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East Sussex, United Kingdom Gb

Can anybody identify this plant? I inherited it when I moved to my house and my brother thinks it may be poisonous? It is now about 6ft tall had has pods/fruit of some kind on it.



Strange_plant

Answers

 

Caper Spurge (Euphorbia lathyris). It's a biennial species which produces a regimented upright plant with four ranks of leaves the first year followed in it's second year with this branching top.

Incidentally, secretions from the roots of this plant are supposed to keep Moles away. Not sure of how effective that is.

24 Jun, 2010

 

We had it in our previous garden. The seeds dry off and explode and fling seeds about, so they pop up everywhere. I say off with its head. White sap said to be an irritant. You can hear them pop if your hearing is better than mine is now!

24 Jun, 2010

 

Yes, the three part seeds do "explode"/fly apart. A friend of mines garden in Northumberland had a large patch in a wilder part of their garden and you could hear them "pinging" every few minutes when ripe.

24 Jun, 2010

 

Thanks, that's really helpful!
No sign of moles anywhere nearby, so maybe this plant does help - although there's a rat burrow (I think?) just a few inches away from this plant in the greenhouse, so other species don't seem to be effective.

29 Jun, 2010

How do I say thanks?

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