Identify this rattling plant.

November 23, 2007 11:29 PM

Identify this strange plant found in the middle east.

See photo here.

The curly things are rigid and hollow, so the plant would make a weird rustling sound when the wind struck it. It was found by the side of the road and is probably a weed-type plant of some kind. Can anyone provide a genus/species?

Better yet, is there a good field guide to plants on the web?

posted by Brian James to science & nature (3 comments total)

You should try Flickr's ID Please group, they're amazing at this kind of thing.
posted by softlord at 1:24 AM on November 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

It looks a lot like a variety of eryngium to me.
posted by Solomon at 2:45 AM on November 24, 2007

It's really hard to tell what's what in that picture. Are the thistle/eryngium like leaves part of this plant, or another growing beside it? (FWIW, I've never seen an Eryngium make a seed head like this.)There's also no indication of scale. It would also help to know where in the Middle East. It wouldn't surprise me if someone came along who was familiar with this plant and was able to identify it, but there's no way to guess without knowing what's what in the photo.

You can try searching for field guides by region.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:22 AM on November 24, 2007