Re: laburnum
> There used to be lots of laburnums in Victoria, and regular reports
> in the newspaper of poisoning because children would eat the "beans"
> in the pods. I pulled mine out about 20 years ago, and I continue to pull
> out the seedlings that are still coming up. I suspect that other people
> deliberately destroyed theirs, too, because I don't see them much anymore.
>
> Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
> zone 8, Sunset zone 5, cool mediterranean climate
Laburnums, yes, I'm sure they prefer a cool, oceanic climate. The only
healthy one I've seen in the U.S. was on the north coast of the Olympic
Peninsula in Washington State, just across the strait from Diane in Victoria,
B.C.
When I was a child in England, my parents had a large laburnum in their
back yard. They were anxious about me eating the poisonous seeds and
must have impressed on me the danger most effectively as I can still
remember walking under the branches with my face down and my mouth
tightly in case any of the poisionous seeds should fall into my mouth! Pretty
wierd, huh?
And yes, the seedings came up everywhere!
Nick
Nick Turland
Flora of China Project, Missouri Botanical Garden,
P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, U.S.A.
E-mail: Nicholas.Turland@mobot.org
Phone: +1 314 577 0269 Fax: +1 314 577 9438
MBG web: http://www.mobot.org
FOC web: http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/
