Another strange plant

[Graye]

I have searched online for this one and also all my gardening books but can come up with nothing. A friend in southern Spain gave me a seedling plus a cutting from her largish bush and both have taken with no problems. The leaves are quite large, dark green with three distinct points. The flowers are papery, lightish purple, with no distinct petals and with a
yellow centre. It's about 4cms in diameter. The seed pods are a large and shiny green, about the size of a marble, you can see them in the second picture. Something to do with the flower suggests to me that at least parts of it are poisonous. It's growing so easily that it might well be a weed! Can anyone give me a clue to what it is please?

[MKG]

It's a complete and utter shot in the dark, but that leaf shape makes me think of the Chenopodium family (Good King Henry, Fat Hen, and the strangely-pronounced Quinoa, although it's none of those). That might be worth a Google or two.

[Millymollymandy]

I have absolutely no idea but I do agree about the flower - it looks like flowers from the deadly nightshade family doesn't it?! I think that is the Solanaceae family. Of course it might be something completely different but who knows! I hope you find out.

[Millymollymandy]

Is it this?

http://www.habitas.org.uk/gardenflora/s ... niatum.htm

[Graye]

Yes, I think it must be. The flowers and seed pods are identical, the leaf in the last picture has more sections but the ones around the flower are more like mine. Having a close look at the two I have here I can see at least one leaf with an extra bit, they do seem slightly erratic anyway.

Thanks very much for that. What a strange plant to be growing in the campo in southern Spain! No comment on it's poison capabilities so I'll go off to do some research. The "potato" part still has me worried!

[Millymollymandy]

Yes, do not eat it unless you find out otherwise! Isn't it funny how that family provides us with spuds and toms and I think also aubergines but also some incredibly poisonous plants!

[mrsflibble]

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php ... laciniatum
"All green parts of the plant, and the unripe fruits, are poisonous"

but hello, what's this?!
"Edible Parts: Fruit.

Fruit - raw or cooked. It must be thoroughly ripe because the unripe fruit is poisonous. It can be used as a sweet fruit or as a vegetable. Best harvested once it has fallen from the plant, the fruit will then have lost its unpleasant acidity. It tastes much worse than it looks, the fruit is sickly sweet and often bitter. The quality varies from plant to plant and even from year to year from the same plant. The fruit is up to 2cm long and contains a large number of flat seeds."

so basically in the words of crocodile dundee: you can eat it, but it tastes like sh1t.

[hedgewitch]

LOL missus F!

It is indeed a Potato Tree - I have one in my garden. It's not quite the same as the one 3 M's posted but a member of the same family - Solanum - which is from the species Solanaceae. Solanaceae also include tomato, potato, aubergine, deadly nightshade, jimson weed, tobacco, henbane and belladonna.

Very beautiful plants.