What is this mystery plant growing in my kitchen?

April 11, 2013 10:59 AM

So, I tried growing a pineapple from the store via this Pinterest link. Well the pineapple died, but something else started growing in its place, but I have no idea what it is. Can y'all identify it? If so, what should I do with it? Thanks!
posted by patheral to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

What's it smell like? Could it be a type of sage?
posted by pomegranate at 11:24 AM on April 11, 2013

Response by poster: It doesn't have a particularly strong odor, but it doesn't smell like sage. However, I've only smelled sage after it's been dried, so there's that. It doesn't smell minty either.

To be fair, my allergies are running riot at the moment (It's Ash & Juniper season around here) so my nose cannot be fully trusted.
posted by patheral at 11:41 AM on April 11, 2013

It kind of looks like a Mother of Thousands. I have seen some MoT that look similar when they are under less than ideal conditions, like too much/not enough light or water. When they are stressed, they often don't form the characteristic line of little baby plantlets along the leaf edge and the leaves can curl under like that. MoT is a succulent, is your plant a succulent?
posted by fancyoats at 12:44 PM on April 11, 2013

Response by poster: It's not a succulent. Like pomegranate, I think it looks like some kind of herb, but I can't find it. It's on the same windowsill as my spider plants and olive tree sapling, so plenty of sunlight.

It appears to be growing right out of what's left of the pineapple plant, but it's not a pineapple plant (I have two more of those growing pretty well).
posted by patheral at 1:10 PM on April 11, 2013

What kind of soil did you use? If it was sterile potting soil, then it must have come in on the pineapple... but if it's just dirt from outside, could it be a seed from outside?
posted by The otter lady at 1:39 PM on April 11, 2013

Response by poster: It was, uh, Miracle Grow? or sumthin' like that. I bought a couple of brands... So I guess it came in on the pineapple.
posted by patheral at 1:45 PM on April 11, 2013

Response by poster: The little flowers opened a bit after I took the pictures, and they appear to be yellow if that helps at all.
posted by patheral at 7:17 PM on April 11, 2013

Going out on a limb here...Could it be Mexican Terragon?
posted by MeatheadBrokeMyChair at 7:52 AM on April 12, 2013

Response by poster: That looks really close. I'm going to move it outside and see if the plant gets sturdier (it's very vine-like right now). The plants everyone is pointing me to are sturdy like the Mexican Terragon. But this one just has a vine-like structure it wants to wind around everything and not grow upwards.
posted by patheral at 8:18 AM on April 12, 2013

I was also going to say some sort of tarragon. If it is, the leaves should taste like a mild licorice.
posted by scalefree at 7:01 PM on April 14, 2013

Response by poster: So I took a look at this earlier and there were some parachute seeds poofing out of the top of one of the budding flowers. These don't look like dandelions, or daisies, or thistles... I can't think of anything else that has these kinds of seeds, but if y'all have an idea, I'm open to it.
posted by patheral at 6:51 PM on April 17, 2013

Response by poster: I posted pictures of this plant on a couple of other forums but no one has been able to recognize it. It remains a mystery. I'm going to mark this resolved though just to tidy up.
posted by patheral at 12:34 PM on May 11, 2013