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Tuesday - October 26, 2010

From: Lake City, FL
Region: Southeast
Topic: Poisonous Plants
Title: Is Loropetalum poisonous to horses in Lake City FL?
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

Is loropetalum poisonous to horses? I know it is a member of the witch hazel family but cannot find a definitive answer about loropetalum itself. Thank you!

ANSWER:

Whenever we get questions about poisonous plants, we usually go to the databases listed below.

Toxic Plants of Texas

Poisonous Plants of North Carolina

Cornell University Plants Poisonous to Livestock

University of Pennsylvania Poisonous Plants

Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System

Toxic Plants: Horses from the ASPCA

Equisearch

Poisonous Range Plants of Temperate North America

I've looked through these databases and do not find the genus Loropetalum listed. There are at least two possible reasons for this: one is that it may not be a poisonous plant. The other could be that since it is a non-native (introduced from Japan and Southern China ), the databases don't list it. I did find this link from Justanswer.com, but like you said, it is not very definitive. I'm including two links from Floridata for your information; one on Loropetalum, and the other on Witch hazel.