What is this plant that is growing on our allotment?
Chris Hall, by email
Stefan says: This is a plant that has a habit of popping up in unexpected places, its seeds probably being dropped by birds. It is Figwort, Scrophularia nodosa, the name nodosa referring to its knobbly, tuberous root system. It has a strange, unpleasant smell and used to have a number of herbal medicinal uses but please don’t try to experiment with it.
They are certainly not beautiful plants but are interesting, among other features, for attracting a wide range of insects, including wasps, and are among the few British wasp-pollinated plants. There are several other species and it has a close British relative called water figwort, Scrophularia aquatica, that grows alongside the pond in my wildlife garden.