An ID please

Use this forum for identification of plants and flowers found in the UK. To allow us to help provide accurate identification we need clear pictures of the whole plant, where it is growing and close up pictures of flowers, buds or seed heads if any available. It would also be useful to see pictures showing the leaf attached to the stem.
Post Reply
Teddy28
Posts: 156
Joined: 06 May 2017, 10:57

An ID please

Post by Teddy28 » 23 Mar 2020, 14:24

[attachment=0]20200323_135437_resized.jpg[/attachment]
Hi this is growing in Boris s outdoor enclosure, it sprouted from a pack of Shelled Warrior seed mix last year , he's having a day outside whilst the weather is good and previously ignored this but is now demolishing it. There's geranium leaves in the foreground but it's the tall leaves I'm trying to identify before he eats them all. Thanks Teddy
all[attachment=0]20200323_135437_resized.jpg[/attachment]
Attachments
20200323_135437_resized.jpg

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

Re: An ID please

Post by Nina » 24 Mar 2020, 19:05

Hi Teddy and great to hear from you (and so sorry that this is such a late response). Lin and I have been looking at this, and we aren't really sure, as from the photo it looks like so many other plants. Is it possible to get some more photos from different angles? If could you fence it off from Boris for a while, and wait a week or so, to see if it might develop enough for us to give a more confident ID? We thought of several things but we really do need to have a better look at it to know. Is there one rosette on the ground and a stem with leaves that is coming up out of it?

Nina

Teddy28
Posts: 156
Joined: 06 May 2017, 10:57

Re: An ID please

Post by Teddy28 » 24 Mar 2020, 20:02

Hi Nina
Sorry it isn't a very good photo is it. I 'll see if I can get a betrer one tomorrow. As I said, it's from a seed mix and i have a suspicion it's been growing through the winter because I 've had his enclosure covered with Lumisol since October. He was outdoors again today and was attacking it again, how well he'll take to me fencing it off I don't know.
Anyway here s another couple of pics of him from last month[attachment=1]20200217_130927-1_resized.jpg[/attachment]
Attachments
20200227_082402_resized.jpg
20200217_130927-1_resized.jpg

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

Re: An ID please

Post by Nina » 24 Mar 2020, 21:43

What super photos! Especially loved the one hanging out with the leg casually draped over the big pebble. How cool is that!

Nina

Teddy28
Posts: 156
Joined: 06 May 2017, 10:57

Re: An ID please

Post by Teddy28 » 24 Mar 2020, 23:10

I thought you might like that one - extreme sunbathing eh!
xx

Teddy28
Posts: 156
Joined: 06 May 2017, 10:57

Re: An ID please

Post by Teddy28 » 25 Mar 2020, 10:05

[attachment=2]20200325_092753_resized.jpg[/attachment]Took a few more pics but not sure it's any clearer. The leaves have fine hairs on them, more obvious on younger leaves which appear to come out of a rosette. There's one separate from the others so I 'll try and dig it up to keep it from being eaten and see how it develops
Thanks[attachment=1]20200325_092839_resized.jpg[/attachment][attachment=0]20200325_093350_resized.jpg[/attachment]
Attachments
20200325_093350_resized.jpg
20200325_092839_resized.jpg
20200325_092753_resized.jpg

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

Re: An ID please

Post by Nina » 25 Mar 2020, 19:24

Many thanks, Teddy, this is really helpful, and sorry to be late in getting back to you.
Lin and I have had a good look at the pictures and we think it might be Wild Lettuce (Lactuca virosa), and on our database it has a red traffic light, because it is known to have sedative and narcotic properties (but no need to worry about the fact that some of it has been eaten already). We aren't completely sure though, as it still could be one of a number of other plants, but we have three question that should sort it out.
1. If you break off part of the stem, does it have a white sap inside it?
2. Do any of the stems that are coming out of the rosette have a reddish colour?
3. In the last photo you sent, sort of in the middle, there is a stem coming up from the centre of the plant and on the end of it there is a sort of bullet-shaped thing, pointing towards 9 o'clock. It is all white because the sun was on it and so it was bleached in the photo, but could you tell us if it looks like a flower bud? If it does, then maybe wait a day or two until it opens and take a photo of that too -- that would be a clincher.

