Saturday 18 August 2012

Elephant's ears


That's what I call them, anyway. They come in large clumps along the bank, but they're nowhere as invasive (or attractive, depending on your taste) as the Himalayan balsam.



My best beloved thinks that the name I've chosen belongs to something different. She has several books that identify fauna and flora along the cut, but unfortunately they have neither this particular plant, nor anything else that owns the name. So for the moment, "elephant's ears" they are.

Does anyone know what they actually are?

3 comments:

  1. http://www.wikihow.com/Image:Elephant-Ear-Pant.jpg They do look similar...I wondered if they were a relative of gunnera, sort of rhubarb like in some ways....makes mooring difficult though!

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  2. I got notification of your comment just as we were spending rainy-time looking it up again on the internet. Our current favourite identification is Common Butterbur / Bog Rhubarb, which seems to tick most of the boxes.

    Martin

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  3. it certainly looks right, although I have never seen it in flower like in the article I looked at. Another invasive species then! but will the Himilayan balsaam give it a run for its money?

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