and hints that gave me a clue where to look
Haha, she actually taught botany and biology in the olden days .... funny how she can remember things like that - it's like seeing a little glimpse of the old mum again.
I watched a programme a few weeks ago, there was a very elderly gent on it, quite a famous musician in his day if I remember rightly, who had dementia, used to sit in his chair all day almost like the light had gone from his life, someone in his family took in recordings of the music he used to play and it was wonderful to see the difference, it was almost as though he was back to his old self and he was singing along to every word.
Dementia is such a terrible disease and those rare glimpses are both beautiful and heart renching at the same time aren't they. x
My dad is a bit like that when he gets going about his old army days. He's into his fourth year of dementia but still likes to talk about that because it's somehow familiar? He is 90 - and fit as a fiddle apart from his poor befuddled head. It's difficult seeing them like it though isn't it?
It is an awful disease isn't it and one that my mum was determined not to suffer. She had written it into her will that if euthanasia were legal by the time she got to this stage she'd want to take that option (as would I). She was intelligent, fit and active and had been all over the world on bird and flower spotting holidays. Now she's reduced to sitting in a chair with nothing to look forward to except the next meal, she can't read her books and can no longer even follow the TV. Just to see a little spark of her old self is both amazing, wonderful and somehow very poignant.
It truly is a horrible illness. It is very hard for carers and the person suffering. My dad went into a care home two months ago, my mum just could not cope any longer. But, on the upside he seems the happiest he has been in a long while. It is very poignant I agree that you could see a little of your "old" mum. I totally understand how that feels, I spent hours agonizing over my dads condition but I think I have sort of come to terms with it all now.
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