[steve_nova]

Can anyone familiar with this plant give me the genus or especially the species name please. All I can surmise from the characters are that it is likely to be in the Helianthus section of the daisy family, possibly in the genus Bidens though I can find no species similar.
It is quite robust and hairy with toothed diamond/triangular shaped leaves often bronzing towards the margin.
The habit is somewhat sprawling and it is perfectly hardy dying back each year. It is about 8-10 inches in height and can double this across.

It's been bugging me for some time now,
Cheers.

[steve_nova]

Ignore the Mecanopsis cambrica (Welsh Poppy) leaves to the extreme left.
The plant for ident has it's leaves in pairs too.

[Adey Baker]

Well, I can't find anything in either my wild or garden flower books!

I did find one bidens in a seed catalogue with broader petals but the leaves were completely different.

Incidentally, there are several Hypericums with 5 more or less pointed yellow petals but the wild flower book that I've got, the well known Fitter/Fitter/Blamey 'Wild Flowers of Britain and N. Europe', doesn't have Hypericums listed in their yellow/pointed flower 'key' at the start of the book! No wonder I had difficulty finding the 'Pink Oxalis' that I put in another thread - in fact I've had similar problems before with this 'highly recommended' book!

[Michael Frankis]

Definitely in the Asteraceae (presume you knew that anyway!), safe to rule Hypericum out. But sorry, I've no idea beyond that what it is

Michael

[Curly]

Originally Posted by steve_nova

Can anyone familiar with this plant give me the genus or especially the species name please. All I can surmise from the characters are that it is likely to be in the Helianthus section of the daisy family, possibly in the genus Bidens though I can find no species similar.
It is quite robust and hairy with toothed diamond/triangular shaped leaves often bronzing towards the margin.
The habit is somewhat sprawling and it is perfectly hardy dying back each year. It is about 8-10 inches in height and can double this across.

It's been bugging me for some time now,
Cheers.

It could be a dwarf variety of Hypericum, or a rockery variety of Verbascum - V Letitia.

[steve_nova]

Thanks all, as Michael has said, I already know that it's a member of the Asteraceae and even that it's almost certainly a member of the New World Heliantheae tribe within the family (leaves almost always in pairs), it's just that I can get no further. i would love to know the genus and species.

Thanks all for trying so far.

[SleepyLizard]

I thought it looked a little like Geum urbanum - (Wood Avens) [family Rosacea]

The flowers and leaves can be quite variable.

http://www-biol.paisley.ac.uk/bioref/Genetics/geum.html

[steve_nova]

Hi Alan, I can see why you think that as the flowers do have a superficial resemblence but I a very familiar with this geum and know plenty of places to find it in woods nearby.
When you look very closely (I should have done a macro shot) you can see the tiny individual five petalled flowers that make up this composite flower.
Interesting to see the hybrids between the two species of geum on that link of yours.

Cheers.

[steve_nova]

I have just gone out of my back door and taken this closeup of the flower head showing the five petalled individual flowers that make up the "false flower".

[steve_nova]

Eureka!

[SleepyLizard]

Fantastic - glad you found it. I had assumed it was growing wild - was it????

[steve_nova]

Hi Alan, no, it's a cultivated plant growing in my garden (should have perhaps made that a bit clearer in my first post).
I am releived to have to found it as I like to know the name of all in my garden (including birds of course!)

Cheers!

[Silver]

Originally Posted by steve_nova

Hi Alan, I can see why you think that as the flowers do have a superficial resemblence but I a very familiar with this geum and know plenty of places to find it in woods nearby.
When you look very closely (I should have done a macro shot) you can see the tiny individual five petalled flowers that make up this composite flower.
Interesting to see the hybrids between the two species of geum on that link of yours.

Cheers.

Wow! Having just joined this forum, I didn't expect to find a link to my own page! (The Geum one).
Thanks for the mention.

Yes, the mystery plant looks like a Bidens to me too, but not one I know.

[Yernagates]

Originally Posted by steve_nova

Eureka!

Steve -

I don't think the Chrysogonum virginianum is quite it -- the leaf and flower shapes are not close enough for me. Perhaps a related species, or as others have suggested, an Inula of some kind.

As you say, it is certainly a composite in the paired-leaf group.

[Nina P]

Now I was going to suggest a wild flower site on the web, one where I can get ID's easily enough, so if anyone in Britain is looking for wild flower ID's try:-
www.british-wild-flowers.co.uk/ They are great at ID and if they haven't got a picture then send them an email asking them to help, you may find they ask you for the use of your picture if not already up there, and you get the kudos for it!
I have been searching in the wildflower books (tomes) when I needed the garden RHS tome! DUH!!