Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

Plant Identification => Plant Identification Questions and Answers => Topic started by: Stephenb on August 03, 2011, 08:51:03 PM

Title: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Stephenb on August 03, 2011, 08:51:03 PM

I was given this plant which was bought as an edible from a market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India. It doesn't look as though it will flower and I'm still puzzled as to what it can be. Anyone recognise it?

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Graham Catlow on August 03, 2011, 10:00:31 PM

Hi Stephen,
It looks remarkably like Himalayan balsam, Impatiens glandulifera to me. Which is a very invasive weed.

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: majallison on August 03, 2011, 10:21:03 PM

I know it's not good to attempt identifications just with leaves, but it looks like a Labiatae, a bit like Perilla or some kind of Salvia. Does the plant have a scent?

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Stephenb on August 03, 2011, 10:43:29 PM

It's definitely not Himalayan Balsam - it's perennial - overwintered indoors.

No scent. Not Perilla which I also grow (annual) but I see the similarity ,so Labiatae is a possibility.

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Afloden on August 04, 2011, 12:54:10 AM

Chromolaena odorata? It definitely has the look of a lot of those Eupatorium-esque plants; Fleischmania, Ageratina, Eupatorium.

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Stephenb on August 05, 2011, 08:04:53 PM

Thanks. No, I don't think it's chromolaena - haven't found that that one has been used as a food plant either..

Guess I'll just have to wait for it to flower.....

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Stephenb on May 26, 2012, 08:58:36 PM

Now in flower! Ring any bells?

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Ezeiza on May 27, 2012, 12:31:59 AM

An Eupatorium?

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Oron Peri on May 31, 2012, 04:29:37 PM

Quote from: Ezeiza on May 27, 2012, 12:31:59 AM

An Eupatorium?

Yes it is.

Ageratina altissima [syn Eupatorium rugosum]

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Maggi Young on May 31, 2012, 06:12:13 PM

Hardly an "edible" then? Are not  Eupatoriums  poisonous?  :o :P Dangerous even in old mnedicinal use, I thought, and certianly poisonous to livestock?

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Stephenb on May 31, 2012, 06:29:31 PM

Yes, thanks to both of you! Yes, not something even I would dine on Maggi! Luckily, I didn't! Perhaps it was being sold as a medicinal? I'll pass on the ID to the guy I got it from!

S.

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Afloden on June 01, 2012, 03:53:19 AM

Still sticking with Chromolaena, especially if its in flower now. Ageratina won't flower for a month or more and the leaf base is not right nor the leaf serration.

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Stephenb on June 01, 2012, 10:25:28 AM

Thanks, Aaron - will have a  look at the key in Flora of North America...

Just a comment that my plant was overwintered indoors which may explain early flowering, as might our long days up here in the north? I had the plant out in the garden last summer, it became a big plant with no flowering but didn't survive the winter outside .

Title: Re: Unknown edible from market in Aizawl, Mizaram, India
Post by: Afloden on June 03, 2012, 03:47:30 PM

 Ageratina altissima should survive your winter with no problem (hardy for me to -30F dry or wet) which further convinces me that it is Chromolaena. Chromolaena was in full leaf while in Vietnam last fall and apparently decides to flower in December-March. No sign of flowers while there.