What is this?

What is this?

Tobacco? Triffid?

It's not tobacco. What is triffid?

I didn't know so I googled. Hee hee.

weren't triffeds those cute little furry puffballs in multi-colours in one of the old Star Trek episodes "Trouble with Triffeds"? I think they were part of a plot hatched by the Romulans to take over the Enterprise. J K Rowling then highjacked them as puff something or others in one of the Harry Potter books, I think it was V or VI. They were a particularly beloved pet of girls.

One more pic that might help someone identify.

My google research on triffids aren't only the flesh-eating monsters, but also triffid flax, a GM plant that is apparently taking over the flax industry.

This message was edited Jun 26, 2011 9:39 AM

yehudith - you're thinking of "Tribbles".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_With_Tribbles

milesdt - Triffids are...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids_(film)

4us - Your's is the first reference I've seen regarding "Triffid Flax", so I looked it up. I find the whole issue of genetically modified foods, frightening.

honey

you're right, hit me while i was working in the garden. trifids were in one of those horrible '50's monster movies.

It is not any vegetable I am familiar with. Why don't you post it in the plant identification forum. Lots of botanists over there.

Looks a lot like pokeweed to me, though the stems are generally red on the poke around here. Post those pictures in the Plant Identification forum and they'll tell you for sure. The folks over there are amazing about identifying plants.

This message was edited Jun 26, 2011 4:12 PM

Solved. Thanks for the recommendation for the plant id forum. Persicaria. Next question...who put it in my veggie garden?!?

Which Persicaria is it? It sure looks huge for a knotweed. Did anyone mention which P. it is, 4us? Thanks.

Shoe

They said it's Persicaria sp. I looked that up, and found it's called smartweed or snakeweed.

I'm pretty sure those are among the unknown weeds in my garden, too. All I know about weeds that look like that is they're hard to pull - more often than not the root breaks off in the ground instead of coming up!

Welp, trust me, I know I've dealt with some of the "weeds" in that Genus. (Some of those used to be in the Polygonum genus and I have my share of "knotweed", "smartweed" "tearthumb", etc) However, some of those are actually considered nice flowering bushes/shrubs/plants so I was trying to narrow it down further.

For example, Persicaria polymorpha is a beauty so was wondering if someone near 4us had a neighbor growing those or something. Here's some great pics of that one:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Persicaria+Polymorpha&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=bOs&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=jIkITqWJFo7rgQexu_W1DQ&ved=0CCIQsAQ&biw=800&bih=448

Shoe (forever curious...) *grin