Not to be semantically confused with : Cock's-Foot (Dactylis glomerata), Slender Cock's-foot (Dactylis polygama), Cockspur (Echinochloa crus-galli), Cockspurthorn (Crataegus crus-galli), Cockroach Berry (Solanum capsicoides) (another nightshade), Corncockle (Agrostemma githago), Argentine Cockelbur (Xanthium ambrosioides), Spiny Cockelbur (Xanthium spinosum), Rough Cockelbur (Xanthium strumarium) [plants with similar names mostly from differing families]
Easily mis-identified as : Green Nightshade (Solanum physalifolium) which also has white flowers which hand downwards, but they have 5 fully cut petals although they do not fully open and are not bell-shaped. The stems are also green.
Some similarities to : Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum) which also has small white flowers, but there the 5 petals of the flowers open up properly, are not bell-shaped, but do face downwards. The stems are black (rather than the green of Cock's-eggs)
Slight resemblance to : Lily-of-the-Valley (Convallaria majalis) which also has white bell-shaped flowers which hang downwards, but the leaves are broad-lanceolate and emanate from near ground level and stand erect close to the main stem.
The plant is a neophyte grown in gardens and which becomes naturalised in Suffolk, Abbotsbury, Lowestoft, Dorset, and especially in Guernsey. It grows to 1.5m with stems which have many branches.
It contains several Salpichrolides such as Salpichrolide C , Salpichrolide G , Salpichrolide A which are poisonous.
|