OT magic plant query

Peltranda family, probably peltranda sagittifolia (alba). It's supposed to cause horrible pain if eaten. But cooking the root removes the toxicity. No idea about magical uses, but as it grows in swamps and has no known culinary or medicinal uses but is still listed in the old herbal info that I have from years ago, I assume it's got what's otherwise known as "other uses not traditionally listed". O-o

Sunny Don't go eating those roots and berries, some of them are ...... well, baby, they ain't chocolate ;)

Howdy!

One of the figworts, possibly. Check the pics of figwort that grow/thrive in the s.e. U.S.. Snapdragons, toadflaxes, foxglove, mulleins, monkeyflowers, speedwells.

What you do w/ it ... that's your biz.

R/Sandy-- lavender is my flowering herb of choice ;-)

Morning glories are a lovely flower that are well mannered.

What many call morning glories is a plant that has white blossoms, spreads like crazy and strangles everything in its path. It is Bindweed, a pernicious weed. Convolvulus arvensis See it here:

Enjoy morning glories and even the beauty of bindweed when it is not invading your yard and killing your plants!

Voice of experience,

Lenore

I grew up in So. Cal and don't remember bindweed. By name or sight. It is showing up a lot along roadsides here these days though. Dh used to refer to is as dust lillies because they seem to grow in really ratty, dry spots along the road. In San Diego morning glories were avoided like the plague. They grew so well they would take over. Where I am now they freeze back and are an ok to use. I was working in the yard a bit yesterday and noticed new bulb shoots! Woohoo, spring is just around the corner. taria

Lenore L wrote:

Morning Glories are invasive in many parts of the world. Any plant can be invasive if it is planted in an area without natural controls to keep it in check. Kudzu isn't invasive in it's country of origin--but it is "the plant that ate the South". It pays to do research before planting anything since invasive species are often sold in most people's local stores and by mail order businesses. Internet trades also play a part in the introduction of invasive plants. Debra in VA See my quilts at:

Exactly so. Ipomoea jalapa is a mexican native with a thicker more extensive vine than the "tame" morning glories. It has a reputation for being quite hardy, and like most of it's relatives reseeds itself quite librally. It might not thrive out of doors here at all, the climate being so different from where it is from. On the other hand it might just decide that it likes it here very well indeed, and undertake to compete vigorously with everythng else. My thought is why take chances? Especially with a plant from the bindweed side of the convolvulaceae family, which has a reputation for getting out of hand easily. I have enough of a time keeping my Grandpa Otts reined in without trying to keep a more robust primal variant in line! Nothing wrong with container planting. Mostly I want the roots anyway. Keeping a good supply of decent quality High John roots gets pricey.

NightMist awaiting spring with bated breath, to see if I finally managed to kill the tartarian honeysuckle

Some years ago, when I still lived in Minnesota, I was given a plant called Japanese Knotweed. It made a lovely shrub with large leaves and clusters of tiny, sweet-smelling flowers that attracted bees. The stems were pithy and jointed, rather like bamboo. The plant died back to the ground every winter.

A couple of years later we noticed that nothing grew directly around the knotweed, which had become quite a large bush. The leaves were acid (like rhubarb or oxalis), so I thought that was the reason. I had always used rhubarb leaves as weed control. Soon the knotweed started poking its head up several feet away from the main plant. The only thing that contained it was continuous mowing. When we sold the house, we warned the newcomers about the knotweed, the horseradish, and the comfrey. All lovely, noble and useful plants but boy, do they spread!

Every time I planted a new herb, my husband would sink half of a 55-gallon drum into the ground to contain the plant. It didn't work on the horseradish or the comfrey! They have roots that go halfway to China and they spread by the root, like some kinds of grass.

Best, I think, to check the growing habits of plants before sticking them into the ground. Good for you to think of pot planting, Nightmist!

In the UK there are actually firms that will remove Japanese Knotweed, and it is an offence to spread it. Its supposed to be the most invasive plant there is.

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~ (uk)

Carolyn McCarty wrote:

I believe it! Though the horseradish and some of the mints would be mighty close runners-up, LOL.