By Linsuffolk
Suffolk,
United Kingdom 
Help! what is this plant that's appeared in my front garden....................Does anyone know? I seem to recognise the leaf but can't place what it is. It looks lovely and healthy. I am putting photos on to see if these will help in identifying it.
4 May, 2011
Answers
Does it have a smell?
Maybe not, but it reminded me of something....
4 May, 2011
My first thought before I saw the first answer was cannabis! When I was young we had a budgie and used to put him in his cage outside when the weather was nice. After a while we had strange plants growing up from the bird seed that fell from the cage and my Dad said that one of them was cannabis and pulled it up pretty quick!
5 May, 2011
I googled cannabis and it really does look like it!!
5 May, 2011
HI, I have an old gardening book, that advises that Cannibis makes a wonderful privacy screen for the summer.
I'd put my money on a Hellebore Foetidus.
5 May, 2011
Agree Helleborus Foetidus, which only smells if you crush the leaves.
5 May, 2011
Around here cannibis would draw a lot of attention - there was a big bust on a house up the road over Easter where they found sixty plants not including the seedlings!
It almost certainly is the Hellebore, but it's good to be aware....
5 May, 2011
Size matters.
The Helleborus foetidus is much smaller than cannabis.
If the entire leaf cluster is smaller than the palm of your hand then it is the hellebore.
If it's cannabis, the leaves are two or three times bigger.
But, I'm inclined to the Helleborus because of the way each leaf is on its only little stub of stalk.
5 May, 2011
Some of our established H. foetidus have leaf clusters much larger than the palm of my hand... and I don't have a small hand either.
5 May, 2011
If it attracts greenfly then it is Helleborus foetidus. I have just hauled two out that were smothered in greenfly! Yes, another vote for Helleborus foetidus.
5 May, 2011
ditto for hellebore
5 May, 2011
Must be hellebore - Cannabis (sativa sativa) doesn't germinate outside in Britain. The ones which do, usually from birdseed, are hemp, a close relative, but that doesn't have cannabinoids in it - good for rope making, useless for consuming.
5 May, 2011
Thanks everyone for all the information you have given me. I have googled Cannabis and H. Foetidus, and am glad to know I will not be arrested for growing cannabis. LOL... but the leaves are so much alike arn't they?
5 May, 2011
Ohhh, Bamboo, that is such a disapointment! You mean that I will not get high on the fallout of Tesco's 'Wild Bird Feed'! :-(
5 May, 2011
No, sadly, no good for arthritis either... and Linsuffolk, they are remarkably similar leaves.
6 May, 2011
It looks like Hellebore foetidus, julien.
4 May, 2011