GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

27-08-2004, 07:13 AM

writes:

Ummm... as far as I know only a few laurels are edible - bay laurel being
one of them (or the part that we Brits would call Bay leaves is edible,
though I seem to see it used to flavour the dish then to be taken out
before
eating), the rest being quite poisonous. So I am told. I certainly have
been
told to keep my dawgs from chewing the laurel hedge I have in my fenced
off
part of the garden, anyway.

Could anyone confirm or deny ?

Rachael

==========================

Bay laurel is used for cooking.

I can tell you, however, that some laurel is poisonous. Sadly, many years
ago during an extreme snowstorm, the branches of our laurel hedge dropped
down over the cage of our son's beloved rabbit which nibbled on the
leaves. She died shortly thereafter. We had been told it was poisonous
but it is so commonly used for hedges that I wondered though we thought
the cage was far enough away that it couldn't affect the rabbit. We even
positioned the cage so that leaves couldn't fall into the cage.

I have purchased bay leaves for cooking for years. Now I have my own
two-foot high tree and enjoy the leaves often as well as including them in
herb baskets given to friends.

Just my experience.

Glenna