Another new arrival

[french frank]

Any thoughts on this, which appeared in the wilder reaches of the garden. About 2ft high, upright but with one or two stalks beginning to branch out lower down. Not a succulent but with a very soft, juicy stem. Are those actually 'flowers'?

[french frank]

Tried PlantSnap and it said Euphorbia lathyris - the caper spurge. I'd have guessed a euphorbia, but couldn't see one that looked right. This looks like it:

[gurnemanz]

This plant self-seeds quite liberally in my garden. No idea where it came from. No showy blooms but it can fill a gap and add a bit of shape to a bed . If you break the stem it exudes a white fluid.

[french frank]

This plant self-seeds quite liberally in my garden. No idea where it came from. No showy blooms but it can fill a gap and add a bit of shape to a bed . If you break the stem it exudes a white fluid.

That fits quite well. This is what the RHS says about it:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/74306/Euphorbia-lathyris/Details

Not sure I want it to be prolific in my garden though (still no luck with identifying the other (now) sapling.

[gurnemanz]

That fits quite well. This is what the RHS says about it:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/74306/Euphorbia-lathyris/Details

Not sure I want it to be prolific in my garden though (still no luck with identifying the other (now) sapling.

Yes. They do need thinning out but are not invasive. Talking of which ...... celandines!!! Pretty but it's an ongoing battle to stop them taking over.

[gradus]

I thought it looked familiar but couldn't remeber which Euphorbia it was.
By the way did you ever identify the original stowaway?

[oddoneout]

It's caper spurge. A handsome plant but very good at spreading itself around. When the seed capsules are ripe they explode and the seeds patter down all over the place. It was common on the allotment site at one end where a plotholder had followed the old 'advice' that it would deter moles(it doesn't) and when she eventually gave up her plot there was a fair sized colony. The crack and patter when they all got going was reminiscent of the peasant shooting that sometimes took place on an adjoining field. The seedlings are distinctive from an early age, so easy to remove - take care when handling as the sap is like other euphorbias and can cause skin irritation. Round here the plant tends to be biennial, germinating in the autumn and going through the winter to flower late spring/early summer, but it can also be annual; either way good news in terms of control.

[LHC]

It's caper spurge. A handsome plant but very good at spreading itself around. When the seed capsules are ripe they explode and the seeds patter down all over the place. It was common on the allotment site at one end where a plotholder had followed the old 'advice' that it would deter moles(it doesn't) and when she eventually gave up her plot there was a fair sized colony. The crack and patter when they all got going was reminiscent of the peasant shooting that sometimes took place on an adjoining field. The seedlings are distinctive from an early age, so easy to remove - take care when handling as the sap is like other euphorbias and can cause skin irritation. Round here the plant tends to be biennial, germinating in the autumn and going through the winter to flower late spring/early summer, but it can also be annual; either way good news in terms of control.

What had the peasants done to deserve shooting? Must say, I’m surprised that’s still allowed; I thought it died out with feudalism.

[oddoneout]

What had the peasants done to deserve shooting? Must say, I’m surprised that’s still allowed; I thought it died out with feudalism.

Ah sorry, old family 'joke' surfacing; I think I've mentioned before that when the children were small one of them came up with peasants and phartridges and I'm afraid it's stuck.

And feudalism's death is more recent in this neck of the woods

[LHC]

Ah sorry, old family 'joke' surfacing; I think I've mentioned before that when the children were small one of them came up with peasants and phartridges and I'm afraid it's stuck.

And feudalism's death is more recent in this neck of the woods

That’s fine, when I was a child we had a family friend who would make a similar joke whenever he went shooting; “pheasant or peasant, who cares?”

[french frank]

It's caper spurge. A handsome plant but very good at spreading itself around. When the seed capsules are ripe they explode and the seeds patter down all over the place.

Technically known as dehiscing, I believe. I think I'll remove it before it tries that on!

By the way did you ever identify the original stowaway?

No, leafsnap's first suggestion was corylus avellana, of which, by coincidence, I bought a small sapling last autumn. Both are now in full leaf so I can compare them, and, no, not hazel. The second suggestion was betula pubescens, back to the downy birch again, but I'm not at all sure it's a birch since their leaves tend to have sloping 'shoulders' while mine has heart shaped leaves. The other two which I pricked out from a pot growing beneath a seasonally dead paeony - and which when very tiny I thought might have been from spores of a nearby fern - are these, currently about 4-5" spread. These are the ones I thought might be rowans, but I'm less sure of these being a tree than I was of the other one.

[Barbirollians]

Yes be careful with euphorbias - my son fell into a patch a couple of years ago and the sap gave him a very nasty rash on his legs