Identification: Unknown plant

Discussion in 'Indoor and Greenhouse Plants' started by Heather Shepherd, May 1, 2008.

  1. Heather Shepherd

    Heather Shepherd Member

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    Location:
    Moose Jaw, SK Canada
    I have a plant that has leaves shaped like clover leafs that close up in the evening. It also gets little white flowers sometimes. I would like to know if it is toxic to my cats as they keep nibbling on it.
     

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  2. Ispied

    Ispied Active Member

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    Burlington, Ontario, Canada
    Looks like Oxalis, but not 100%. It looks like the purple leafed house plant I have which gets small lilac coloured flowers.
     
  3. joclyn

    joclyn Rising Contributor

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    yes, that's oxalis. there are many varieties - leaf color can be green, reddish, purple, variegated, any combo of all. flowers could be white, yellows, purples, pinks.

    i think they'd have to eat a LOT of it for it to cause any damage. are they actually eating the leaves or just biting into them? if just biting, then they're stopping before really ingesting so the only thing you should see is some irritation around/in the mouth.

    i'd move it to a location they can't reach just to be on the safe side.
     
  4. Heather Shepherd

    Heather Shepherd Member

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    Thank you for your quick reply. I am not sure how much of the leafs my cat usually eats as I usually find parts of the leafs all around the pot and a lot of chewed leafs on the plant and it is hard to discern how much he has actually consumed. So far he hasn't got sick although he did have diarrhea quite badly which could have been from eating the greenery.
     
  5. Cereusly Steve

    Cereusly Steve Active Member

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    Oxalis triangularis, often still grown under the obsolete name Oxalis regnelii.
     
  6. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    That's certainly what happens to my cat when she gets into the oxalis patch. I grow a different species than you do, for its edible tubers. However, since kitty is a salad-hound, she'll eat just about any low-growing green plant once. (Thank goodness she had the sense to stay away from the oleanders.... I fenced them in just in case.) In my experience, though, the amount of green matter actually ingested by a cat with the munchies is minimal - mostly mine sort of chews the leaves a bit then makes a face and spits them out.

    If your cats are salad-fiends as well, I'd suggest offering them "catgrass" (available in seed at most petstores,) the greens from a beet (I actually planted a beet in a pot specifically for the cat), or otherwise a spider-plant. This is all completely cat-safe salad.
     
  7. Heather Shepherd

    Heather Shepherd Member

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    Thanks for your suggestions. I have tried the cat grass but my cats tend to make a horrible mess with it. I like the idea of the beet so I may grow some specifically for them and maybe my husband (who loves beets) will get the end result.
     

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