g'day tony,

#3 jacaranda?

yeh well they/we sort of went looking for greener pastures (all the interferrance with pops up here didn't help much at the time)but maybe some of those pastures not quite as greener as they looked.

anyhow i been lurking here, does seem like there is a small undercurrent returning to the au' forums here though.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

Not Jacaranda Len. A clue: it's well under 1 m high, and stays that size.

no 1 one of the Chamadorea palms ?
no 2 ??
no 3 looks lobelia-ish or an echium.

got me then tony?

yeh i can see cham' in the #1 pic now it did look very familiar but i couldn't put it together for a guess.

so #3 remains a mystrey to me.

len

I'm going with some sort of palm for No 1, no idea whatsoever on No 2, and a Salvia for No 3.

Hello All, Great to see you.
is one little parlour palm thing.
2. still amystery but is probably something seen but forgotten !!
is three a salvia ?

Marion

A few clues:

No. 1 - not a palm. It's an Australian native.

No. 2 - its produce is sold in health food shops I believe

No. 3 - not a Salvia. The piece of leaf at lower left of pic belongs to it.

Tony, is #1 one of the Cordylines?

Not a Cordyline. It's a plant of rainforests and wetter eucalypt forests all the way up the east coast; its stem is deep underground and it's long-lived. Growing in a pot at my place in Sydney, transplanted from the family place in the mountains where it occurs naturally.

no 2 Chestnuts.
Heather

Not chestnuts. Just to put you in the picture, here are the plants that no. 2 comes from, on my friend's farm, photographed March 06.
{{gwi:2114034}}

cotton?? for no 2

Lettuce for no 3.
Heather

No. 1
Gymnostachys anceps-Settlers Flax

No. 2 -
Theobroma cacao- Cacao Tree

No. 3 -
a species of Plectranthus.

How did I go?
regards from Kris

Kris, you got no. 1 right! (as I expect you would with a plant like this)

But you could hardly be more wrong about no. 2. Another hint: it's an annual crop plant sometimes grown in cooler parts of Australia.

And no. 3 is not Plectranthus. It's a cool-temperate herbaceous perennial that's occasionally sold in garden centres. Collectors of perennials should know it, but one tends not to look closely at the flowers.

Is No 3 a coleus?

Not Coleus (now often included in Plectranthus anyway). I suspect my plant is almost unknown in Qld, preferring cooler climates like Vic or NSW tablelands.

I am surprised no-one has picked no. 2 after all my clues. Another hint: the crop is largely exported to Japan, where it's a popular food grain.

No. 2 -
My guess - Safflower

Not safflower.

No. 2 Buckwheat (Soba)??

Yes! Buckwheat - Fagopyrum esculentum.

No. 3 Scutellaria maybe - Just a stab in the dark - cant find a photo to see if even close.

Time for answers, as this quiz seems to have run its course.

1. Gymnostachys anceps (Settlers' Twine) - as identified by wooroonooran.

2. Perovskia atriplicifolia - sometimes called 'Russian Sage'

3. Fagopyrum esculentum (Buckwheat) - plantsplus finally got it!

Number 3 is it a type of salvia?