Only leaves of a perennial wild plant.

[MWP admin]

Are you familiar with the leaves of this plant? Might be a Lamiaceae and had in mind Prasium, but the latter has glossy, glabrous, hard leaves. The specimen had opposite, petiolated, pilose, soft, pliable, crenate leaves emerging from perenial light-brown stems as shown in the pics below. Also, the plant must be decidious.

TNX

[IL-PINE]

I don't know why but reminds me of Veronica. could be anything ifhem

[robcar]

I do not know why but I am not able to see the photo accompanying this post (the same with the post about Salix pedicillata)

[robcar]

Issa dehret... nahseb il pc tieghi xi ftit ghajjien.. i do not know what it is but identification without flowers is too difficult for me

[MWP admin]

Robcar, you have to be logged in to see the photos. This encorages members to register

Do not worry Pine/Robcar, nobody have gave me a confirmed answer. The thing is that in the back of my mind, I think I(/we) have encountered this plant.

BTW, it was slightly aromatic so that why I placed my thoughts on a Mint. I'll give a check on Veronica too.


Thanks.

[ROLCAM]

IL- PINE

Which Veronica would you suggest out of this list ?

Veronica Plants :-

Veronica alpina
Veronica austriaca
Veronica austriaca ssp. teucrium
Veronica daubneyi
Veronica gentianoides
Veronica incana
Veronica kuisiana
Veronica longifolia
Veronica montana
Veronica pectinata
Veronica peduncularis
Veronica prostrata
Veronica repens
Veronica spicata
Veronica teucrium
Veronica x

[RB]

MWP, I think that it is LIKELY to be P. majus. Was this growing in a shaded position? I think that under these conditions and especially when the plant is very actively growing, the leaves/stems are rather 'softer" than one would expect from this plant. Late spring/summer, the growth become thicker and more succulent, waxy, as a means to prepare for the lack of water during the summer to come. Many plants adapt in this way and almost have 2 types of leaves depending on the season, which look considerably different.

I am basing this presumption because I have one of these just like in your pic, growing in a shady spot "uninvited" sharing a pot with another plant. In the vicinity, is a P. majus growing in full sun, so I assume that is where the seeds came from.

Incidentally trying to propagate P.m. intentionally from seed, I did not have any luck

RB

[RB]

Taking a second look at the pics, the surroundings are distinctly green with algae so I would tend to think that this is a shady, north-facing spot.

There does not seem to be any option in Weber's so I'd safely say P. m. but be interested if it were not. Where is JP?

RB

[MWP admin]

Yes very shady (not even 1 minute of direct sunlight!) I agree about several assumptions related to prasium except the pilosity. The texture/colour/size of leaves can change to some extent with different env conditions or growth phase, but I do not think that the same can happen for the pilosity as this is something genetical. Apart from this detail, like you, I can only place Parsium for the shape of the leaves. However I am not familiar with all Lamiaceae reported on Malta. Marrubium, Melissa, Mentha (not pulegium), etc.

Important Question - does your small plants of PM have/had pilose leaves and stems?

Pine: Have not checked yet but I am against Veronica becasue this plant was slightly aromatic. I recall (if not mistaken) that Veronicas do not have a scent as many members of the Scrophularia family. Also are they usually annuals? Nevertheless, the leaves of Veronica polita are strikingly similar

[IL-PINE]

It just reminded me of that.... most probably it is a Lamiaceae, but just had this instinctive idea.

boq

[RB]

Important Question - does your small plants of PM have/had pilose leaves and stems?

If you are referring to the one in the pot, it is exactly like the one in your pic. It's not really small at all, in fact it has been there for some years now, and it never sees any direct sunlight.

I would not necessarily give much importance to the pilosity aspect, those little hairs may well be the first feature to "go" when the plant prepares for summer.

The plant you picture, as is mine, is most definitely a long lived perennial which may lose most of it's leaves by mid-late summer, and grows to a good size, mine puts out stems up to 4ft long so that is something to consider for ID purposes, this is not a little annual or biennial.

Unfortunately what complicates matters is that in the shade this plant is unlikely to produce any flowers... on the other hand this is an indicator that it is growing in the "wrong" place and thus other aspects of it's growth may be different.

RB

[MWP admin]

Thanks to all,

So it seems nothing important.