Not seeing a picture, I'm afraid.

Sorry about that. I tried but am new to this and it must not have worked the first time. Thank you for commenting

Ah ok well many thanks indeed. I have another here which i saw on

the same day, just in case you know that too

Tamsin

Have a look at Gomphocarpus physocarpus (African milkweed). One of the food plants for the Monarch Butterfly, in Australia. They prefer this, and another alien, over the native milkweeds.

Fof

It has a more vulgar common name than African Milkweed ;-) Its also not native to Portugal. I've seen it growing in Madeira where the Monarch also lives. I didn't know there were Monarchs in Oz.

Yes exactly. Wonderful. Thank you very much

He, he. Never heard it by any of those names.

Yes, the Monarch is quite common on the east coast. G. physocarpus and another Asclepia from the Caribbean are chosen in preference to the native spps.

Thefof, you have naturalized Asclepias nivea growing over there? Never heard about that. It's the only Caribbean Asclepias species that I know of.

dying to know the 'other' name! The G. physocarpus was in someone's garden, but the Pokeweed was in the wild and I saw it growing in many places along the Portuguese Camino between Porto and Santiago de Compostella. I will share my blog when it's finished and add thanks to you both :)

Hairy balls milkweed. There is a cultivar called 'Family Jewels'. Apologies to any I've offended with my vulgarity haha.

If you call it that enough times it loses its impact, and I guess for all the serious butterfly gardeners it rolls off the tongue a lot easier than saying Gomphocarpus physocarpus. Not a big deal in the big picture.

Don't know why everyone gravitates to calling it hairy balls. It doesn't feel right calling it swan or balloon milkweed either. It's a very pinpoint accurate description and there's no question what plant is being talked about when you use that name. About the nivea?

You can just think of them as hairy balls in an innocent and playful way. They could be tennis balls or ping pong balls. Coined as 'hairy' like so many plants are.

The one we see most often in Oz is the South African Gomphocarpus fruticosus, which has more oval fruit than round, and is commonly called "swan plant" here. (We are a cultured people ;>O). I have hundreds of them all over my 100 acres, and yes, the Monarchs are everywhere, almost like locust swarms in summer. They also enjoy the equally weedy blue heliotrope, Heliotropium amplexicaule.

Haha shax. Do you ever see any wooly cape milkweed, Gomphocarpus cancellatus, around your area? The other 2 species seem to be running rampant there? Plants in Aclepiadoideae never made it to Australia?

Edit: Asclepiadoideae made it to Australia.

Sarcolobus vittatus, Australia.

Don't need no more stinkin' foreign weeds here. Already have more than enough...

Broad-leaved cotton bush (Gomphocarpus cancellatus) is an environmental weed in South Australia. This species, which is the larval food plant of the wanderer butterfly (Danaus plexippus), has been cultivated as a garden ornamental in the temperate regions of Australia. It has escaped cultivation and is now a common environmental
weed of the Adelaide region.Broad-leaved cotton bush (Gomphocarpus cancellatus) is mainly a weed of waste places, but has also invaded numerous conservation areas in south-eastern South Australia...

Tamsin, Pokeweed is widely naturalised in Portugal. That's why you were seeing it 'in the wild'.

Jay 6a

I cannot recall which spp it was. I came across this a couple of months back, when I was searching for info on Monarchs in Oz, and yes there are native Aclepiadoideae.

This story about the introduction of Monarchs ("flying weeds") and their food source to Australia may be of interest. And some stunning pics included...

Flying Weeds

shaxhome.

BINGO!!!

You saved me trawling again to find the reference I had seen. That was where I saw it.

Jay 6a

Asclepias curassavica (Syn: A. nivea var. curassavica) is found all down the East coast.

A. curassavica

Thank you for pointing that out. I think most everyone over here including myself thought that curassavica was a seperate species. It's always just referred as plain A. curassavica. There is quite a difference in flower color. I love the straight species nivea tho. var. curassavica is so common now. And so is you know what.maybe it's not just the flowers that are different?

the first.. the pokeweed is rather poisonous in all aspects .... especially its pretty grape like berries which might attract children ...

with a couple hours of cooking.. you can eat the tender shoots... and i will leave it to you if that interests you ..

but.. the biggest problem is its HUGE roots.. which are hard to kill ... it will take a lot of digging .. more with each year you leave it ... it is perennial ...if you miss any part.. it will come back.. and you will be digging again ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=pokeweed+roots&t=ffcm&ia=images&iax=images

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=pokeweed+poisoning&t=ffcm&ia=web

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=pokeweed+poisoning&t=ffcm&iax=images&iar=images&ia=images

I don't think the OP is going to be going back to weed the Camino, Ken.

Yes I guessed it was poisonous. If it's like horseradish then no-one will ever really get rid if it! It was mostly in out of the way places and the majority of my fellow walkers didnt seem to be interested. I spent a couple of months in Portugal, but no I will be honest I didn't do any weeding!

Can I

give you another one? (I have a bit of a backlog if I am honest) also Portugal

Another poisonous one! Lycianthes rantonnetii, previously Solanum rantonnetii.

Thank you veru

Very much!

This one with the beautiful curly parts? Honestly i did spend ages looking myself :(

and this ?

Sorry, palms are definitely not my area :-(

A wild guess would be Washingtonia filifera ....

I would suggest you start a new post for each plant you need an id for. People often skip long posts because they don't know there are new plants appearing. It looks from a brief skim as if a whole thread is about the first plant asked about. But keep them coming. It's a slow time on the Forum.

The succulent in the sand is Carpobrotus edulis. Invasive in Europe, even as far as Cornwall.

Thank you, will do. Your advice is welcome

Thank you everyone https://walkingwithoutadonkey.com/2020/01/04/vila-do-conde-to-viana-do-castelo-camino-portuguese/