There are a lot of plants that are only poisonous during certain parts
of their cycle. Poke weed that grows through out the South has been
used as food by rural southern folks. The tender young leaves - know as
"poke sally" are gathered and eaten. However, when the berries come out
and turn purple the plant turns poisonous. In fact this plant and the
eating of it was captured in a popular song some years ago. Don't
remember the name but it was about a poor rural southern girl named
"Poke Sally Annie."
Leaves from wild cherry trees are perfectly fine except when they are
in their wilting stage when the produce prussic acid (a.k.a.
hydrocyanic acid) and are very toxic. Once they have wilted and are
dead they are not long toxic.
Threre are lot of examples of this in nature.
Truman
heidi sowards wrote:
Ed, I know I've read that lupine is poisonous, however, a
nat. geographic horse special showed wild horses that ate
the lupine at certain stages of their flowering. I have a
gelding that was pretty much raised wild, til the age of 5
anyway. I ride in some Weyerhauser clear cuts and there is
one trail that goes by a particularily large lupine plant.
My gelding will dive into this plant to grab a huge
mouthful of flowers, ripping reins out of my hands!! He's
also particularily fond of the tiny purple thistles,
stopping to happily munch the tops off, even when the are
brown and seemingly unappetizing. I think they are milk
thistles? Anyway, I've let him eat the lupine, he's so
intent on having some, not at any time of the year, only
when flowering. (Not sure at exactly what stage of the
flowers though.) The only horse I have that does this as
well!!!! Any medicinal purposes to these plants that my
horse may know about?
Heidi
-- We imitate our masters only because we are not yet masters
ourselves,
and only
We
imitate our masters
only because we are not yet masters ourselves, and only
because
in doing so we
learn the truth about what cannot be imitated.
