please help, dangerous or not?? or idillyc??
By Davesgarden
United Kingdom 
growing in my garden is this plant which no-one knows about!! please help?!! the leaves are just like a daffodil all green and fans out up to about 1 foot. from the middle comes about 3 stems with a green coccoon shape on the end (about 2 inches long by 1 inch across) they are heavy so the stem leans over towards the ground. the coccoon is splitting now and inside are 4 rows of red berry type pea size balls. what is this plant??
13 Oct, 2008
Answers
I am thinking about Cuckoo Pint ( Arum maculatum). Try asking Google for an image and see if it matches your plant. If it is handle with care ( gloves) because it can cause allergic reactions in many people.
13 Oct, 2008
I would put money on Iris foetidissima because the Arum leaves are shield-shaped and appear in the spring. I get really fed up with the seedlings from this plant - I'm always having to pull them out. They are useful plants for shady areas, though.
13 Oct, 2008
I'd guess Iris foetidissima from the description too. I don't have a prob with self-seeding though it is in horrible rockhard clay soil by a wall.
13 Oct, 2008
Spritz is right definitely Iris foetidissima, not nice smelling hence the name. I always bang on about learning Latin names for plants, this is an instance of Latin being useful.
14 Oct, 2008
Could it be an iris foetida? Did you see it in flower earlier in the year? If it is, the berries are more orange than red.
13 Oct, 2008