References and Citations

Annotated Bibliography

Burrows, G.E., Tyrl, R.J. (2013) Toxic Plants of North America, 2nd Edition, Oxford, U.K.: John Wiley & Sons,  Inc.

• This is a very readable, but very large and expensive comprehensive review of what is known about harmful plant effects on animals and humans. You might find a copy at a university library. Readable by a layperson, but suitable for a veterinarian as well. It was recommended to me by medical toxicologist, Sandra James-Yi, DVM, PhD, DABT, DABT, and she could not have hooked  me up with a better source.

Elpel, T.J. (2013) Botany in a Day (APG). Pony, Montana: Hops Press, LLC.

• Thomas Elpel has given the world a tremendous gift with this wonderful teaching tool to help us start to get a handle on the relationships between plants at the family level, and he identifies the most salient identification features that bind different plants into a family, so you can learn how to meet an unknown plant in the wild and figure what family it belongs to. My hero.

Fontentot, W.R. (2017). Avian Frugivory in Louisiana. Journal of Louisiana Ornithology. Vol. 10, pp. 11-40.

• Bill Fontenot and a team of nearly 100 observers are documenting and publishing their observations of birds eating fleshy fruits in the wild in Louisiana and generously allowed their data to be included in this website, a significant source of data. Their Facebook page is Plants for Birds in Louisiana, https://www.facebook.com/groups/140691936546856

Foster, S., Caras, R. A. (1994) A Field Guide to Venomous Animals and Poisonous Plants, North America and North of Mexico. Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company.

• I make a point at this website to remind you that this website lists which ANIMALS eat plants, and that this should NOT be construed to mean that any given plant is necessarily safe for HUMANS to eat. This book is part of the Peterson Guides and  is my go-to source for knowing which plants are poisonous to HUMANS and is a good companion to the Peterson’s Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America.

Harris, J.G.& Harris M.W. (1997) Plant Identification Terminology, An Illustrated Glossary.  Spring Lake, Utah: Spring Lake Publishing.

• The language of botany can drive otherwise bright folks to distraction. This is a picture book of botanical parts naming that makes hard- to-describe plant anatomy almost instantly understandable.

Martin, A.C., Zim, H.S., Nelson, A.L. (1951). American Wildlife and Plants: A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits. New York: Dover Publications.

• This book is the root of this project. When I discovered this book, I realized the wealth of info contained in its pages, and also realized the difficulty of accessing this info in a 21rst century since this book was written in the heyday of naturalist-study popularity—the 1950’s. If wildlife food is your thing, make sure you get a copy of this book.

McDorman, B. (1994 ) Basic Seed Saving. Ketchum, ID: Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance.

• Bill McDorman and Belle Starre are on an admirable and necessary mission to preserve plant species diversity worldwide by promoting a non-centralized seed saving and seed banking . If you can make the time for yourself to take Bill’s seed saving webinars, they are very worthwhile and comprehensive. Cool people, critical work.

Newcomb, L. (1977). Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

• Lawrence Newcomb has created an incredibly useful wildflower ID guide that is always the first key I pick up for non-woody wild plants. The key has a unique, easy to learn method that quickly gets you to an identification more times than not. For the vast majority of wildflower ID you want to do in Virginia, the combination of Peterson’s  and Newcomb’s Guides will get you there. Yep, he’s a hero.

Peterson, L.A. (1977). A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

• I make a point at this website to remind you that this website lists which ANIMALS eat plants, and that this should NOT be construed to mean that any given plant is necessarily safe for HUMANS to eat. But if you do want to explore wild HUMAN edible plants, this Peterson guide is my go-to source.

Peterson, R.T., McKenny, M. (1968). Wildflowers: Northeastern/North-central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

• Peterson’s  Guides are one of the gold standard of plant identification and ethnobotanical use. For the vast majority of wildflower ID you want to do in Virginia, the combination of Peterson’s  and Newcomb’s Guides will get you there.

Scott, M. (2013). Songbird Diet Index. National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association, St. Cloud, MN.

• Marcy Scott’s book is the second leg of the 3-legged stool that led to the creation of this website.  She compiled a comprehensive listing of the plants that birds eat. Her book is used extensively by rehabilitators and goes beyond wild plants to include commercial grocery items and commercial and wild insects that make up rehab patient diets. A treasure.

Thayer, S. (2010). Nature’s Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting and Preparing Edible Wild Plants. Birchwood, Wisconsin: Forager’s Harvest Press.

• Once the wild foraging bug grabs you, you might as well go straight to Samual Thayer’s in-depth and deeply nature-connected books. A true master in the foraging world! His writing is very inspiring! He now has 3 books total. A master plant hero.

Virginia Department of Forestry (2009). Common Native Trees of Virginia: Tree Identification Guide. VDOF P00026.

Virginia Department of Forestry (2014). Common Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of Virginia: Identification Guide. VDOF P00027.

• These two books the DOF has created are so affordably priced and are such straightforward guides to Virginia trees and shrubs that I’d advise any Virginia naturalist to include them in their library. I turn to them often. Have decision keys.

Townsend, J. F. (2015, April)  Rare Plants Natural Heritage Technical Report 15-10.                  (Unpublished Report) Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage.

