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Is this a weed

FallonFallon Posts: 74
in Problem solving
Hi everyone
Can anyone tell me if this is a weed?
It started growing amongst some old compost but I'm now thinking it's a weed

Posts

  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    Most likely it is Hairy bittercress, definitely a weed, as it seeds itself about with abandon. Its leaves are generally quite small, but Cardamine  pratense, or cuckoo flower has very similar leaves that are rather bigger. If it is that you might want to keep it, as it has pretty pale lilac or white flowers and is a food plant of the orange tip butterfly.
    Bittercress grows anywhere and can be minute, but Cardamine prefers damp grassy places.
  • FallonFallon Posts: 74
    Thanks.  I've just googled it  and it's  definitely Hairy bittercress. 
    Ha ha ha, I have been nurturing it.
    In the  bin it goes. 
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I've seen it growing in a child's sand pit and in a bucket of water. It's a survivor. You don't want it.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • FallonFallon Posts: 74
    Thanks.  It's in the bin now
  • annringrose3LswrxvEGannringrose3LswrxvEG Posts: 1
    Is this huge plant in my greenhouse a poisonous weed. It has sticky white sap and small yellow flowers loved by insects
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hello @annringrose3LswrxvEG and welcome to the forum :)

    Your plant is Euphorbia lathyris ... like most (if not all) euphorbias it has a white latex like sap that can burn if it gets on your skin. 

    Many prized plants are toxic ... many 'weeds' are edible.

    Whether it's a weed or not depends on whether it's growing where you want it to grow.  

    https://www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Mole-Plant/

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





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