THIS GRASS verge at a new green housing estate has been causing a fuss among villagers.

Residents of Stanford in the Vale near Wantage say the weed growing by the side of the road looks like cannabis, but others are not so sure.

The new grass verge along the A417 was created by David Wilson Homes, which is building a new 73-home estate.

When the grass started sprouting, it did not look like the sort of grass the villagers had been expected.

Brian Griffiths, 69, said: “I wouldn’t be particularly surprised if it was cannabis, this could have spread accidentally.”

Michelle X from Abingdon, who used to grow cannabis plants to fight the pain of multiple sclerosis, said she thought the plant could be wild hemp.

But Oxford University Botanic Garden staff believed it was not cannabis.

One member of staff said the plant looked like Eupatorium cannabinum, commonly known as hemp-agrimony, which has similar leaves to cannabis.

A spokeswoman for David Wilson homes confirmed the company had created the new verge, but had not seeded it.

Rebecca Henderson said the firm had left the verge in the hands of Vale of White Horse District Council.

She added: “We are grateful to local residents for reporting the possibility of contaminated topsoil causing unwanted plants to grow and have taken the precaution of reporting these to the police in case they are cannabis and need destroying.”

Vale of White Horse District Council was unable to comment.