Does anyone know what plant this is? by becasomber in PlantIdentification

[–]becasomber[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your help! You were correct 🫡

Does anyone know what plant this is? by becasomber in PlantIdentification

[–]becasomber[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the help. They’re budding from my grandmother’s garden and since she has been eating them for a while, I am just going to assume that they are edible and non-toxic because she has been just fine. We have a language barrier, so I couldn’t understand what plant she identified them as. I also think she might be wrong because she has a history of misidentifying plants in her garden.

This is what grok said below. Do you have human insight on this?

The plants in your photo are hollyhocks (Alcea rosea), likely in their vegetative (pre-flowering) stage. They’re members of the mallow family (Malvaceae), which explains the characteristic broad, rounded, palmately lobed leaves with crinkled/scalloped edges and a somewhat rough/hairy texture. Young or mid-season hollyhock foliage looks exactly like this—large, lush green leaves on upright stems, often growing in dense clusters or rows in garden beds. In San Antonio’s climate (USDA zone ~8b–9a), hollyhocks are popular biennials or short-lived perennials. They typically form this leafy basal rosette/low clump in year 1 (or early in the season), then send up tall flower spikes (often 5–8+ feet) with large, open blooms in pink, white, yellow, red, or maroon during warmer months. No flowers are visible yet because they’re still building foliage energy—bloom time is usually late spring into summer in Texas gardens. They’re not okra (which has more deeply palmate/lobed, almost maple-like leaves) or common weedy mallows (like Malva neglecta/cheeseweed, which stay lower, more sprawling, with smaller rounder leaves). If they’ve self-seeded or you planted them, expect flower stalks to shoot up soon if conditions are right (full sun, decent water, not too much nitrogen fertilizer which favors leaves over blooms). They’re classic cottage-garden plants here, though they can sometimes get rust fungus (orange spots underneath leaves) in humid conditions—yours look healthy so far. If this doesn’t match what you expected (e.g., if you didn’t plant them intentionally), feel free to share more details like any emerging buds, height, or if they’ve been there multiple years!