Help me identify weeds growing wild in Cyprus

[Cyprus Lady]

Greeting Tortoise lovers across the world! I live in Cyprus where I have just been given a tortoise that was found as a stray in the street (makes a change from dogs and cats!) I have been wanting to get a tortoise for years so am happy to adopt this one. I want to give it a varied diet that I can pick locally and supplement if necessary but I'm not a plant / weed expert and would like help identifying the plants that I picked this morning on my walk with my dog. Also can you tell me if its a plant that I should not feed her
1. Is this plantain? https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/431090_10151580959915502_1492496803_n.jpg
2.purslane? https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/942574_10151580960180502_1519782056_n.jpg
3. sow thistle? https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/383464_10151580960395502_338747354_n.jpg
4. aloe vera? https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/935668_10151580955490502_1554097798_n.jpg
5. ???? https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/296261_10151580958590502_423043724_n.jpg
6. ???? https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/426597_10151580958785502_875306810_n.jpg
7. ???? https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/9914_10151580959015502_62829108_n.jpg
7. These are some of my garden pots and very easy to grow and come by https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/983774_10151580959315502_1638753435_n.jpg
8. hottentot fig? https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/934092_10151580959560502_555678555_n.jpg
9. Jade plant? https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/943202_10151580959695502_325059674_n.jpg

i hope that I've done this right! I also found grape vines, prickly pear, hibiscus and rapeseed, all of which I think are OK. I dumped the fig, almond and pomegranate.

Thanks everyone

 

[JoesMum]

Hello and welcome

Your tort may well be a wild native that has roamed into town rather than an escaped pet. Why not start a thread in the introductions forum with some pictures of your new friend?

As for you plants, let me start by giving you a link to The Tortoise Table Plant Database which is fab for looking up plants and their edibility by name and by colour/shape.

Now for yours:

1. Plantain
2. Not sure. If it's purslane - don't feed it.
3. Sow thistle
4. Aloe vera - feed in moderation
5. Don't know
6. Don't know
7. Don't know
8. Hottentot fig aka ice plant - feed in moderation
9. Jade plant aka Money plant - feed in moderation

grape vine leaves are fine in moderation
Hibiscus is excellent food
Prickly pear (Opuntia) is excellent food
Rape Seed - I would feed in moderation as it's a brassica

 

[Cyprus Lady]

Hello and welcome

Your tort may well be a wild native that has roamed into town rather than an escaped pet. Why not start a thread in the introductions forum with some pictures of your new friend?

As for you plants, let me start by giving you a link to The Tortoise Table Plant Database which is fab for looking up plants and their edibility by name and by colour/shape.

Now for yours:

1. Plantain
2. Not sure. If it's purslane - don't feed it.
3. Sow thistle
4. Aloe vera - feed in moderation
5. Don't know
6. Don't know
7. Don't know
8. Hottentot fig aka ice plant - feed in moderation
9. Jade plant aka Money plant - feed in moderation

grape vine leaves are fine in moderation
Hibiscus is excellent food
Prickly pear (Opuntia) is excellent food
Rape Seed - I would feed in moderation as it's a brassica

Thanks Joes Mum. I will try to get some snaps of 'her' but I've been trying to let her get acclimatized to her new enclosure without getting her up too much. When she's awake next I'll get her to pose for some pictures. I need help identifying her species and 'her' sex. I don't think she's a wild one. I've never seen one wild and I've lived here 12 years now. They are sold in pet shops though for about €30-€50 so they are popular pets which then make good escape artists. On FB its a regular to have someone say that their tortoise has escaped. We tried to find her owner but with no luck so rehomed her. She seems happy enough, feeds well (like the prickly pear and the vine leaves) wees and poops, sat in her water for about 5 minutes this morning and then goes off under her dried grass or into her house (bricks with a tile) to rest

 

[Cyprus Lady]

