Bad smelling plant, Atropa or Solanum?

[Evening Glory]

Hi there,

Today I was walking with my dog, and suddenly smelled a weird smell. It was incredibly powerful and not good at all. After some sniffing I found the one responsible - some plant I think are in the Atropa or Solanum species.

Could you help me in identification of this plant? Thank you in advance.

[Chiral]

Almost looks like Lantana....that shit stinks bad too as soon as the wind blows it you get a real pungent toxic plant smell that is very noxious.

H.

[~shameless~]

I'm gonna go with -Urtica species- 'stinging nettle'

Looks alot like the ones we have here in melbourne, we class it as weed here!! (unwanted plant in most peoples gardens)

EDIT- actually it MAY not be aswell, that flower spike confuses me a little.

Edited June 18, 2009 by Mr G House aka shameless

[Evening Glory]

I agree, it does look a bit like Lantana. However, I cannot find this species mentioned as growing in my country anywhere. Secondly, it does not look exactly like Lantana, only a bit similar.

The smell is close to the smell of Stinking Nightshade, which first made me think about the Solanaceae family. It looks alot like Solanum nigrum, except the tags (is that the correct word?) of the leaves. Also, the stems of the plants I found are nearly 100 % square. Maybe they will be easier to identify when they are flowering?

[Evening Glory]

Urtica dioica? Are you crazy? It does not look like that at all, my friend! We have alot of Urtica dioica and Urtica urens here in my country, and I know very well how they look like. I collect alot of them, put them in water and let it sit for 14 days. This makes a very good all natural fertilizer that I use for all my lovely plants. You can also make soup of them, U. urens has the best taste, but unfortunately it taste a bit irony. Oh well, I am babbeling, the point is that this is far from a Urtica!

Edited June 18, 2009 by Evening Glory

[~shameless~]

^^ HAHAHA yeah ! but the leaves and stem look a little like it, i leave my post up so people can see my absolute prowess when id'ing plants,

Thanx for the info evening glory

Edit- you guys make soup out of it, interesting!!

Edited June 18, 2009 by Mr G House aka shameless

[Evening Glory]

No worries mate, thank you for your input nonetheless!

[Evening Glory]

The soup is not that good tasting, but very good for you. You can also use it as a facial mask, et cetera. Alot of uses for a weed! The best use however, is as a fertilizer. It has alot of nitrogen and alot of somewhat rare minerals, in addition to a plant hormone, which makes it great. I often mix it with some Salix alba, the Salicylic acid in it also works as a plant hormone, promoting growth. Edit: I made a quick guide on how to do this.

Anyway, back to topic: I took a quick test to see if this plant is active. As you may know, Datura/Brugmansia/Atropa/Solanum is active through the skin - this was too. I definately feel that it is active, I can however not say anything more than that. I will not try to ingest it or take it more on my skin before I know exactly what it is. In other words, this is a active Solanaceae, or some other plant that is active through the skin.

Edited June 18, 2009 by Evening Glory

[cristop]

I'm pretty sure it's not Solanaceae. The opposite toothed leaves and opposite branches on the inflorescence aren't right for that.

It could be in Scrophulariaceae.

I noticed a fly on a flower. Is it the flowers that smell bad?

[Evening Glory]

The two leaves I picked (the picture to the right) smell bad, I do not know about the flowers. Scrophulariaceae does actually look right, thank you! A quick look makes me think Scrophularia nodosa is the one - both leaves and flowers seem to be consistent with the plant I found. What about the noted activity? Was it perhaps just the bad smell that made me dizzy, in addition to a great deal of placebo? Or could it be active nonetheless?

Edit: Yep, it is definitely Scrophularia nodosa. All pictures and descriptions I have seen, including the square stem and shape of leaves, is totally consistent. It is also the only Scrophularia officially found in Norway. Thank you for your help!

I am still wondering if the plant might be active... I saw something about it being used as a medicine. I will continue investigating.

Edited June 19, 2009 by Evening Glory

[Evening Glory]

Case closed: It is not active in the sense I was hoping for, it has some uses as a analgesic and cleaning medicine. Never underestimate placebo, when I thought it had tropane alkaloids, it felt like it! ;)

Thanks for your help!

[cristop]

You're welcome. I hope there were no bad side effects from your placebo buzz!

[planthelper]

wau, you are very good id'ing, cristop!

very nice thread, i found some pharma references pointing towards this plant aswell.

[t st tantra]

related plant.......

Ningpo figwort (Scrophularia ningpoensis), also called Chinese figwort, is a perennial plant of the family Scrophulariaceae (the figwort family). It reaches 1 m by 0.4 m. Its flowers are hermaphrodite, insect-pollinated and the plant usually flowers in late spring.

Medical use

This plant is a known to Chinese medicine for as long as 2000 years. Its root is harvested in autumn in Zhejiang province and neighboring areas, then dried for later use. Taken at small doses, the root acts as a heart tonic, but large doses depress heart's functioning. It is also used internally as an antipyretic. Besides, the plant's root have diverse other medical effects, such as antibacterial and antifungal, antiphlogistic, diuretic, febrifuge, haemolytic, hypoglycaemic, restorative, sialogogue as well as vasodilator.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ningpo_figwort"

t s t .

[mutant]

Urtica dioica? Are you crazy? It does not look like that at all, my friend! smile.gif We have alot of Urtica dioica and Urtica urens here in my country, and I know very well how they look like. I collect alot of them, put them in water and let it sit for 14 days. This makes a very good all natural fertilizer that I use for all my lovely plants. You can also make soup of them, U. urens has the best taste, but unfortunately it taste a bit irony. Oh well, I am babbeling, the point is that this is far from a Urtica!

Even though I didn't like the tone of the 'Are you crazy' bit, especially since it does look a bit like Urtica, and nothing close to Atropa or any Solanum I know - but hey, I often have a weird tone myself too!

Anyways I have been wanting to know more of how Urtica can be used. Oh I see you opened up another thread... Going there to speak about nettles!