Can anyone tell me what this is? The packet said Protea :(

[eddieallen]

Howdy all,

I'll get straight in with my first post. Bought a pack of seeds in Madeira marked Protea with a picture of a king Protea on the front.

After nearly 18 months of trying to get anything to grow this has sprung up this year - although the recent bad weather has nearly ruined it again.

Does anyone have an idea of what it is? Does a Protea start out like this? It seems to have millions of small pink buds growing on it - if they're tiny flowers they are indeed miniscule.

Help

[img]https://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g321/Eddie_Allen/P1010303.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g321/Eddie_Allen/P1010300.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g321/Eddie_Allen/P1010301.jpg[/img]

[DoubleDogFarm]

Look up Dock weed and tell use what you think.


Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Quinoa?
Spinach, swiss chard and beets are related.


Eric

[!potatoes!]

does look like a chenopodium of some sort. right leaves, right kind of seed cluster. can you break up some of the seed head and get a pic of the seeds? (might need a macro- function on your camera)...

[eddieallen]

Look up Dock weed and tell use what you think.


Eric

Hi Eric, This was one of the options on a google reverse image search. I'm still holding out for the glimmer of hope that someone didn't sell me a bag of weeds. I'm probably grasping at straws here but the Dock weed leaf shape doesn't really look the same as what's in my garden and it also seems to produce a bigger flower than what I can see.

The Quinoa might be a good call though - the leaves look somewhat similar. At least if I did get sold a pack of duds - I get some health food out of it!

Appreciate your efforts

[eddieallen]

does look like a chenopodium of some sort. right leaves, right kind of seed cluster. can you break up some of the seed head and get a pic of the seeds? (might need a macro- function on your camera)...

Sorry !potatoes! no macro on this camera so here's the best I can do. this is about 3cm in length to aid with scale. oh and the stem too.

[img]https://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g321/Eddie_Allen/P1010304.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g321/Eddie_Allen/P1010306.jpg[/img]

hope this helps but I think youmight be right with Chenopodium

[eddieallen]

Well with a bit more diggin on the internet I think it's a Chenopodium rubrum.

Apparantly a Eurasian weed although it's classed as rare - shall I just dig it up and plant something new whilst learning a "buying random seeds abroad" lesson?

[DoubleDogFarm]

https://www.nature-diary.co.uk/2005-09-24a.htm


Eric

[!potatoes!]

I'd probably eat the greens at least, and probably dabble with the seed heads...but that's just me.