Cheers,
Nina

Teddy28
Posts: 156
Joined: 06 May 2017, 10:57

Re: An ID please

Post by Teddy28 » 25 Mar 2020, 22:01

Hi Nina
Oh dear - wild lettuce !
I'll check tomorrow if any sap coming out and let you know.
Yes some of the stems are red and I think some of them are showing in the first pic, on the left of the photo. I think the red stems are on the older leaves which may have been growing through the winter.
And the photo which looks like it has a flower bud pointing towards 9 o clock. I noticed that when taking the photos, it's not actually a bud and it's not white either so I think it's the sun as you say. It was actually a small leaf on a long thin stem.
Do you think I should remove them before putting him in his enclosure tomorrow? He had another munch today and obviously loves the stuff
Thanks

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

Re: An ID please

Post by Nina » 25 Mar 2020, 22:16

I would break a stem and see if there is white sap (like latex) in it first, and if there is then I would remove it before putting him in, and if there isn't then leave it in and we'll continue our attempts to ID it. Looking forward to hearing about that sap. Thanks for the clarification about hte leaf. Also, just to check -- is it definitely one plant that we are seeing in the picture, or could there be two different plants growing close together?

Cheers,
Nina

Teddy28
Posts: 156
Joined: 06 May 2017, 10:57

Re: An ID please

Post by Teddy28 » 25 Mar 2020, 22:53

Thanks Nina I 'll check it first thing and let you know.
There are several of these plants all growing together but I m sure all are the same type.
Last year I sowed some of the tortoise seed mix from shelled warriors, can't recall if it was just the tortoise seed or the Med mix. I sowed them in a seed tray and it contained plantain, grasses, some vetch I think and dandelion. When the plants had grown enough i planted it in the oitdoor enclosure. Over the winter all the other plants died off apart from some grasses but this stuff seemed to stay green and then has started sprouting new leaves about a month ago. Initially I thought it was dandelion but without the serrated looking leaves.
Will check for sap tomorrow
Thanks again

Teddy28
Posts: 156
Joined: 06 May 2017, 10:57

Re: An ID please

Post by Teddy28 » 26 Mar 2020, 08:07

[attachment=2]20200326_073954_resized.jpg[/attachment][attachment=1]20200326_074715_resized.jpg[/attachment][attachment=0]20200326_074724_resized.jpg[/attachment]

Morning Nina, not sure how clear the close up photo is, there was a small amount of translucent milky sap coming out of the cut stem. I've also photo'd two leaves back and front, the leaf on the left hand side is a fairly new leaf, the other one has been growing through winter I think. Some but not all of the leaves are a sort of wonky shape like the one on the left
Thanks Teddy
Attachments
20200326_074724_resized.jpg
20200326_074715_resized.jpg
20200326_073954_resized.jpg

Teddy28
Posts: 156
Joined: 06 May 2017, 10:57

Re: An ID please

Post by Teddy28 » 26 Mar 2020, 09:45

I've dug it all out, one had a root which was a foot long but easy to pull out as it had to grow sideways cos it couldn't get through the black membrane under the substrate.
I've replaced it with one of our prized sow thistle from the garden, hopefully distract him from his favourite munch having disappeared!
Will it have caused him any lasting harm assuming it was wild lettuce?
X

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

Re: An ID please

Post by Nina » 26 Mar 2020, 13:14

Hi Teddy,

I've been waiting to talk to Lin about the latest photos, but I guess that was probably a good idea to take the plant out. I don't think he will suffer any damage at all. The reason we gave it a red traffic light (if it is wild lettuce) is that it has narcotic and sedative properties, but there are no studies on how much a tortoise would have to eat in order for it to affect him, so we always err on the side of caution in these things. As he hasn't been sleepy/spaced out I don't think it has done him any harm at all.

The other thing is that it could well have seeded itself in your garden through wind/birds, etc. and might not be part of any seed mix that you deliberately planted.

Cheers,
Nina

Teddy28
Posts: 156
Joined: 06 May 2017, 10:57

Re: An ID please

Post by Teddy28 » 26 Mar 2020, 13:51

Thanks Nina, no no side effects for Boris that I noticed, but it did set me thinking about little Tort last summer but I don't it was there then so like you say maybe it was carried in by birds or in bird droppings.
He did look slightly disgruntled this morning when it had gone and he demolished the sow thistle in no time so I've planted a clump of campanula . He doesn't seem to have acquired as taste for that yet so hopefully it 'll get chance to establish
X

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests