Herb identification please.

Use this forum to ask about plants which are not currently in our database or any other plant questions you have.
Post Reply
Liss
Posts: 5
Joined: 09 Oct 2019, 14:48

Herb identification please.

Post by Liss » 09 Oct 2019, 15:18

Hi. I have a red feet tortoise. In my garden these two plants or herbs grow, I think these are Kidney Weed and couch grass or Timothy grass but I'm not sure. You could tell me if these are and if these're safe to feed my tortoise.
Attachments
IMG_20191009_091743.jpg
IMG_20191009_091729.jpg

User avatar
Nina
Posts: 2003
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:22

Re: Herb identification please.

Post by Nina » 09 Oct 2019, 16:11

Hi Liss,

The first photo certainly looks like Kidney Weed (Dichondra repens) to me, and it is safe to feed. Here is the entry for it on our website, so have a look and see if you think this is your plant: https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/pla ... Z32hWZ7m9s

The second photo I'm afraid I can't ID, as you've just shown some leaves of grass and we would really need to see it growing in situ to make an ID. Even then, though, I'm afraid that there are so many types of grass (780 genera and 12,000 species in the Poaceae family) that it could be difficult for us to give an accuratae ID. Most true grass is edible, so if it is actually a grass (and not some early leaves of some of the flowering bulbs that have grass-like leaves) it should be OK. From what I can see of them, they don't look like Couch Grass (which tends to branch off a short stem), but I can't really see enough. Sorry not to be of more help, and if you can get more photos, do send them.

Nina

Liss
Posts: 5
Joined: 09 Oct 2019, 14:48

Re: Herb identification please.

Post by Liss » 09 Oct 2019, 16:36

Thanks for your prompt response, Nina :D . Here other photos of the second herb, this I will transplant to another area that's why it's there^^ . It hasn't flower, those that grow outside either.
Attachments
IMG_20191009_103526.jpg
IMG_20191009_103459.jpg

User avatar
Nina
Posts: 2003
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:22

Re: Herb identification please.

Post by Nina » 09 Oct 2019, 17:39

I'm a bit stumped and just want to make sure that this is an actual grass and not something else. Could you carefully remove one of those plants from the pot and see if there is only root at its base -- or if there is also a small bulb or corm? So sorry this is taking a while, and I've asked a colleague to have a look too. Also, is it a plant you've had for some time and, if so, did it ever flower?

Nina
P.S. I've just heard from my colleague, Lin, and she is convinced that it is a grass, but neither of us could ID it more specifically than that unless we could see a flower or seed head. As I mentioned before, almost all of the grasses are edible, so I think you are pretty safe with tihs one.

Liss
Posts: 5
Joined: 09 Oct 2019, 14:48

Re: Herb identification please.

Post by Liss » 09 Oct 2019, 18:43

Really thanks for your answers. This website has helped me a lot to inform me about how to take care of my tortoise (it has also avoided that from giving her things that she shouldn't eat! :o ) I'm glad that it's dichondra because she had already taken some bites. And about the grass ''without a name'', it grows a lot in my neighborhood, more now because of the rains and the stems some these're born like of a white bulb others do not, is that bad? Well, seems doesn't like it anyway.

Thanks for your help, you really do a great job. :D

User avatar
Nina
Posts: 2003
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:22

Re: Herb identification please.

Post by Nina » 09 Oct 2019, 19:34

Hi Liss,

I'm so glad that you find our website useful -- and do please ask us any questions you have.
Regardiing the 'grass'. If it has a little white bulb underneath then it probably isn't grass. Can you send us a photo of one of the plants that you have taken out of the pot, showing the whole plant and the little bulb?
Also, just to check -- are you living in the UK or somewhere else (it's just that some plants grow in some countries and not in other countries, so that could help us too.

Nina

Liss
Posts: 5
Joined: 09 Oct 2019, 14:48

Re: Herb identification please.

Post by Liss » 09 Oct 2019, 21:07

Well, this plant or grass or whatever ( :lol: ), I have seen as a garden upholstery but also grows naturally (as in my garden). In areas where there is a lot of water it grows very tall and I haven't seen that it has flowers. In the pot I have four stems that were joined by the root and only one had the bulb (which was small) Now I took it out to review but there's not bulb. I plan to use it to fill some empty spaces in my garden. My tortoise has hers space so she's not in contact with the plants I have, so she's not in contact with this either.

And I'm from colombia.
Attachments
IMG_20191009_150356.jpg
IMG_20191009_150333.jpg

User avatar
Nina
Posts: 2003
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:22

Re: Herb identification please.

Post by Nina » 09 Oct 2019, 22:05

I'm afraid I just don't know, and I'm so sorry to have let you down on this. Did you see the question in my last post asking what country you live in? If you're not in the UK then we could look at native plants in the country where you do live. I will ask my colleague, Lin, to look at the latest photos tomorrow, but she just moved house yesterday and so is very busy at the moment. I do have hope that we will get you an ID in the end though!

Nina

Liss
Posts: 5
Joined: 09 Oct 2019, 14:48

Re: Herb identification please.

Post by Liss » 09 Oct 2019, 22:32

Don't worry, you have been very helpful. :D Browsing the plant well (I took it out and washed it well) I think all have a bulb only that it's not longer white. I'll let this grow if it blooms or if something appears that indicates it is. Still, here other photos.
Attachments
IMG_20191009_162902.jpg
IMG_20191009_162939.jpg
IMG_20191009_162843.jpg

User avatar
Nina
Posts: 2003
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:22

Re: Herb identification please.

Post by Nina » 10 Oct 2019, 08:55

Thanks so much for the other photos -- they are all really good, and I'm so sorry that I can't ID the plant. There is something about it that doesn't quite look like a grass to me, but as I said, there are thousands of varieties of grass and it's really hard to ID them without seeing their flowers or seed heads. On the other hand, I can see that the three plants are joined by one root/stem, and that is typical of grasses, so it probably is a grass.

Can you confirm what country you live in, in case it is a plant that doesn't grow in the UK and we need to look elsewhere?

Cheers,
Nina

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 17 guests