Penguin Droppings

By gen2

Please, Does Anyone Know? = Tolmiea menziesii

I have been unable to (can now) identify this plant found growing in local woods (Fife). I can't find it in my wild-flower books and Google has drawn a blank (until now).  It may be (is) a garden escape.

I would appreciate any suggestions.

The main blip is a side view of a single flower.  In the 'extras' is a front view and a composite showing a) the whole raceme, b) the leaf, and c) the habitat where it was growing en-masse.


Description:

Leaves palmate, lobed and toothed. Most within 6 inches of the woodland floor. Smaller ones on the flower stem.

Flowers grow from the stem in a tall raceme reaching up to two feet high.
The flowers appear at first to be brown but are green with red veins.
The obvious 'petals' are probably really sepals. 5 of them - one large, two medium and two small fused into a tubular calyx that is split along its lower side.
There are 4 thread-like growths (probably the real petals) that curve upwards from between the sepals (except between the two smallest on the underside.
There are three stamens bearing orange pollen.
There are two carpels, one above the other and fused at the base. The lower one protrudes through the split in the calyx. Their styles diverge in a vertical plane.
No scent that I could detect.

Thank you for any help that you can give. Thank you for trying if you spent time on this.

[EDIT] (two days later)
I eventually tracked it down on Google after narrowing it down to being a member of the saxifrage family..
It is Tolmiea menziesii and is native to the NW US and Canada so here it is an invasive garden escape.
Its common names are youth on age, pick-a-back-plant, piggyback plant, and thousand mothers.

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.