Hi Joe's Mum from Kent ( I lived in Canterbury before I moved to Cyprus) thanks for your help with the plants. I don't think that 'she' is a wild native. I've lived here 12 years and have never seen or heard of wild ones. However, they are sold in the pet shops for between €30 and €50 so they are popular pets and regular escape artists. I often see posts on Facebook from people that have lost their tortoise. We tried to find his home but had no luck so decided (happily) to keep 'her'. I will post some pictures when I next see her out and about. She seems healthy enough, nice shell, she enjoyed eating the flower from a prickly pear earlier and some grape vine leaves, she sat in her water for about 4 mins and has weed and pooped every day. She then went back into the shade either under the dried grasses in her enclosure or into her house which is brick and tile.

 

[Cyprus Lady]

Does anyone else have any idea what these Mediterranean plants are and whether I can feed them to my tortoise?

 

[Yvonne G]

I'll bet you can find them on the Tortoise Table link that was provided above. That person is based in the UK, and the weeds are probably similar to what you are showing.

 

[redbeef]

far left in picture 7 is 'elephant food', a member of the portulacaria group. I believe it is supposed to be edible

 

[Cyprus Lady]

Thanks, Yvonne. I've spent hours pouring over the tortoise table database which is how I identified the ones that I've named. The others I just can't find and hoped to be able to feed the tortoise from local plants. Tortoises are found wild here on rare occasions so I just have to work out what they eat. She would live on lettuce if I let her!

 

[natureguy]

Hi,
I don't know if anything I can say will benefit you at this point.
Purslane- I would like to clarify that Purslane is a name used for several plants of the genus Portulaca. Portulaca oleracea is not only a very edible plant but is considered by some as almost a superfood! P. oleracea has possibly the highest Omega3 fatty acids of any leafy plant! It has been used for many centuries for food.
I would side with Joe's Mum on the ones in your pics. The Portulaca species in this pic and another similar looking in one of the other pics I would hesitate unless specifically approved for tortoises.

Sow Thistle? this is certainly not the common sow thistle. It has bright green leaves, lacking the strong white middle rib. Is more upright with fewer branches, larger and fewer flowers.. This plant you have is most likely a biennual plant I have never seen Sow Thistle with that much mass although I have seen get 4' or so. Could be a form of Latuca. I have seen Lactuca with grey-green leaves. It is seems in the same group as Lactuca and Sonchus etc. Check if it has a milky sap...that will establish that it is. This same sap reputed as a cure for opium addiction. Since it is an opiate I find this hard to believe!

The Pic with three plants in a tray the plant on the left is Portulacaria afra. Sometimes called Elephants Food. It is not even related to the Portulaca oleracea although it bears some similarity.
Hope this helps!
Michael

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

3. sow thistle?

That looks to me like prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola). It is related to cultivated lettuce (L. sativa), and therefore edible. However, don't be surprised if your tortoise only wants to eat it while it's smaller. As these plants mature, they produce more bitter compounds, and may become less palatable to herbivores.

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Sow Thistle? this is certainly not the common sow thistle. It has bright green leaves, lacking the strong white middle rib. Is more upright with fewer branches, larger and fewer flowers.. This plant you have is most likely a biennual plant I have never seen Sow Thistle with that much mass although I have seen get 4' or so. Could be a form of Latuca. I have seen Lactuca with grey-green leaves. It is seems in the same group as Lactuca and Sonchus etc. Check if it has a milky sap...that will establish that it is. This same sap reputed as a cure for opium addiction. Since it is an opiate I find this hard to believe!

Yep, L. serriola. They are named for their milky white sap, known as latex (from the Latin for "milk"). It's high in oxalic acid, like the latex of other plants, but wild lettuces also contain lactucarium, a kind of opiate. I'm no drug rehabilitation therapist, but I could see how substituting a strong opiate for a milder one another can help people overcome their addiction. After all, substitution therapy is how morphine and heroin addiction are treated clinically.

 

[Cyprus Lady]

Thanks GTT loads of information! You are right she didn't seem to like it and chose hibiscus flowers instaed!