It is quite like cannabis, but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending your point of view) its more likely to be Helleborus foetidus! Most pics on line show the flowers but there's one showing some foliage in the link below

http://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/index.php?q=node/785

Yes, Stinking Hellebore. It flowers in early spring.

Thank you both for your replies. Its fortunate that not cannabis as due to our business we are inspected at least twice a year by the police and one of them is growing right by the workshop door :-). Do they have to mature before flowering as none of them did this year?

No, not really, unless they only seeded themselves last year.

Easy enough to tell, H. foetidus leaves stink when crushed and it is not a nice smell either.

Have just tried the crush test and I didn't find them "stinky" but I am just getting over the lurgy and still got a blocked nose so will try again another time. Thank you.

I never think that H. foetidus smells that bad and we have to cut back the leaves every year when they get assaulted by whitefly. For that matter don't think that Iris foetidus is particularly unpleasant either, which is just as well as it is just opposite our front door!

Whatever the Hellebore smells like, it's nothing like the smell of cannabis

Lol. I crushed the leave just to see if it smelt as bad as the name surggested. Which was pointless as have blocked nose.

Well, either way, don't try using it in cookies or roll it up... Try smelling it again when your nose isn't blocked, or don't worry about it. There was some chat on here recently about Houttuyana - I and others find it a distinctly nasty smell if bruised, but other people think it smells like citrus, and not unpleasant, so you may not notice it stinks anyway.

:-) Ive not got the best sense of smell anyway, which served me well when nursing at times. Have just tried my dogs on tripe. Now even with blocked nose that is really AWFUL!!!! They won't be getting that again. Thanks once again for your help.

Oh, lord, tripe - my stepmother cooked that ONCE for my father when we were teenagers - I thought I was going to throw up, we all left the house, what a stench, it was vile! I'd rather starve or roast a rat, frankly...

Tripe - makes me feel bad just picturing it. Octopus has the same effect...(not that its anything to do with hellebores...)

Himself says try the smell of sheeps head!

worse than tripe? No thanks then...

Tripe in bag, in outside bin! How anyone could eat it I don't know. Think I will give sheeps head a miss as well. :-)

How sad, I like tripe and elder is even better. Pity they only sell it now for dogs.
Now Kippers...............As a child I had to go and live with my grandparents for a week after my mother cooked one for my Dad. I was ill just going into the house.
As for H. foetidus, ours must be a particularly strong malodorous one as we have to wear gloves to weed it out or have hands which reek even when washed in strong soap.

Think at the end of the day it's down to personal taste. Its what makes the world interesting. My dad loved his Kippers and I don't mind the smell but the tripe made me sick. When I lived in China, some of the things they ate I couldn't. Where it was a joint venture, even if my ex husband was away, the kids and I still had to go the the company dos. With them all watching I had to eat raw shredded jelly fish, and drunken prawns and I had to take all the toasts on behalf of my ex so at least I was a bit gone when had to eat some of it. :-).

Hi, just to mention that I love tripe, never noticed any particular smell with it, but I don't cook it, just eat it as it comes, honeycomb or thick seam, salt and vinegar, delicious, and fortunately we still have a tripe shop, Derek.

Its when its cooking that it reeks, Derek... thank goodness we're all different - not to mention how grateful I am that filleted kippers now come boil in the bag - I love 'em but don't like the smell of them cooking

Hi Bamboo, never tried it cooked!!, don't think I ever will now, lol, Derek.