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Monday - February 07, 2011

From: Leesville, SC
Region: Southeast
Topic: Shade Tolerant
Title: Non-poisonous trees to shade horse pasture in Leesville SC
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Please list NON-poisonous trees for horses in South Carolina. I would live to plant a few trees along the fence of my horse pasture and in my horse pasture for shade.

ANSWER:

Quoting from a very recent Mr. Smarty Plants question on this subject:

"First, let me tell you which trees are not safe to plant around horses. Avoid all Quercus species (oaks) and Prunus species (plums, peaches, cherries, apricots, etc.). Also, do not plant Acer rubrum (scarlet maple) or any Acer species—see Toxic Plants of Texas. Most pine species are not listed on any toxic plant database, but Pinus ponderosa (Ponderosa pine) does appear on several of the databases below and should not be planted near cattle or horses."

Here are databases that you can use to check on toxicity of plants to horses and other animals:

Pennsylvania's Poisonous Plants from the Universtiy of Pennsylvania

Cornell University Plants Poisonous to Livestock

Toxic Plants of Texas

ASPCA's Toxic and Non-Toxic Plant List - Horses

Horse Nutrition: Poisonous Plants from Ohio State University Extension Service

10 Most Poisonous Plants for Horses from Equisearch"

Now, we'll go to our Recommended Species section, click on South Carolina on the map and select for "Trees" under General Appearance. We will, of course, omit any that fall into the categories listed above. As we composed this list, we followed the plant link to the webpage on that particular tree to be sure there were no warnings about poisonous seeds, etc. The trees we selected all seem to be potentially good shade trees; except for the magnolias, most are deciduous. You can choose the trees you prefer and search on the websites we have given you, using the scientific name to search on.

Trees non-toxic to horses for South Carolina:

Betula nigra (River birch)

Carex castanea (Chestnut sedge)

Liriodendron tulipifera (Tuliptree)

Magnolia acuminata (Cucumbertree)

Magnolia grandiflora (Southern magnolia)

Nyssa sylvatica (Blackgum)

Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)

Sassafras albidum (Sassafras)

From our Native Plant Image Gallery: