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Author Topic: ID for plant please  (Read 2033 times)

Heather Smith

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ID for plant please
« on: August 07, 2008, 08:31:29 PM »
This plant was found and photographed by a friend of mine in the Vosges Mountains in France. I cannot identify it and would appreciate help. Sorry the pics are rather big. Not sure how that happened.   ??? Thanks.

Claude writes: "This plant was not too high in the mountains (between 500 and 600 metres high)

It's not a shrub and the height is between 80 centimetres and 1 metre.
 
I took the picture along a small road leading to the mountain.... There were rocks behind and the pictures were taken two days ago....
 
One more information : the flowers have a pleasant smell like jasmine but not so strong".















ruweiss

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Re: ID for plant please
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2008, 10:02:58 PM »
Maybe a young specimen of the Alpine Elder,Sambucus racemosa.
Rudi
Rudi Weiss,Waiblingen,southern Germany,
climate zone 8a,elevation 250 m

Maggi Young

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Re: ID for plant please
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2008, 10:54:03 PM »
looks like a sambucus, but not sure about racemosa     :-\
 Those dark stamens should tell us!!
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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WimB

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Re: ID for plant please
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2008, 10:53:46 AM »
It's probably Sambucus ebulus: Danewort or Dwarf Elder. According to myth it only grows on the battlefields were the danes fought and springs from their blood.

Poisonous and the leaves have a smell that is not very pleasant.
Wim Boens - Secretary VRV (Flemish Rock Garden Society) - Seed exchange manager Crocus Group
Wingene Belgium zone 8a

Flemish Rock Garden society (VRV): http://www.vrvforum.be/
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Maggi Young

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Re: ID for plant please
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2008, 04:21:19 PM »
Good suggestion, Wim.  But did many Danes die in the Vosges?? ::) ??? I must look to history, I think :-\
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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SueG

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Re: ID for plant please
« Reply #5 on: August 08, 2008, 04:53:03 PM »
Good suggestion, Wim.  But did many Danes die in the Vosges?? ::) ??? I must look to history, I think :-\
The Byzantine emperors in Constantinople had the Varangrian Guard which was made up of Scandanavians, Anglo-saxons and Russians so they (the Danes) traveled widely!

Also many of the known boats from Scandanavia at that period (early middle ages) have very shallow drafts which would have made them suitable for river travel as well as the open sea, so if the Vosages is anywhere near a major river system they may have made it there.

The alternative version of the legend is that the Danes planted it on the graves of their countrymen. Who might have died peacefully, in their beds, of old age, with their loving families around them.  ;D  ;D

The legend is suspiciously like a victorian invention - you know, lets recreate our myth of merrie olde england/scotland/wales etc and our valient defense against a nasty foe, real or imaginary. Sounds like a plant needing a legend . . .

Grieves' Herbal says it's called Hičble in french and Attichwurzel in german - no mention of dead danes there.  ;)

Sue


Sue Gill, Northumberland, UK

WimB

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Re: ID for plant please
« Reply #6 on: August 08, 2008, 06:26:36 PM »
It is probably a "nationalistic" invention indeed. The Danes were the vikings that went to England, so it is maybe logical that it's only in English that it is called Danewort.

In dutch it is called "kruidvlier" = "herbal elder" so no mention of dead or living Danes here too.
Wim Boens - Secretary VRV (Flemish Rock Garden Society) - Seed exchange manager Crocus Group
Wingene Belgium zone 8a

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Maggi Young

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Re: ID for plant please
« Reply #7 on: August 08, 2008, 06:54:28 PM »
Isn't it strange how these common names come about..... adds an interesting  dimension to plant history.
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

Editor: International Rock Gardener e-magazine

Heather Smith

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Re: ID for plant please
« Reply #8 on: August 08, 2008, 07:22:09 PM »
Thanks folks! :)

Claude says Sambucus ebulus fits perfectly. One pic I forgot showed the fruit as ripening to black (left that out just to test you, of course). He says 'thank you' for the help.

 


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