My boyfriend just bought a 3ft. flowering plant at a market and we can't identify it. It smells like weed.

Question

Please help me identify it so that I know how to care for it. It has beautiful small pink flowers and "tentacles" with narrow pods at the ends. It smells exactly of marijuana but it obviously isn't.

Don't think its Wisteria, but here is a pic:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i175/benjaminrex/DSCN4089.jpg

Answer 1

From your picture, it is definitely a Cleome. They normally are available with pink or white blooms, but you may also be able to find some in the violet range. They really don't require any special care other that regular watering and fertilizing.

The flowers open from the top-center, so the older blooms are at the base of the head. These are eventually replaced by the tentacles and seed pods. As they pods mature, they will explode and send seeds flying everywhere; and you should have quite a few new plants next year.

Since Cleome is an annual, the plant will die at the end of the season. One warning: when pulling out the dead plant, wear gloves. The stems are covered with tiny spines that can be very painful if you try to pull it out bare-handed.

Answer 2

Well, to me the definition of a weed is a plant that is unwanted. So one person's weed is another's wanted plant. So no one intentionally plants what they consider to be a weed, except perhaps in the name of science. But I plant lots of things that some others would consider to be weeds. For instance I plant milkweed for monarch caterpillars to eat, but most would think of milkweed as a weed. And a lot of "weeds" have incredible medicinal properties. And the most beautiful flower, growing where it will choke out your vegetables, say, might be unwanted, and thus a weed. So it is just a matter of attitude. To bring it around to adoption, my job as an adoptive parent is to love and nurture my daughter to be the best plant she can be -- whatever plant she already was when she came to me. I should not try to make her into a certain type of flower that I really like, but instead the very best of whatever "species" she already is.

Answer 3

That is cleome. I attached a link to show you another one
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l225/tabbieh/85468002.jpg

Answer 4

Sounds possibly like wisteria. A description of the leaves would be helpful if you don't have a picture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisteria http://www.calfolia.com/graphics/CD%20100%20inset.jpg

Answer 5

Cleome...

http://home.howstuffworks.com/define-cleome-spider-flower.htm

Answer 6

It could be 'Spider Plant' or 'Spider Flower'. It's an annual that will sometimes reseed itself if you plant it outside.

Answer 7

a picture would be helpful