Family: Solanaceae Apple of Peru / Shoo-fly Nicandra physalodes Flowering time: June-October. Annual. Neophyte Originally from Peru. A garden escape or discard, relic of cultivation or bird-seed introduction in gardens and allotments and on wasteground and rubbish heaps. The pale blue, bell-shaped flowers are short-lived but followed by distinctive papery seed pods. Seeds can over-winter. Leaves are large and wavy-toothed and the stems are often dark. Sometimes grown as a possible deterrent to white-fly on garden crops

Apple of Peru / Shoo-fly, Nicandra physalodes
Photographs: Kingston Lacy, Dorset. July and September 2020