Horta

[orflo]

I doubt if it's a dandelion, the leaves sure do look like it, but the growing habit differs:dandelion makes a rosette of leaves(and eventually flowers) 'on' the ground, and these seem to have a small stem (or do I see it wrong), I never saw a dandelion with a stem. Dandelions flower mostly in springtime, and they form their seed even before flowering. The flowers are mostly yellow, even the cultivated one have these yellow flowers, however there are a few whitish and even yellow-orange types.I just read your last post again:3 foot high???No dandelion will do that, try the chicory family or even diplotaxis, but the last one remains lower as well,
Frank

[Volvo]

Yep, had a squizz/search through Chicory but no satisfaction there yet either?? ..
Will keep searching....

[bcday]

My best guess is some type of leafy cardoon. Cardoon has been known in Greece and nearby countries for hundreds of years as a cooked green and a salad green. The mature plants I've seen pics of have leaves that are much more finely dissected than the plants in your pics. But the leaves of young plants are hardly dissected at all, so if your plants are young ones, maybe cardoon is what you have.

Hm -- found another source that says the cardoon leaves are spiny. Guess that's not it.

[orflo]

This is the closest I found:
http://thebegavalley.org.au/uploads/...04_chicory.jpg
but it's not really the same as your pictures...the search continues,
Frank

[bcday]

It seems that there are both spiny and spineless varieties of Cardoon available. Still not sure if that's what you have, though. Check this pic out (disregard the phlox and petunias blooming at the foot of the plant):

http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/71491-product.html

[bcday]

Volvo, do you have any seeds left? What do they look like?

Do the plants have milky sap?

Might have to wait until it blooms and see what the flowers look like.

I agree that it's not dandelion. I have dandelions growing everywhere around here and they would never grow that tall. Dandelion is a low-growing rosette of leaves that lay almost flat. The center leaves may stand somewhat upright, but the base of each leaf is still at ground level, not attached to a tall central stem as shown in Volvo's pics.

I have chicory here too and it doesn't look like that either.

[orflo]

I don't think it is a cardoon,I had both spineless and other, quite a bit of varieties are around, the growing habit is different, they really grow wide and huge (over 7 ft). The chicory family has a lot of variability, lots of selections have been made from wild cultivars. Some are making crops, some are closer to the wild form and grow a stem with leaves and eventually flowers. I was going to ask the same question: any seeds left, is it possible to photograph them?
Frank

[Volvo]

Will try sus out any seed and take a Pic to upload next time we visist the source we got the seeds from??..
Must say again the lady who originaly gave the seed had the whole plant with its seed heads attatched hanging upside down under her Pargolar if thats any info to go by .....
One main reason i need the name is for forwarding seed onto others and will need its name as well as Botanical name...
Just obtained an Asian website JUST INCASE what i'm looking for is listed there??...
Cheers

[Volvo]

orflo, any chance of you uploading a Pic of the cardoon variety that you mentioned grows the wide leaf??..
Cheers

[Volvo]

Just checked the variety that bcday uploaded and "NUP", definetly different..

[orflo]

Here's the cardoon, as you can see, different from the 'horta' pics(the picture dates from spring last year, the plant is still small). This is intruiging , I want to find out myself,
Frank

[orflo]

Here's a pic of dandelion seed (hope this works, you have to give a username and password,easily done :
http://seeds.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/root/As...um/officinale/
(click on the pictures to make them bigger)
and this is wild chicory:
http://seeds.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/root/As...&File=1919.jpg

[cottonpicker]

volvo...... I continue to be intrigued by this mystery vegetable. Could it be a type of "wild arugula"??? For an example check out:
www.growitalian.com Then, click on arugula & scroll down to Wild Arugula #115..Rucula Sylvetta.

EDITED: To ADD: For better photo of Wild Arugula, check out www.gourmetseed.com

How does this photo compare with yours?
LarryD

[Raymondo]

Volvo, If the plant you saw that was hanging drying had a flower stalk with flowers along its length, then it isn't a dandelion. I've been staring at the pic you posted and I now think it's a chicory. There are many, many varieties of chicory.

[bcday]

Volvo, did you check for milky white sap?