Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As usual I'm roaming the area looking for plants/weeds and came across this yellow plant. Speedy (my tort) really liked it whereas he didn't much go for a Hibiscus. Can anyone identify it for me? My best guess is some kind of Mustard plant which I hope is good food for my tort.

Thanks,

Fred

Hmmm...I don't know what it is, but I am pretty sure it isn't mustard. Mustard usually has more wrinkled leafes, often with tiny hairs, and multiple infloresence (lots of small flowers)and you can usually find seed pods developing. If it was mustard, feed sparingly, said to be high in oxalates? I hope someone can identify it for you, if it turns out to be desireable, I may hit you up for seed! Better go sparingly until you confirm I.D. Good luck,Vic

This is where my Peterson's Field Guide to my region's native plants has been invaluable to me! Thanks to adopting a sulcata I know more about plants today than I ever wanted to know! LOL
Run into a library, a Barnes & Noble, or other book store & see if you can find a field guide for your region to ID the plant.

Or check out these URLs & see if you can find it:

http://www.library.uiuc.edu/vex/vetdocs/toxic.htm

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/publications/poison/poison.html
http://envhort.ucdavis.edu/ce/king/PoisPlant/Tox-COM.htm

http://envhort.ucdavis.edu/ce/king/PoisPlant/SAFE-COM.htm

http://www.turtlestuff.com/ingredients.html

http://www.weedalert.com/cgi-bin/weedalerts.cgi?region=so
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PHRatz

Although I've identified it as a peruvian primose (Ludwigia peruviana), I'm still having trouble determining if it's safe for my tort. At first I saw the word 'noxious' and thought that was bad but it's only used to determine how strictly a weed should be controlled as far as I can gather, dandelion is also 'noxious'. So I guess since I don't see anything saying it'll kill ya, I suppose I can mix it in with the diet once in awhile....I hope.

Thanks for the other links, it'll come in handy as I look for more plants.

Fred

>>Although I've identified it as a peruvian primose (Ludwigia peruviana), I'm still having trouble determining if it's safe for my tort. At first I saw the word 'noxious' and thought that was bad but it's only used to determine how strictly a weed should be controlled as far as I can gather, dandelion is also 'noxious'. So I guess since I don't see anything saying it'll kill ya, I suppose I can mix it in with the diet once in awhile....I hope.
>>
>>Thanks for the other links, it'll come in handy as I look for more plants.
>>
>>Fred

You're welcome for the links & now that you have ID'd the plant I looked it up in my Peterson's Field Guide to Venomous Animals & Poisonous Plants, it's not there. That's a good thing.
I also have the Peterson's Field Guide to Medicinal Plants & Herbs, it lists Evening Primrose & Hooker's Evening Primrose as medicinal plants but it does not list Peruvian Primose at all, that's good too.
If it's in neither book that means it doesn't have any toxic properties for humans so that should mean it's not toxic to tortioses either...unless the books don't list everything that is toxic.
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PHRatz

Good to know! Of course when I went back to pick some more, the flowers were all wilted. Guess I caught the end of the blooming season.

>>Good to know! Of course when I went back to pick some more, the flowers were all wilted. Guess I caught the end of the blooming season.

HAH!! That's about right. Just when you find something it's gone. That's happened to me a few times since we adopted a tortoise. I bought a hibiscus plant just to try to see if I could keep it alive with my "brown thumb" I don't live in hibiscus climate so I wasn't sure if it would live or not.
I can't believe it! It's still alive. I bought it in 2004, it spent the winter indoors last year, I brought it back inside again 2 weeks ago because it was getting so cold it started to look bad. After I brought it in, it actually bloomed!
Sometimes potted plants inside the house is the way to go.
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PHRatz