Re: Re: Birds eating Iris seeds

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While I was looking up information on this I found a couple of bird
sites saying iris seeds were poisonous to seeds. But no references to
back it.

Seeds may very well go through bird digestive system undigested, I
would suspect flesh of seed pods would be mildly toxic. Burt some
birds may be relatively immune to this.

Hoping to get something authoritative.

Chuck Chapman

-----Original Message-----
From: Sean Zera <zera@umich.edu>
To: iris-species <iris-species@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sat, Jan 11, 2014 11:31 am
Subject: Re: [iris-species] Re: Birds eating Iris seeds

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Nope. I assume the berry-likeÂfoetidissima and domestica are normally
dispersed by birds, so I usually remove the seed heads.

On a distantly-related note, one year goldfinches were ripping up my
bearded iris buds shortly before bloom. They would cling to the stalks
and peck into the ovaries, presumably eating the undeveloped seed
tissue.

Sean Z
Zone 6a
SE Michigan

On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 11:05 AM, Chuck Chapman
<irischapman@aim.com> wrote:
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I'm looking for information on possible distribution of iris by birds
consuming iris seeds. Anyone have information on this?

Chuck Chapman