Baby Brugmansia

nav 544

I planted what i thought were Brugmansia seeds (an old unmarked packet) earlier this year and planted them out in early June, they have come into flower in the past few weeks but the flowers are minute

Do they start with small flowers and get larger as the plants develop or have i got something entirely different?

Fran IOM

Can anyone help @nav544 ?

fidgetbones

Brugmansia don't flower until they are pretty large plants. The flowers are the usual size. That doesn't look like a brugmansia.

nav 544

Thanks fidgetbones, the leaves look similar but i guess it's a different plant of the same family, i'll keep scanning google to see what i can find.

fidgetbones

I was actually looking at Codonopsis species, the flower is similar. Esp the one known as Dang shen, a chinese herb.

nav 544

Ok, it's taken an hour , but i think i've found it.

it's deadly nightshade ! but not the purple variety, it's from the same family as Brugmansia with very similar initial growth.

found this pic here 

https://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5587567#b

i didn't notice them prior, but it's the berries post flowering that help make the id.

some interesting reading on this website 

http://http//www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/atoz/atropa_belladonna.htm


an extract "For many, the star of the poison plants. Most people have heard of deadly nightshade even if they have never seen it. The combination of its ability to kill with its use to beautify by dilating the pupils gives it a romantic attraction which is hard to beat. Add to that the hallucinations it may also cause and its fascination is complete.

Its name, 'belladonna', comes from its use by Venetian women to make themselves 'beautiful ladies' by causing their pupils to dilate."

So, should I destroy it or start making some berry tea?

BobTheGardener

Good find, nav.  I was pretty sure it was in the solanum family but hadn't come across that site.  Unusual pure yellow-flowered variant by the looks of it - most seem to have some purple and green in them.