Your gardening questions answered: What is my mystery plant?
09.09.2023 - 05:37
/ irishtimes.com
/ Fionnuala Fallon
Q: I have an unknown plant in my garden. I’m not sure if it came in on the wind or bird feeder. I first noticed it two years ago. It never flowers, it self-seeds and it grows to about 110cm. Please advise any details on its name and care. Hopefully it is not some invasive weed. DD, Co Dublin
A: Your mystery plant is a member of the euphorbia genus known as the caper spurge, the mole plant, or more properly as Euphorbia lathyris. A non-native annual or biennial species often described as a garden escape or a weed, it’s technically not classed as invasive in this country, but is certainly known for its tendency to self-seed about the place, quite often appearing on recently disturbed or cultivated ground as if out of nowhere.
There are any number of ways that it arrived in your garden, from the seed hitching a lift (Trojan horse-style), in the compost or soil of another plant purchased or given to you, a bird dropping it, or it being brought in unwittingly on the muddy soles of someone’s shoes.
Its “flowers” are the lime-green, triangular bracts as seen in your photograph, which are followed by plump green seed capsules which were sometimes used as a substitute for capers, hence the plant’s common name. As is true of all parts of this plant, these are highly toxic and can only be made edible by steeping them for a long time in salty water and vinegar, and even then, great caution is advised. Its other common name, the mole plant, comes from the belief that its poisonous roots deterred moles from digging anywhere near the plant. Like all members of the euphorbia genus, its stems contain a sticky, milky white liquid known as latex that’s a painful skin irritant and can badly hurt, burn and even permanently damage your eyes
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