Should I feed this or not?

Rocky219

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This may be a confusing post. I used a plant identification app and discovered that I have Spiraea japonica. Spiraea Japonica is not on the tortoise table (I have used multiple names) on the tortoise table website it says that spiraea alone is safe to feed. Another name for spiraea is meadowsweet. On the tortoise table it then says that meadowsweet is not safe to feed but it is just another word for spiraea. I have no clue if i should feed spiraea japonica or not since it is a hybrid of spiraea. I looked on the torotise table and most foods with the word japonica in it are not safe to feed. Should I feed it or not? I understand if this was a very confusing post and I apologize if I didn't make sense. Any responses are much appreciated
 

Canadian Mojo

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This may be a confusing post. I used a plant identification app and discovered that I have Spiraea japonica. Spiraea Japonica is not on the tortoise table (I have used multiple names) on the tortoise table website it says that spiraea alone is safe to feed. Another name for spiraea is meadowsweet. On the tortoise table it then says that meadowsweet is not safe to feed but it is just another word for spiraea. I have no clue if i should feed spiraea japonica or not since it is a hybrid of spiraea. I looked on the torotise table and most foods with the word japonica in it are not safe to feed. Should I feed it or not? I understand if this was a very confusing post and I apologize if I didn't make sense. Any responses are much appreciated
Always go by the botanical name when you need to check things out. Common names vary by region and can overlap in stupid and potentially dangerous ways. Hemlock, Conium maculatum, will kill you. Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, won't. There not at all related; one's a tree, and one is related to carrots.

...and it's the one that's related to carrots that will kill you. The point I'm making here is that just because something is related to a safe plant, you can't assume it's safe as well. You're absolutely right to question the safety in this case.

The name japonica itself means nothing in terms of safety. It is literally the Latinized word for japan. The person who discovered and catalogued this particular plant apparently wasn't very creative. Sometimes the name can be more descriptive, maculatum is Greek for vertigo, and alludes to the symptoms you feel from eating it.

I went and took a closer look at the listings on the TT, and I think I see where the issue is in this case. It's one part common name confusion, the Brits don't use the name like we do, and one part outdated botanical names. The table says Spirea sp. are safe. Sp. is an abbreviation for species, and should mean all Spireas (the genus) is safe to eat. You then look up meadowsweet and it lists Filipendula ulmaria; syn. spiraea ulmaria as feed sparingly. The key here is that little syn. tucked in there; it's short for synonym. This plant is actually in the genus Filipendula. Once upon a time it was lumped in with the genus Spirea because of visual similarities but research shows they're not that closely related and it was renamed. Even though it's wrong, a lot of people still use the old name so it gets included.

In summation: Spirea good, Filipendula not so good, and Spirea ulmaria is really Filipendula ulmaria.

...and botanists can be really f-ing annoying.
 

Maro2Bear

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This is what I do with lots of plants. There are so many good ones to offer, why take a chance on something no one is sure of?

I agree with Tom. Feed what you know and are confident with and skip other plants. Why risk feeding a one-off seasonal weed, flower, bush, bulb, etc.
 

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