wild ferns?
05-18-2007, 07:02 PM
#3
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Maine
Posts: 12,669
RE: wild ferns?
Deer here will and do eat some types of fern while others they use to bed in and hind their fawns in. The type they eat here is the same type we pick early in the year. Those are the ones we call fiddleheads.
05-19-2007, 04:22 AM
#4
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: WC FL
Posts: 26,323
RE: wild ferns?
[*]Fronds may release hydrogen cyanide (HCN) when they are damaged (cyanogenesis), particularly the younger fronds. Herbivores, including sheep, selectively graze young fronds that are acyanogenic (without HCN) Lignin, tannin, and silicate levels tend to increase through the growing season making the plants less palatable. Cyanide (HCN) levels fall during the season as do the levels of a thiaminase which prevents utilization of B vitamins.
[*]Toxicity: Known to be poisonous to livestock throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. Simple stomach animals like horses, pigs, and rats develop a thiamine deficiency within a month. Acute bracken poisoning affects the bone marrow of both cattle and sheep, causing anemia and hemorrhaging which is often fatal. Blindness and tumors of the jaws, rumen, intestine, and liver are found in sheep feeding on bracken fern.
[*]Toxicity: All parts of brackenfern, including rootstocks, fresh or dry leaves, fiddleheads and spores, contain toxic compounds, and are poisonous to livestock and humans. Consumption of brackenfern causes vitamin B1 deficiency in horses, and toxins can pass into the milk of cattle. Young leaves of brackenfern have been used as a human food source, especially in Japan, and may be linked to increased incidence of stomach cancer. Humans working outdoors near abundant stands of the plant may be at risk from cancer-causing compounds in the spores.
[*]Toxicity: Known to be poisonous to livestock throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. Simple stomach animals like horses, pigs, and rats develop a thiamine deficiency within a month. Acute bracken poisoning affects the bone marrow of both cattle and sheep, causing anemia and hemorrhaging which is often fatal. Blindness and tumors of the jaws, rumen, intestine, and liver are found in sheep feeding on bracken fern.
[*]Toxicity: All parts of brackenfern, including rootstocks, fresh or dry leaves, fiddleheads and spores, contain toxic compounds, and are poisonous to livestock and humans. Consumption of brackenfern causes vitamin B1 deficiency in horses, and toxins can pass into the milk of cattle. Young leaves of brackenfern have been used as a human food source, especially in Japan, and may be linked to increased incidence of stomach cancer. Humans working outdoors near abundant stands of the plant may be at risk from cancer-causing compounds in the spores.
05-20-2007, 01:45 PM
#5
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Maine
Posts: 12,669
RE: wild ferns?
I am not contesting anyone but, here the same fern " fiddleheads " are sold in stores as well. These are not just any fern however and I agree with what Rebel said on most ferns. They are like mushrooms you would have to know which ones are which. Here fiddleheads and trout go hand in hand. Meaning that when the fiddleheads come out trout will start biting in most of the streams and rivers. The deer will also eat this type of fern.
