Plant Identification

[Ananke]

I'm clearing my Mum's border and I'm not sure whether this is a plant or a weed, anyone know what it is?

[veggiechicken]

Is it Feverfew? You'd know that by the smell when you rub the leaves.

[Ananke]

I'll have a sniff on Friday when i'm back down.

Neither myself or Mum remember planting this and I know neither of us have ever grown feverfew, a seed blown in from another garden maybe?

I'd be over the moon if it was, I'll nick it for my medicinal herb bed

[veggiechicken]

Its spreads itself around! There's a golden one as well as the green one.
I've just been to rub a leaf - the smell lingers and its not very pleasant really

[KittyColdNose]

Hi Ananke.

This looks like green feverfew to mee to. Do you get an abundance of pretty white flowers on it?

Here is one of my feverfew (as you can see, it's raining just now )

[Bigmallly]

Looks like buttercup to me but I suppose the only way to be sure is to let it flower.......................what do I know?.........I thought basil seeds were sweet peas.......

[Martin H]

Definitely feverfew. It's either a medicinal herb, an ornamental flower or a weed depending on your point of view. Personally I treat it as an ornamental, let it seed around, move some to where I want them and chuck the ones I don't want.

It's basically biennial so pull it up once the flowers go over.

[Ananke]

Thanks everyone, knew you lot would sort me out. It must have blown in from elsewhere and I couldn't be happier as my son suffers from migraines.

VC, I don't believe you made me smell that

Can I be a pain in the posterior and ask you have a look at this one for me too. These seedlings are popping up all over Mum's garden.

[veggiechicken]

Haha!! Now try eating a leaf in a bread and butter sandwich for migraine
The new photo looks like a tree leaf. Is there a dominant tree in the area - ? sycamore

[Ananke]

I'll pass on the sandwich :P

There are quite a few trees around and again you've got it, I looked at google images and the sycamore seedlings look like it. There are loads of them too, this is going to be a real challenge for me to throw them away :O

[veggiechicken]

Pull them out quickly and don't miss any - they really are a pain in the proverbial once they're established

[KittyColdNose]

You only need one or two leaves in a sandwich I take half a doz and mix with sage and mint to make a tea. Nice with a dollop of honey.

My plants flowered last year then when they died back I cut them almost level with the ground. They are massive now and look like buds are coming. This year I will dry the flowers for tea later in the year when it dies back again.

[KittyColdNose]

You only need one or two leaves in a sandwich I take half a doz and mix with sage and mint to make a tea. Nice with a dollop of honey.

My plants flowered last year then when they died back I cut them almost level with the ground. They are massive now and look like buds are coming. This year I will dry the flowers for tea later in the year when it dies back again.

Feverfew that is, not sycamore!

[Ananke]

I've been doing a wee bit more research on the feverfew looking plant and it looks a wee bit like Hemlock too so I'll not be doing anything "medicinal" with it until I know for sure lol.

[veggiechicken]

From memory, hemlock grows quite tall and has purple splodges on the stem. Its a much bigger plant than feverfew. I'll send this - then I'll goggle it and see how wrong I am!!