"Rosie" wrote in message
...
I have a toddler and a medium-sized laburnum tree at the back of my
garden,
which seems to produce a lot of seeds.

How poisonous are these seeds? They do seem to get everywhere. Would I
be
best off getting rid of the tree?

(Obviously she isn't left to wander around the garden by herself, but she
does like shoving things in her mouth.)

ROSIE


According to a web search, as little as two seeds can produce symptoms, and
most places say its poisonous, down to parania about people wondering if the
wood is dangerous (well y4es but only if you eat it....) OTOH if its as
deadly as reported, how come actual deaths from it appear to be incredibly
rare?

This looks like a reasonable reference.
http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/spib/summer02.pdf

I did also find a lancet ref which said that it wasnt as dangerous as had
been feared. I suppose once people decide its dangerous no one is going to
bother to investigate exactly how dangerous,and if a horse dies from eating
loads of the stuff that is regarded as proof, rather than as proof of the
stupidity and or sensitivity of horses.

You might also, from a longer term POV, consider if it would be better to
teach her not to eat stuff she doesnt know is good, rather than try and
remove anything remotely dangerous, which is obviously impossible since you
can only affect whats in your garden. If you remove the tree, how will she
know not to eat the seeds from another laburnum elsewhere, or other 'pretty'
berries. Maybe in a couple of years time she'll be round a friends house
playing in the garden, what if they have a laburnum?,My parents drummed it
into me not to eat berries off trees or bushes unless I knew they were OK,
had they shorn the garden of all such plants, there would have been nothing
to warn me against :-)


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Tumbleweed

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