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Good guy Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 11 Feb 2013 Posts: 2593 Location: Donegal
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 10:57 pm Post subject: Help with identification, please |
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I found this plant growing on the spectacular cliff tops at Cape St Vincent, Portugal several years ago and I brought home a small cutting which, as you can see, has prospered. I'd like to know what it is.
It was growing in profusion, in dense mats on almost bare limestone pavement. It's flowers were mostly withered but seemed to have been daisy-like with many narrow petals and to have been yellow. They were not unlike mesembryanthemum flowers. i thought originally it was hottentot fig (which I know can be invasive in some sites) because it's leaves were much skinnier in the wild but I now see there is no resemblance.
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kindredspirit Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood

Joined: 10 Nov 2008 Posts: 2300 Location: Mid-west.
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tagwex Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood

Joined: 23 Feb 2010 Posts: 5188 Location: Co. Wexford
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:32 am Post subject: |
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You could call it Vera GG!
_________________ “It’s my field. It’s my child. I nursed it. I nourished it. I saw to its every want. I dug the rocks out of it with my bare hands and I made a living thing of it!”
This boy can really sing http://youtu.be/Dgv78D2duBE |
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Sue Deacon Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood

Joined: 31 Dec 2014 Posts: 2029 Location: West Fermanagh
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 10:19 am Post subject: |
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Although it looks like an Aloe, the 'daisy' flowers don't fit. I think most Aloes have clusters of tubular shaped flowers on long stems.
This is one for Silver surfer
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Good guy Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 11 Feb 2013 Posts: 2593 Location: Donegal
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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It's definitely not an aloe - Sue is right, there. Another thing, although its growth seems clustered in this pot, in the wild it spreads by extending 'chains' of fleshy stem with rosettes of leaves. You can see the beginning of this on its left. What look like grey marks on the leaves is builder's dust - it was outside until recently!
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Margo Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 11 Oct 2010 Posts: 1984 Location: Summerhill Mayo Ireland
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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If it wasn't so thorny on the end I would have said its a Hottentot Fig.
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Ado 2 Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 15 May 2015 Posts: 1204 Location: Dublin
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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I think Agave
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Good guy Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 11 Feb 2013 Posts: 2593 Location: Donegal
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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I've realised the leaf doesn't have the equilateral-triangle cross section of the hott. fig. And I think the aloes all carry their flowers on tall spikes - the flowers being kind of bell shaped, rather than daisy-like.
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tagwex Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood

Joined: 23 Feb 2010 Posts: 5188 Location: Co. Wexford
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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Isn't agave a constituent of tequila? Portugal???
_________________ “It’s my field. It’s my child. I nursed it. I nourished it. I saw to its every want. I dug the rocks out of it with my bare hands and I made a living thing of it!”
This boy can really sing http://youtu.be/Dgv78D2duBE |
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Sue Deacon Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood

Joined: 31 Dec 2014 Posts: 2029 Location: West Fermanagh
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 11:25 pm Post subject: |
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Ok I give up! I have found loads of photo's of similar looking plants and several pictures of succulents with daisy flowers - just not the two together! It's got me beat!
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Good guy Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 11 Feb 2013 Posts: 2593 Location: Donegal
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 12:14 am Post subject: |
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I know! So many of them look similar. And it might well be a garden escapee and not be Portugese at all. Oh to be a botanist!
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kindredspirit Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood

Joined: 10 Nov 2008 Posts: 2300 Location: Mid-west.
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:39 am Post subject: |
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Has your one flowered here yet, Good Guy?
Or did it only flower in Portugal?
The flower points it towards Mesembryanthemums but the prickles on the leaves points it towards Scrambling Aloes. Maybe it was born on the wrong side of the railway tracks?
_________________ .
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A little garden in Co. Limerick. Some non-gardening photographs. |
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