Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Mystery flower ID please

NorfolkdumplingNorfolkdumpling Posts: 87
in Plants
Hi everybody, i wonder if anyone can identify this flower for me please. My sister got a plant from o boot sale last year, no label, no flower on it and the seller had no idea what it was!
Well of course she had to bring it home!




The original plant grew to just over 5 feet tall and flowered last year, left to seed, these collected and grown this year. The original plant is in flower again this year, and the seeds she grew are now in flower, so does this make them annual or perennial plants, but most of all what is it?  The plant in the pictures is still in a pot (3 litre) and stands almost 3 feet from the top of the pot. (It's being planted in the garden this afternoon.)   The stems are almost square and hollow, the flowers a lovely orange/brown and are about 3/4 inch long and 1/4 inch wide at the mouth.  I would love to find out what it is for my sister's sake as much as for me, and i'm sure there are people out there who know exactly what it is. Thanking you in anticipation.

«1

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited August 2018
    It looks like a very fine example of Scrophularia nodosa ... the Common Figwort ... one of the first wild flowers I learned to identify as a child on school Nature Walks, so I'm inordinately fond of it ... it is a UK native wild flower and often just pops up in people's gardens.

    https://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-flowers/white-flowers/common-figwort/

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • NorfolkdumplingNorfolkdumpling Posts: 87
    Thanks so much Dovefromabove, I've lived in Norfolk almost 8 decades now (my God that sounds really bad!) and i don't ever remember seeing one before. Obviously brought in by a bird, probably a dove from above! Oh, so it is right, you're never too old to learn!  My sister will be pleased. Thanks again.
  • AsarumAsarum Posts: 661
    I agree its a Scrophulariacae, but the leaves don't seem right for nodosa. In the photos they appear lobed.  Still looking.......
    East Anglia
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hello neighbour  :)

    I grew up in Mid Suffolk and lived there most of my life until I was transplanted up here in Norfolk about twenty years ago ... I still feel like a Suffolk mawther and have to keep my head down around here when people discuss football  ;)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    I agree with Asarum, not Common Figwort. I've seen that one before, might have been up for ID here. Can't remember what it was though :) 


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • NorfolkdumplingNorfolkdumpling Posts: 87
    Thanks for your response, Asarum, there seem to be several different leaves in this family, but knowing the name is a good starting point. I'll pass it on to my sister and let her sort it out from here!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Ah, now you've said that @nutcutlet Mr Google comes up with this one

    Scrophularia grandiflora http://www.cgf.net/plantdetails.aspx?id=11246  a much more impressive flower ... do you think that's the one?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • NorfolkdumplingNorfolkdumpling Posts: 87
    Hello Dove, you're welcome to stay as long as you like....Norfolk can't be all that bad if you can put up with us for that long, can it?   And as for football, let's see what happens on September 1st.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    I think that's the one Dove.


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • NorfolkdumplingNorfolkdumpling Posts: 87
    Thanks for your reply nutcutlet, and thanks again to Dovefromabove. Yes i think you have the right one this time. It looks very familiar. A wild flower it may be, but i'll do my best to keep this one in the garden. 
Sign In or Register to comment.