Solved Exotic looking plant thriving in London suburb

Hi

Can anyone identify this plant with the long stems and the trailing catkin like flowers. It is perennial, it has been growing for years and so is hardy, it is in London. It flowers every year without fail. The owner of the garden doesn't know what it is. The photo was taken today.

I like it. I want one!

Howard

 

Odd looking thing.
Dont have a clue myself.
Any chance of a closeup?

 

Any chance of a picture of the plant itself ? ( leaves etc ). To me it looks like a couple of bendy canes with millet tied to them.

 

Interesting.
Could it be Carex pendula?

See link below...try cutting a stem..is it triangular?

http://frontierbushcraft.com/2014/09/23/carex-pendula-pendulous-sedge-crumble/

 

A carex is a good idea but I don't think the leaves are like monocots, from memory they're not sword shaped. And obviously the flower stems are huge. But I'll try to check tomorrow, and try to get a photo. It's not in my garden so impossible to see whether the stem has a triangular cross section.

 

From the pic it looks like there is one stem covered in leaves?

 

Oh yes you may be right, though I suspect those leaves belong to a different plant, I will check tomorrow.

It's interesting that everyone is so stumped. I took a photo to a large garden centre in London, with some plant "connoisseurs", and they too had seen nothing like it. They did say that they thought it would be very marketable. It's obviously quite a rarity.

 

Nearest I can get is Amaranthus caudatus Emerald Tassels

http://cdn1.johnnyseeds.com/images/Product/large/1786.jpg

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Amaranthus+caudatus+'Emerald+Tassels'&rlz=1C1GNAM_en-GBGB687GB687&biw=1920&bih=964&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiB67nojcLPAhVED8AKHaOiBzcQ_AUIBigB

or Amaranthus Green tails.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=A...ved=0ahUKEwjiop2sj8LPAhVDzxQKHWQ3BNsQ_AUIBygC

https://www.adaptiveseeds.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/p-8682-flower_amaranth_green_tails1.jpg

Neither seem to match your pics.!

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/85210/

 

I think it looks great....I'd love one!

 

I'd guess a Carex with the leaves being from a different plant...Carex though is clump forming, hmm.
Beware that Carex pendula can grow too well if in the right site:
http://www.hegartywebberpartnership.com/dont-sell-dont-buy-carex-pendula/

 

This is really bothering me.
There appear to be 3 long canes...one with leaves..as Pete spotted.....2 are bare...very odd.
It looks so very tall..3m? A sort of bare cane with lots of tassels.

Any chance of the height approx and close ups of the dangly bits.

Ask the owner very nicely and maybe you can get pics of where it comes out of the ground/basal leaves etc.

 

The canes without leaves have brownish (faded?) flowers, and the cane with leaves have green flowers. I'll try to get a close up of the flowers tomorrow. Photos of the leaves at the base attached. I would say the canes are about 2m long, maybe slightly more.

The flower stems are not triangular.

 

I see what you mean. You reckon those little compound leaves are from the same plant as the flowers? They are serrated?
There's also what looks like a papyrus leaf there, but those big flower stems don't look like papyrus flowers either (which kinda look like the leaves), and which in any case is a sedge.
The mystery deepens...

 

After giving up on this I had another go!
Phew...think I have got it! Feeling very confident this time!

Datisca cannabina.
Comes with either female flowers OR male flowers.
Flowers in September.
Beth Chatto advertise it.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Datisca+cannabina.&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjS35Dcr9jPAhXiB8AKHRBhAgwQ_AUICCgB&biw=1525&bih=710#imgrc=fHY7IoUiUV2SKM:

http://gardeninggonewild.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Datisca-cannabina-Oct-4-08.jpg

https://www.dekleineplantage.nl/pdbimages/400/271_1.jpg

http://www.specialplants.net/shop/images/products/large/4/datisca_cannabina.jpg

http://www.bethchatto.co.uk/c-d/datisca/datisca-cannabina.htm

http://botanyphoto.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/images/2012/datisca-cannabina2.jpg

Compare the leaves at base of the canes to this....

http://www.phytoimages.siu.edu/imgs/paraman1/r/Datiscaceae_Datisca_cannabina_5920.html

More here....


http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Datisca+cannabina

Quote...."Datisca cannabina is a PERENNIAL growing to 1.8 m (6ft) by 1 m (3ft 3in).
It is hardy to zone (UK) 8. It is in flower in September, and the seeds ripen in October. The flowers are dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required)The plant is not self-fertile.
Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers moist soil."

http://www.plant-world-seeds.com/store/view_seed_item/376

Quote..."Quite an incredible plant for the back of the border, we had never previously heard of this plant or family! Tall, strong, fabulous, arching, cane-like stems sprout large, pendulous, terminal sprays of creamy-yellow-green flowers, and are clad in palmate leaves resembling the famous drug! This is perhaps the tallest herbaceous perennial you can grow, and is yet another reliable "baffle-the-expert" plant."

 

Excellent. Thank you. They clearly thrive in neutral clayish soil, in a location which gets morning sun, London so rarely extremely cold, but it has certainly seen and survived the deep snows we had about six years ago now.

I shall plant some in the spring if I can get the plants.