Western minniebush
General poisoning notes:
Western minniebush
(Menziesia ferruginea) is a native shrub found in western Canada. This
plant has occasionally been implicated in cases of sheep poisoning. Feeding
experiments have shown that it does cause poisoning in sheep. It is considered
less toxic that some other members of the heath family, such as Kalmia
spp. and Rhododendron spp. (Marsh 1914, Kingsbury 1964).
Description:
Shrubs
erect, branching, often forming thickets, 1-2.5 m, malodorous when bruised,
bark of older branches loosely shredding or glabrous, young twigs finely hairy
or somewhat glandular-pilose. Leaves: petiole 2-4 mm; blade light green abaxially,
oblong-elliptic to obovate or ovate-elliptic to elliptic-obovate, 3-6 cm, base
cuneate, margins glandular-ciliate, apex acute or rounded with mucronate tip
ca. 0.1-0.2 mm, tapering to petiole, abaxial surface stipitate-glandular and/or
hairy, midvein scales lanceolate-glandular, not cleft or, rarely, 2-cleft,
adaxial surface pilose and/or sparsely stipitate-glandular. Pedicels
spreading to drooping, spreading to erect in fruit, filiform, 1-3 cm,
stipitate-glandular with ± minute pilose hairs. Flowers appearing with
leaves; calyx lobes broadly triangular, 0.5-1 mm, margins lacerate-ciliate,
apex rounded to subacute, stipitate-glandular; corolla greenish or yellowish
tinged with red or bronze, 6-10 × 5 mm, lobes 1.5 mm; nectariferous disc
obscurely 8-crenate; filaments subulate, flattish, slightly dilated proximally,
hairy near base; anthers linear; ovary globose, glandular but not hairy. Capsules
ovoid to ovoid-oblong, 5-8 mm, glabrous or very sparsely stipitate-glandular
and/or puberulent. Seeds pale brown, linear, 2.5-3 mm including 2
appendages 1 mm each. 2n = 26.
Nomenclature:
Scientific Name: Menziesia ferruginea Sm.
Vernacular
name(s): western minniebush
Other name(s): Fool’s
huckleberry, mock or false azalea, rusty-leaf or rusty or Pacific or smooth
menziesia Fool’s huckleberry, mock or false azalea, rusty-leaf or rusty or
Pacific or smooth menziesia
Scientific family
name: Ericaceae
Vernacular family
name: heath
Geographic Information
Alberta, British
Columbia.
Toxic parts:
Leaves.
Notes on Toxic plant chemicals:
Andromedotoxins
(grayanotoxins) are diterpenoid alkaloids. These toxins are common to all
poisonous members of the heath family (including Kalmia spp. and Rhododendron
spp.).
Toxic plant chemicals:
Andromedotoxins.
Chemical
diagram(s) are courtesy of Ruth McDiarmid, Biochemistry Technician, Kamloops
Range Station, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Kamploops, British Columbia,
Canada.
Animals/Human Poisoning:
Note: When an
animal is listed without additional information, the literature (as of 1993)
contained no detailed explanation.
Sheep
General symptoms of
poisoning:
breathing, labored
gait, staggering
mouth, frothing of
nausea
paralysis
salivation
weakness.
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