Conference misery::feline_v1

    Thanks for this list. I intend to put all these into
    the list that I'll compile for our shelter's flyer.
    
    Pat
    

    I suggest strongly that you get a copy of a good herbal (John Lust's
    book is a _very_ comprehensive one, in mass-market paperback, that
    lists nearly every plant as an herb).  Many of the names you listed
    are folk names that have pseudonyms.
    
    Example: May Apply is also called "American Mandrake" or "Mandrake."
     The generic name is _Podphyllum Peltatum_, and is not to be confused
    with _real_ Mandrake (Mandragora) [I'm familiar with both].  Both
    are toxic, but Mandragora is also an hallucenogenic plant.  Nothing
    to be fooled around with (Mandragora's old world, so can't be stumbled
    upon; May Apple grows wild from Maine to Central Florida and is
    definitely an outdoor plant.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    I second that.  I believe the diffenbachia (sp?) is the same as
    the "dumb cane."  The only place I had ever heard of dumb cane was
    in books.  Perhaps this is a difference of location, as I have always
    lived in the West, but although I had known that dumb cane could
    be dangerous, I had no idea my diffenbachia was.

    	Ok,  I have another list, which is lent out to someone right
    now, that has scientific names.  
    
    	I prefer the lists with scientific names but since the original
    requestor used the popular name Patience rather than (the more familiar
    to me) Impatiens I figured that both lists would do some good.
    
    	I try to get my other list back again and type it in.
    
    tlh
    

    
    
    	Hi,  
    
    	Star Market in Nashua is having a great sale on large plants.
    	$9.99 each!!  They are huge and very healthy looking.  There
    	are four kinds but I need to know if they could be toxic before
    	I go buy them all.
    
    	I've read the following notes : 265,266,320, and 757 looking
        to find out if they are toxic and only found out that one
    	of them (Umbrella Tree Scherfflera) is.  The other three are
    	not listed.  Could one of you take the following list home
    	and look them up in your book please??
    
    	Yucca Cane Plant (Yucca Elephantipes)
    	Rubber Plant (Ficus Elastica Robusta)
    
    	And Tropical Plant - that is all the tag said, I couldn't
    	find a scientific name.  This was the prettiest of the bunch
    	and had small leaves.  It was bushy and kind of reminded
    	me of a lemon tree.  
    
    	Please let me know!!  I want plants but have to buy them
    	cheap because if the cats don't kill them by eating them,
    	then I kill them by not watering them.  Plants aren't like
    	cats.... they can't tell you when you've neglected them...
    
    	Karen
    

    Re: .5
    
    Doesn't the saga going on in some other note involve the destruction
    of rubber palnts by furfaces?  So, I would guess the former are
    not toxic to the latter.
    

    I've got a rubber tree and aja couldn't care less about it. Obviously
    that doesn't mean it's non-toxic, but at least it's not sending
    out little "eat me" messages....
    
    ...course, TK and Bandit are a bit more, um, adventurous than aja
    and may react differently.
    
    Edd

    
    
    I also have a rubber tree and the most damage my two do to it is
    dig up all the dirt and rub it around on my brand new carpet -
    only when they're upset with me, of course (like when I rub them
    the wrong way  ;^> - ha ha sorry, I couldn't help it)
    
    Katie
    

    I do know that the rubber tree plant has a fluid inside that will
    cause numbness if bitten into.  But I haven't known of any cats that
    ever bit one.
    
    Kathy

    Re: .9
    
    numbness?  Are we talking about rubber tree plants or dieffenbackia
    (sp?) aka dumb cane?
    

    Re: .10
    
    You may be right.  I heard this a few years ago and could be wrong.
    
    Kathy