Hello, I was wondering if anybody knew what this is and if it is safe for my tortoise.
What plant is this?
- Thread starter leigti
- Start date
It's a little too blurry for me to get a good handle on it.
I think it's henbit (henbit - causes 'staggers' in foraging mammals (a condition that usually arises from consuming mycotoxins), is toxic to birds, but safe for humans. I would avoid it if possible)
Yikes, that does sound a little scary. I will avoid it. Thanks a lo.
Oh crap. I thought it was dead nettle. The Sudans eats tons of it the days their able to get some outside time. Guess I will be plucking that out the yards tomorrow.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Ok I panicked and googled purple dead nettle and henbit. Both have the purple flowers but I'm like 98% what you have in pic is dead nettle. The leaves on henbit is different, kinda scalloped looking.
I would Google it yourself just to make sure.
I would Google it yourself just to make sure.
I will put it on garden compass. My tortoise has eaten it to last year and this year. Here I thought I was about to kill her I hope that it is the non-toxic one. I will let you know what garden compasses
I would say it's red dead nettle, Lamium purpurium, which tortoise table says is safe. Leaves different to henbit as described above, but be careful as they do grow together sometimes , though tortoise table says it can find no evidence of the toxins in this, but recommend feeding sparingly if at all.
I fed dead nettle to my torts in England with no ill effects, but haven't tried it on Tidgy, yet, as I'm not sure I've seen it locally.
To be sure, henbit has no stalks to the leaves at the top of the plant, they grow straight from the stem , all of the dead nettles leaves are stalked.
I fed dead nettle to my torts in England with no ill effects, but haven't tried it on Tidgy, yet, as I'm not sure I've seen it locally.
To be sure, henbit has no stalks to the leaves at the top of the plant, they grow straight from the stem , all of the dead nettles leaves are stalked.
Thanks. I will probably end up avoiding it overall. I don't want to take chances that I won't see something else mixed in with it. I know nothing about plants.
Absolutely, not worth the risk if you are uncertain.
If in doubt, chuck it out.
Garden compass says it is red or purple dead nettle.
The difference in the two can be seen in the leaves. Henbit has heart-shaped leaves with big scalloped edges that grow along the entire length of the stem. The Purple Dead Nettle (dead in this case means not stinging) has more triangular shaped leaves that grow in a big clumps.
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