Feeding wildflowers / plants, safe?

[aliceinwl]

Right now in California there are a lot of wildflowers in bloom. How safe would it be to offer these flowers to my lizards? Can I trust them to be able to tell what's edible and what's not? I've got some books on edible wild plants, but the vast majority of local plants, are not even mentioned.

-Alice

 

[Lucille]

There are a number of very poisonous plants; in addition, some plants have toxic qualities only in the leaves or stems or blooms. I do not feed wild plants unless I can identify each one and know it is safe, which means I do not feed many at all.
Here in Texas on the Gulf Coast there is also a lot of spraying of public lands to control mosquitoes, so I worry about insecticides also.

On the plus side, I have gardens and grow lots of veggies without spray, and various and sundry critters love the produce. I do not know whether, in nature, animals can determine whether a particular plant is poisonous; I do not take the chance for my critters.

 

[Karen Hulvey]

I believe the only way an animal would know if a plant is poisonious is if that animal was native to where the plant grows. I would only offer plants that I knew were not poisonious. If you give them plants that are poisonious, they will die. A friend of mine was keeping potted plants in w/his beardies. I told him that I would not do that because if the beardies eat them and they're poisonious, bye, bye beardie. That's exactly what happened. The plants were peace lillies, the ones that they use in the betta bowls.

 

[aliceinwl]

That's kind of what I was thinking. I've heard that chuckwalla's can handle certain poisonous plants, but it's probably restricted to the ones they've evolved with. Right now, there are all these lovely yellow asters in bloom that I think my chucks would love. It's too bad there aren't detailed regional floras of edible plants.

My chucks really enjoy variety, so I think that all these woldflowers could be a real treat, but I agree with you guys it's not worth the risk.

If you guys know of any edible weeds / ornamentals could you post them?

Right now I've got:
+=like, -=won't eat
Black mustard -
Wild raddish +
Pansey +
Jumping johnies +
Dandelion +
Cat's ear +
Hibiscus +
Gazania (sp?) -
English plantain -
Nasturtium +
Rose -
Alfalfa +
Moss rose +

Does anyone know if geraniums are edible? What about filaree (Erodium spp)? Clover (Trifolium spp)?

-Alice

 

[mycurlylocks]

Yes, geraniums and clover are safe. I have used them for years. I use the clover blooms and leaves. Geraniums I have used the blooms only.
Here is a list of some edible flowers, of course not many wildflowers are included:

http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/edibleflowers.htm

http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/edibleflowers.html#resources

Abelia
African Daisy
Sweet Alysum
Chamomile
Arbutus
Asperagus Fern
Aster
Baby's Tears
Bird's Nest Fern
Boston Fern
Bottle Bush
Bouganville
Bridal Veil
Bromeliads
Camellia
Coleus-this plant is midly toxic, it is ok for most chameleons but if you have one that likes to eat plants like a Veiled do not use this plant.
Corn Plant
Corn flower-also known as bachelors buttons
Croton
Draceana
Emerald Ripple
Eugenia
Fuschia
Geranium
Hen and CHicks Succulent
Hibiscus-my favorite choice
Hoya
Iceplant
Japanese aralia
Impatients
Jade Plant
Jasmine
Lavender
Marigold
Monkey Plant
Mother of Pearl
Natal Plum
Painted nettle
Palms
Pampas Grass
Parlor Palm
Peperomia
Phoenix
Piggyback Plant
Pilea
Pink Polka Dot Plant
Ponytail Plant
Purple Velvet
Spider Plant
Staghorn Fern
Swedish Ivy
Tree Mallow
Umbrella Plant
Velvet Plant
Wandering Jew
Warneckii
Wax Plant
ZEbra plant
zinnias

Hope this helps a little, I'll keep digging for more information for your area.
Candy

 

[mycurlylocks]

I just got an answer back, no asters, they can contain way too much selenium.

 

[aliceinwl]

Thanks for the links! Even though they didn't have natives, they realy broadened my options in terms of ornamentals.

-Alice

 

[montezuma]

Alice, since you live in CA... if you have space for a couple Hibiscus plant some! My Uros love them to death! Stick to the red colored ones though, they seem to be most attacted to the reds.

 

[aliceinwl]

I've got a red hibiscus They seem to be hot and cold about it; sometimes they eat it sometimes they don't. I'm kind of considering buying a yellow one. My chucks seem to be most attracted to lavender and yellow flowers. I guess this makes sense, since I've seen very few red flowers in the desert areas I've visited. But, I wonder, are there lots of red flowers in uro habitat? As a rule, my chucks seem to favor pastel colored blooms, for example, they favor yellow pansies to the dark purple and dark red ones. Do you observe the same thing with your uros?

-Alice

 

[aliceinwl]

And one more thing, I have tried a lot of the natives (mainly Asteraceae (composites) and Hydrophilaceae (Phaceilia)). They weren't big hits. My guys seem to favor the more succulent ornamentals and exotics; captivity has its upsides

-Alice

 

[montezuma]

I've got a red hibiscus They seem to be hot and cold about it; sometimes they eat it sometimes they don't. I'm kind of considering buying a yellow one. My chucks seem to be most attracted to lavender and yellow flowers. I guess this makes sense, since I've seen very few red flowers in the desert areas I've visited. But, I wonder, are there lots of red flowers in uro habitat? As a rule, my chucks seem to favor pastel colored blooms, for example, they favor yellow pansies to the dark purple and dark red ones. Do you observe the same thing with your uros?

-Alice

I live IN the desert and can find a abundant amount of chucks less than 5 miles from my house. There are only several native plants that they will eat one of them being several types of cactus flowers which there are alot of that are red. The fruit from prickly pear which they eat also tends to be a bit red also. Majority of the native the flowering plants tend to be a darker yet vibrant yellow however I am unsure as to their toxicity... other plants you can try with them are Cape Honeysuckle and Yellow Bells which are Tecoma or also seen as Tehoma species.

 

[aliceinwl]

I'll have to give the Tecoma's a try I didn't think about cactus flowers in my last post. There are very few if any cacti in the area I caught Gracie. Most of the ephemerals are yellow flowering asters, so maybe what I'm seeing is her personal pereference based on what she grew up with. Rigel is a bit more adventurous, but he's a "dumb cb" so I like to make really sure that the plants I put in for them are safe. He also seems to follow Gracie's lead.

What native plants have you seen the chucks by you eating?

-Alice