The Tortoise Table

Hi, I’ve got a few plants here that I’m not sure are safe to feed.

The yellow flower is Centaurea Macroceohela or bighead knapweed so I’m guessing it’s safe.

The red one is Mondara Didyma or Scarlet Beebalm which is a member of the bergamot family.

The thistle leaves have a tall flowering stem with delicate pink flowers. It’s called Morina Longifolia or whorlflower.

Any advice would be helpful please.

Here’s the Morena Longifolia flower.

Hi MiriPiri,

Lovely plants there. Lin and I were just talking about Centaurea macrocephela as we love the scales on the flower heads of that plant. We have three entries for various species of Centaurea -- two are moderate feed and one is freely feed. I've tried to see if there is anything in C. macrocephela that might be harmful, and I can't find anything. There are two species of Centaurea that are allelopathic (the roots give out a toxic substance to prevent other plants from growing nearby), but this doesn't seem to have that problem, so I would say that you could classify it as a moderate feed (but if you want to be cautious then feed only sparingly).

We do have an entry for Monarda (I think there was a typing error in your post) https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/pla ... trRtYTMIqQ And all species in that genus are safe to feed.

The Morina longifolia I'm less sure about. I've had a good look and I can't see that it is toxic, although it is said to possibly cause skin irritation in humans. I've also seen that the essential oil has antibacterial and antifungal properties, but of course essential oils are highly concentrated and those properties would be diluted in the actual leaves and flowers. It's in the same family (Caprifoliaceae) as Weigela and Lonicera (Honeysuckle) which are edible, but Sambucus (Elder), Snowberry and Viburnum are also in that family and they aren't edible. I think I would treat it with caution, although you could try tiny amounts, and I wouldn't be too worried if your tortoise accidentally nibbles on a plant.

Hope that helps. You certainly have some lovely plants in your garden!

Nina






MiriPiri wrote:
> Hi, I’ve got a few plants here that I’m not sure are safe to feed.
>
> The yellow flower is Centaurea Macroceohela or bighead knapweed so I’m
> guessing it’s safe.
>
> The red one is Mondara Didyma or Scarlet Beebalm which is a member of the
> bergamot family.
>
> The thistle leaves have a tall flowering stem with delicate pink flowers.
> It’s called Morina Longifolia or whorlflower.
>
> Any advice would be helpful please.

Thank you Nina. My spelling mistake was one of my typical dyslexic slips . I wish these were my plants, but they are at some gardens I work at. However, I’ve been told I can have some so I think I’ll go for the knapweed and beebalm and leave the other one. Thank you so much for your help.

That's nice of them to give you the plants. Just make sure that nothing has been sprayed with insecticide or pesticides (if you work there I'm sure you already know whether or not they spray), as tortoises are really sensitive to them.
Happy munching!

Nina