# Help identify this flower



## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

This is sort of a spin off on another thread. I don't have a photo and I'm going on memory here. It is a spindly weed. It has small white flowers, and after the flower dies it leaves a hard seed pod shaped like a vase. The seed case is full of small black seeds. I've always called them wild poppies because the seeds resemble poppy seed. After looking online I see that they are not wild poppy. Does this sound familiar to anyone?


----------



## offthegrid (Aug 11, 2009)

Yes! But I don't know what they are called either! And I can't actually picture what they look like before they die. But I will search my wild flower book and see what I can find. I used to collect these as a kid - they "rattle" when you shake them, if I recall?


----------



## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

Nigella damascena, perhaps?


----------



## Sweetsong (Dec 4, 2010)

You're not talking about the _milkweed_, are you? Butterflies like them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias_syriaca


----------



## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Sweetsong said:


> You're not talking about the _milkweed_, are you? Butterflies like them.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias_syriaca


LOL, no, I eat the milkweed!


----------



## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

willow_girl said:


> Nigella damascena, perhaps?


No, but the dried seed head looks similar.


----------



## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

offthegrid said:


> Yes! But I don't know what they are called either! And I can't actually picture what they look like before they die. But I will search my wild flower book and see what I can find. I used to collect these as a kid - they "rattle" when you shake them, if I recall?


Yes, they rattle, and the seeds look like poppy seed. I would like to know if they are edible and you can use them like poppy seeds.


----------



## neparose (Nov 16, 2009)

Try looking up Evening Lychnis. We called them something else when we were kids but cant remember what. If they are the same ones I recall, if you peeled off the lower green part, there was a hard green pod that was vase shaped. If you crushed the pod, it was full of little white seeds. If you crushed it after the flower withered and the pod turned brown and brittle, the seeds were black.
rose


----------



## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

Aquilegias perhaps? (Common name Columbine).


----------



## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

White campion?


----------



## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Tiempo said:


> White campion?


That's it! Thanks, do you know if the seeds are edible?

(and thanks to everyone else for their suggestions!)


----------



## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

I was always told that no part of it were edible, but maybe someone knows different for sure.


----------



## Osiris (Jun 9, 2010)

The flowers and leaves are edible. "The seed has been used as a parasiticide to treat infestations of lice in the hair." Not sure why you'd want to eat them tho. Seem to be an insecticide. 
http://montana.plant-life.org/species/aquilegia_flav.htm
http://woodridge.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/edible-flowers-columbine/


----------



## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

Osiris, the plant Tink has is white campion, not edible.


----------

