Plant ID?

[herbal_hindsight]

Hi all,

A friend of mine had this pop up in her garden bed randomly and neither of us have any clue as to what it may be ?

Any ideas?

Thanks

[space cadet swami]

looks like a native tobacco bush (pest) ... or maybe a brugmansia.

[herbal_hindsight]

hmmm they both look similiar from some google images i just looked up but im not certain.... other plants that also look similiar are thickhead weed or tamarillo ?

but im not convinced it's them either???

[ghosty]

i second the native tobacco. though it aint tobacco and is rather poisonous i believe. is it hairy? i dont see anything eating it, just like that pest "tobacco".

[herbal_hindsight]

ok after a bit of research.... it seems native tobacco is found in nearly all states and territories in Australia, except for Victoria which is where this is located. Now I am well aware this could have changed, however based on the climate is it likely?

I guess once it grows large enough and goes to flower we will be more certain

[herbal_hindsight]

"It occurs throughout mid-latitude mainland Australia, but not in the tropical north, nor in the cooler, wetter, southwest and southeast corners. It thus occurs in every mainland state except Victoria."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_tobacco

[space cadet swami]

but not in the tropical north

incorrect info...I'm in the north & the King Parrots spread the seed everywhere.

If the leaves aren't hairy, I would put my money on a brug...the native tobacco tends also to be a lighter green.

[herbal_hindsight]

ahh well no surprise there it was from wikipedia after all ;-)

as far as i can tell the leaves aren't hairy so i'm thinking brug too!

[CβL]

It looks a little bit like Woolly Nightshade (non-native tobacco plant) too. But as you say the leaves aren't hairy - so it won't be that. There's another weedy plant that it looks similar to, but I don't know the name of (it has multiple small flowers on a stalk, I think they might be yellow [it's not Mullein]).

Edited April 8, 2013 by CβL

[gerbil]

More than likely it is Solanum mauritianum, especially given it is in Melbourne (which is the information given at davesgarden).

It would be highly likely there is a large Solanum mauritianum present next door or nearby, and if not there is a strong potential it will be coming from a relatively local or further off watercourse via birds etc. which in Melbourne we are all well in proximity to.

I think you are getting confused by searching 'native tobacco'. Nicotiana occidentalis is not the one and only 'native tobacco' it's a common name and common names really mean zilch, 'native tobacco' can be any species of native Nicotiana, or any other species, native or not, dubbed 'native tobacco' even if they are not Nicotiana.

Victoria/Melbourne is jammed with S. mauritianum, and even on the 'native tobacco' front of true Nicotiana species, we have indigenous species present like Nicotiana suaveolens in melbourne. (this is not N. suaveolens)

If you whack the first suggestion of 'native tobacco bush' into google, first hits are S. mauritianum.

I primarily know it as tree tobacco and the first time I have heard it called Native Tobacco Bush is from Space Cadet 101's post. Given google spits out S. mauritianum, it seems a lot of people widely call it this.

Common names are confusing, and if possble it is always better to use the proper botanical listing.

From the diagnostic features I can barely make out from the fairly non-descript photo, hairy apical stems, characteristic axillary shoots, i'd go with the multiple suggestions of the multiple common names in this thread and ID it as S. mauritianum.

Not to say it definitely is that, but i'd put most of my time into looking at that species.

'as far as i can tell the leaves aren't hairy so i'm thinking brug too!'

To ID it, you need to actually take into account the actual physical characteristics, 'as far as i can tell' isn't really appropriate for ID :D (not trying to be a smart arse)

edit: and brugs in my limited experience have different stem/leaf hairs to S. mauritianum, the brugs are more like persistant hairs that are hard to rub off whereas the latter will be more of a noxious powder coating easily rubbed off. Without going into taxonomic descriptions, maybe try that.

Edited April 9, 2013 by gerbil

[space cadet swami]

http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/documents/Biosecurity_EnvironmentalPests/IPA-Wild-Tobacco-PP104.pdf

Sorry for the wrong terminology on the "wild tobacco bush"...where I am, it is everywhere & is simply known as "tobacco bush". excuse my error in refering to it as "native", when in actual fact it doesn't even originate from OZ.

When they are juvenile they tend to be a darker green then what they are when they mature into a tree. They are a member of the "Solanaceae" family, as also are the brugs & grow with pretty much the same characteristics.

[tarenna]

Agree on the Solanum mauritianum ID.

[tarenna]

Tobacco bush is the common name round these parts. Although an exotic it is a good nursery species for rainforest reforestation/revegetation.

[ghosty]

im not one to give a sh*t about where it occurs LOL like so many snakes i see around the bush that are found hundreds of km's out of their known range. just like plants. i have seen shitloads of green tree pythons (awesome reptiles) round the logan river bushlands and they cant be found there either. the list goes on. i seen amystine pythons up mt glorious HEAPS of times and they cant be found there, also well over 10 meters, but they only grow to about 8.5m... LOL it seems, nothing i read is right these days. perhaps the info i read is "made in australia" =P plants are just as diverse in their habititat and will elvolve to meet a possible new environment anytime they get the chance to. nature, after all loves to build on her existing complexity =) im sticking with native "tobacco" on this one.