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Original poster

Plant identification, please

14 replies

KingscoteStaff · 15/04/2023 09:32

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Does anyone know what this plant is? Soft, furry, 'nettle-shaped' leaves. Possibly a volunteer from a packet of wild flower seeds last year.

There are 3 of them in my border and they look super healthy, but I'd like to know what they are and if they're likely to flower/do anything interesting.

The one in the picture is starting to invade my lavender, so it needs moving, but to the compost heap or to another spot?

Thank you!

Plant identification, please
Plant identification, please
OP posts:
MereDintofPandiculation · 15/04/2023 10:46

I don’t recognise it as a wild flower, so the likelihood is you’ll want to keep it. It has the look of the Lamiaceae (mint, sage) family about it. Does it have square stems?

MrsSkylerWhite · 15/04/2023 10:47

Some sort of campanula?

Original poster
KingscoteStaff · 15/04/2023 11:26

@MereDintofPandiculation Yes, square stems. No scent on the leaves, though.

OP posts:
DRS1970 · 15/04/2023 11:32

Looks like a type of mint to me. Is it fragrant when the leaves are rubbed?

WandaWonder · 15/04/2023 11:34

Coriander, don't think it is but my first thought

MereDintofPandiculation · 15/04/2023 11:48

KingscoteStaff · 15/04/2023 11:26

@MereDintofPandiculation Yes, square stems. No scent on the leaves, though.

Pretty certainly a labiate (Lamiaceae) then. Leaves look too wrinkly for a Campanula and they don't have square stems, neither does coriander which has more finely dissected compound leaves made up of several leaflets.

Our native Lamiaceae with soft nettle like leaves are white dead nettle, which is a possibility, and is garden-worthy with spikes of white flowers, but should be in flower now, and the woundworts, and hedge woundwort has a strong smell. So definitely keep until it flowers. When it flowers, for identification it would be good to see a close-up of the flowers. Things like the shape of the lips, and whether it has an upper lip, are more useful in id than the colour.

Trethew · 15/04/2023 12:07

Maybe Lamium orvala ?

PumpkinTruffles · 15/04/2023 12:19

My plant app says it's black horehound - a perennial herb. It's not always 100% accurate but has helped me identify a lot of plants

Random789 · 15/04/2023 12:35

I wondered if it could be a variety of nepeta, or a relative at any rate.

DogInATent · 15/04/2023 13:15

If in doubt and it's in the wrong place anyway, lift and put in a pot to see how it turns out before deciding whether to keep or compost.

Original poster
KingscoteStaff · 15/04/2023 15:33

Ok, have lifted 2 into pots and left 1 in the border - will await any signs of flowers!

OP posts:
JulieHoney · 15/04/2023 15:42

PumpkinTruffles · 15/04/2023 12:19

My plant app says it's black horehound - a perennial herb. It's not always 100% accurate but has helped me identify a lot of plants

If you crush a leaf, OP, does it smell unpleasant? Black horehound is smelly, white isn’t. White horehound is the one that gets made into cough drops.

MereDintofPandiculation · 16/04/2023 15:35

Horehound and Nepeta are both labiates

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