RE: OT: Iris Toxicity

The site shown below tries to cover too broad a subject, IMHO. I am a bit 
skeptical about any site that warns against reactions from the sap and 
leads a novice to believe irises have *thorns* that can cause puncture 
wounds. :)

I don't know about other livestock but we feed the iris tops (Bearded, SIB, 
JI) to our sheep when pruning back in the fall without any noticeable 
adverse effects to the animals.  Matter-of-fact they sort of look on them 
as candy.  Of the four university toxic plant sites we have in our 
bookmarks only U Penn lists the iris in their data base and then only by 
photo, with no accompanying explanatory text.

Medicinally, I've used bearded iris rhizomes to treat surface wound 
infections and have had only good results.  Back in my "herbal medicine" 
days I did quite a bit of reading on the subject of irises and found them 
used in a number of interesting remedies. Among them, the dried rhizome of 
I. florentina was recommended for teething babies as well as a fixative for 
fragrances.

On the other hand, a friend who works with I. versicolor claims it contains 
a poison that will kill even gophers. There may be something to this since 
old references to "blue flags" are for concoctions to encourage vomiting. 
:-p

This would make an interesting article for the Journal if anyone has time 
to do some in depth research.

Christy Hensler

----------
From:  Steve Szabo

>>  From the University of California, Davis
(http://wellness.ucdavis.edu/safety_info/poison_prevention/take_care_wit  
h_plants/toxicity_of_plants.html) comes this information:<<





------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~>
eGroups is now Yahoo! Groups
Click here for more details
http://us.click.yahoo.com/kWP7PD/pYNCAA/4ihDAA/VTJVlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->

 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index