Giant Rhubarb

[john4647]

Can anyone tell me what the giant rhubarb type plant is that grows alongside many canals?

I thought it was Plantain but the Google images are not right.

[bizzard]

Loobarb.

[Harpur Hill]

Butterbur

 

HH

[Murflynn]

gunnera tinctoria

[MHS]

Giant Hogweed?

[Ex- Member]

A pain in the arse!

[Grace and Favour]

Giant Hogweed?

Nooo! Giant Hogweed is a totally different (and much more unpleasant)

You really don't want to touch it!

[David Mack]

Gunnera Manicata

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnera_manicata

 

[junior]

Gigantis Rubarbius I think. That is its official name.

[Timleech]

Gunnera Manicata

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnera_manicata

 

 

This is Butterbur, behind the boat, I'm fairly sure:-

 

 

 

Tim

[MtB]

Butterbur

 

HH

 

Seconded. It's almost certainly Butterbur.

 

(We were wondering the same thing yesterday so just looked it up in our (huge) "pocket Book for Wild Flowers". It won't be Gunnera as the stems don't have the Gunnera stem spikes/teeth.)

 

 

MtB

 

 

 

 

(Edit to improve me grammar.)

Edited July 27, 2014 by Mike the Boilerman

[MtB]

 

Seconded. It's almost certainly Butterbur.

 

(We were wondering the same thing yesterday so just looked it up in our (huge) "pocket Book for Wild Flowers". It won't be Gunnera as the stems don't have the Gunnera stem spikes/teeth.)

 

 

MtB

 

 

P.S. Nice pics from Tim illustrating the difference, espcially in size, between Butterbur and Gunnera.

 

 

(Edit to improve me grammar.)

Edited July 27, 2014 by Mike the Boilerman

[Peter X]

Tim's boat looks so good that she should appear wherever something relevant to the topic is fortunate enough to share a photo with her.

[paulstoke1975]

It looks like false rhubarb

[Ex- Member]

What's this stuff then?

 

[craftycarper]

Looks a bit like a boat in a hedge to me

[cheshire~rose]

That is butterbur

Edited July 27, 2014 by cheshire~rose

[tree monkey]

its butterbur this one i think http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petasites_hybridus remarkably small flowers before the leaves appear and oddly i routinely forget the plants name every year and need to look it up

[Stilllearning]

its butterbur this one i think http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petasites_hybridus remarkably small flowers before the leaves appear and oddly i routinely forget the plants name every year and need to look it up

I have the same memory loss when I see hornbeam. I stare at the tree and think , no , it's gone, again. Its' french name I can remember OK though.

[tree monkey]

Stilllearning, on 27 Jul 2014 - 8:44 PM, said:

I have the same memory loss when I see hornbeam. I stare at the tree and think , no , it's gone, again. Its' french name I can remember OK though.

thank god its not just me

[Dave_P]

Agreed that's it's likely to be butterbur. Gunnera is truly massive (you can walk under it) but rarely seen along the canal.

[cheshire~rose]

thank god its not just me

 

Completely

 

Today when we were out on the bikes we saw a young Monkey Puzzle tree. The discussion between our helmet intercoms was then based around what the "real name" of the monkey puzzle tree is and where it came from. Of course neither of us knew but we both had a good idea it was something that probably arrived on these shores during Victorian times.

 

...........anyway. I just remembered the conversation and went off to see what Wikki was going to tell me about The Monkey Puzzle tree

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

 

The bit I particularly liked was that in France it is called désespoir des singes or 'monkeys' despair'

 

[Jerra]

I have seen Gunnera along side canals but only in places where it is obviously an escapee e.g. half a mile away from a garden containing it. Being a native of Chile it is not as far as I know widely naturalised.

 

Butterbur on the other hand is native and very common.

[cheshire~rose]

Agreed that's it's likely to be butterbur. Gunnera is truly massive (you can walk under it) but rarely seen along the canal.

 

You are most likey to encounter Gunnera along the canal when it is in a private garden. I have seen quite a few rather magnificent specimens around the system where the owner has a garden that leads down to the canal and the Gunnera can dabble it's roots into the water.

[tree monkey]

cheshire~rose, on 27 Jul 2014 - 9:20 PM, said:

 

Completely

 

Today when we were out on the bikes we saw a young Monkey Puzzle tree. The discussion between our helmet intercoms was then based around what the "real name" of the monkey puzzle tree is and where it came from. Of course neither of us knew but we both had a good idea it was something that probably arrived on these shores during Victorian times.

 

...........anyway. I just remembered the conversation and went off to see what Wikki was going to tell me about The Monkey Puzzle tree

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

 

The bit I particularly liked was that in France it is called désespoir des singes or 'monkeys' despair'

 

once and only once i had to put a few branches through a chipper, they just sorta sprung back out of the hopper back onto me, those things really scratch, horrid horrid things

but in its favour the timber is worth a fortune to woodturners, apparently it can be turned so thin it is translucent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

still think they are horrid trees though