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Mystery plant
Oneofseven
Posts: 338
in Talkback
Can anyone identify this plant for me? It is growing in what used to be a raised hedgerow, but is now part of my garden. It comes up every year - and I consider it a weed. I pull up every stem I can see, but they come away clean from the underground base, no roots, and next year they appear again. I really would like a name for it - plus the common one if it has one! 
Can I Roundup it, very carefully?.
0
Posts
It's dog's mercury. Mercurialis perennis.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Thank you, clever girl, nutcutlet. I've just looked it up - 'produces a foul and rotten smell'!!! That's what The Wildlife Trusts says about it. I didn't find that when I tested after taking the photo, but maybe when the flowers are fully open the smell will come. Or maybe that's the smell I have been blaming on the farmers' muck spreading!
I don't remember a smell Oneofseven and I haven't got any to go and check. I've never had to handle it either, just walked by it.
http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/flora-and-fauna/dogs-mercury/
suggests that the whole plant smells not the flowers particularly.
In the sticks near Peterborough