Aussie Finch Forum

This plant came up among some seeds I was given.It looked like a sunflower plant when it first appeared and grew very fast
to nearly 2mtrs.The stem is a bit thicker than a broom stick.The seed head hangs down like a fox tail. I thought that it may be some sort of Sorgum but otherwise have
no idea. Cheers

I am gonna take a stab here Greg but to me it looks like a tobacco plant that has gone to seed. Probably not but gee it looks similar.

Good luck

Ken.

Thats what i thought it was as well ,have seen it before but not as tall as that plant,garyh

Definitely not sorghum or any type of grass. Its a dicotyledin of some kind. Possibly a type of amaranthus??
Was the seed very small?

I have checked out different plants on Google, it grew up looking like a Sunflower but no flower, also looks like a Hemp bush but different seeds.
ditto for wild tobacco plant but no berries .When the seed ripens I will take another photo and in meantime if I find out I will post, and yes the seed head is full of very tiny seeds.
Cheers

Definitely not hemp.

It maybe a form of Chia for human consumption. It is in the family of "Salvia's" I did see a similar plant called chia being grown in Kununurra WA for seed. Craig

Hi, I sent a photo into our W.A. Ag Dept and the plant has been identified as a species of Amaranthus, safe for the birds and I should get
a bucket load of seed heads from it. I will keep some seeds and plant out again in spring.
Cheers

Amaranthus is an edible plant, the leaves and seeds can be boiled and eaten like cabbage,i know a few ethnic people that grow it to eat and also feed it to their finches. Craig

I get a weedy species of amaranthus coming up here at times & the green seed heads are excellent green food for finches and neophemas. Our one is much smaller than the one in the pic. There are plenty of amaranthus species and cultivated varieties.