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Mystery Plant - to me anyway!

Bertha-BadgerBertha-Badger Posts: 27
in Plants
This little plant is on my allotment. No idea what it is - friend or foe?
To See the World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
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Posts

  • Jenny_AsterJenny_Aster Posts: 945
    Could it be a crocosmia that's had a bad winter?
     
    How To Grow Crocosmias BBC Gardeners World Magazine
    Trying to be the person my dog thinks I am! 

    Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    Not a crocosmia, my just emerging crocosmias look nothing like that. It reminds me of a narrow leaved ribwort plantain, but I don't really know the answer although I'm sure I've seen it before.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • Jenny_AsterJenny_Aster Posts: 945
    Had the same feeling that I'd seen those leaves before. 
    Trying to be the person my dog thinks I am! 

    Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Type of plantain?
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    If you look under the leaf at the stalk is that ribbed too?
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • AsarumAsarum Posts: 661
    Looks like a deer/rabbit nibbled plantain.
    East Anglia
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    Yes I thought a narrow leaved plantain, it is easy to check by looking at the stalk.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • Bertha-BadgerBertha-Badger Posts: 27
    Thanks everyone. I'm now sure it's a ribbed plantain. So it looks like I have a foe, not a friend :)
    To See the World in a Grain of Sand
    And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
  • WildFlower_UKWildFlower_UK Posts: 236
    One person's foe is another person's friend! I love ribwort plantain in my 'meadow' - pollinators love it!  :)
    "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need"
  • Jenny_AsterJenny_Aster Posts: 945
    Well..... who knew?

    What is ribwort plantain good for?
    Image result for ribwort plantain
    Used as an antihistamine, Ribwort Plantain is very effective at dealing with nettle stings or insect bites/stings unlike Dock which is just a placebo but if your children get stung and you can't find any Plantain, placebos work. The leaves can also be used to make a tea that acts as an effective cough medicine.

    https://www.wildfooduk.com/edible-wild-plants/ribwort-plantain/#:~:text=Used as an antihistamine, Ribwort,as an effective cough medicine.

    Anyone used to use the heads as a pop-gun as a child?

    Trying to be the person my dog thinks I am! 

    Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
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