• Townsend is a heavyweight in the botany world in Virginia and beyond. In addition to this technical listing of the threatened and endangered status of wild plants of Virginia, he is a co-author of the definitive Flora of Virginia.

Weakly, A.S., Ludwig, J.C., & Townsend, J.F. (2012) Flora of Virginia. Fort Worth, Texas: Botanical Research Institute of Texas Press.

• This is THE definitive and scholarly final word in the plant census of Virginia, and all you could want to know about each species. However, arm yourself with a good botanical dictionary if you intend to even touch this book. This is a professional botanical resource—a novice stumper. But do familiarize yourself with this amazing and relatively new resource. Check to see if your library has a copy.

Personal Communications

Beane, Jeffrey (2020 February) Personal communication with Herpetology Collection Manager, North Carolina State Museum of Sciences.

Hurst de Mazariegos, J. (2016, December) Personal interview with natural nutrition coach Janelle Hurst de Mazariegos.

James-Yi, S. (2017, September) Personal interview with medical toxicologist Sandra James-Yi,  DVM. PhD, DABT.

Maher, Christine (2020, January) Personal communication with Dr. Maher, Professor of Biology
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Science, Technology, and Health at the University of Southern Maine.

Sam, Susan and Joseph (March 2020) Personal communication with Susan, founder and author of www.woodchuckwonderland.com.

Somers, Ann Berry (2020, February) Personal communication with Ann Berry Somers, M. Sc., Senior Lecturer in Biology and Associate Director of Environment & Sustainability Program, University of North Carolina Greensboro

Van Wick, P. DVM, MS (2017, July) Personal communication with the Research Fellow at the Wildlife Center of Virginia.

Website Citations:

Aikman, Kevin E.,(1987, January 1)  Cyanogenic Plants of Illinois. Masters Theses. 2580. Retrieved July 17, 2017 from http://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/2580

Canadian Poison Plants Information System. (n.d.) Retrieved on 8/6/17 from the Canadian Biodiversity  Information Facility at http://www.cbif.gc.ca/eng/species-bank/canadian-poisonous-plants-information-system/canadian-poisonous-plants-information-system/?id=1370403266275

Cortinovis, C.,  Caloni, F. (2016) Household Food Items Toxic to Dogs and Cats. Front. Vet. Sci. 3:26. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2016.00026 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2016.00026/full

Douglas, S.M. (2015, April)  Pruning: An introduction to why, how and when. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Retrieved January 6, 2017  from http;//www.ct.gov/caes

Douglas, S.M. (2004, September)  Plants reported to cause dermatitis. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Retrieved January 6, 2017  from http;//www.ct.gov/caes

Douglas, S.M. (2008, June)  Poisonous plants. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Retrieved January 6, 2017  from http;//www.ct.gov/caes

Fire Effects Information System (2017) Plant species ecology literature reviews. Retrieved various dates from https://www.feis-crs.org/feis/

• “The Fire Effects Information System is an online collection of reviews of the scientific literature about fire effects on plants and animals and about fire regimes of plant communities in the United States. FEIS reviews are based on thorough literature searches, often supplemented with insights from field scientists and managers. FEIS provides reviews that are efficient to use, thoroughly documented, and defensible.” See below for individual citations.

 Goldenrod (n.d.). Retrieved on December 2, 2015 from http://www.discoverlife.org/

Hilty, J. (2002).White clover. Retrieved March 1, 2017 from http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/white_clover.htm

Ling, H. & Ling, M. (2014, April 13). Lindera benzoin– Spicebush [Web log post]. Retrieved 3/24/16 from http://www.npsnj.org/photo_galleries/photo_pages/lindera_benzoin.html.

McPeake, R. (2012). Grasses and Forbs for Fall and Winter Wildlife Food Plots  University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service Printing Services..Retrieved 6/12/17 from https://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/FSA-9096.pdf

Plants Poisonous to Livestock (n.d.) Retrieved August 8, 2017 from Cornell University College of Agricultural and Life Sciences  Department of Animal Science at http://poisonousplants.ansci.cornell.edu/alphalist.html.

Provin, T.L., Pitt, J.L. (n.d.) Nitrates and Prussic Acid in Forages. Texas A&M AgriLife Communications. Retrieved October 1, 2017 from http:///forages.tamu.edu/PDF/Nitrate.pdf

Stoltenow, C. & Lardy, G. (2012, September) Cyanide Poisoning. Retrieved March 22, 2017 from https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/livestoc/v1150.pdf

Stoltenow, C. & Lardy, G.  (2015, March) Nitrate Poisoning of Livestock. North Dakota State University. Retrieved August 1,2017 from https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/publications/livestock/nitrate-poisoning-of-livestock

USDA, NRCS. (2015). The PLANTS Database, National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA. Retrieved on a variety of dates  from 2015-2017 from http://plants.usda.gov

Virginia Botanical Associates. (2015). Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora, c/o Virginia Botanical Associates, Blacksburg.  Retrieved a variety of dates between 2015-2017 from http://www.vaplantatlas.org).

Wikipedia contributors.  “Ergotism” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, viewed 13 October, 2017.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergotism

Wikipedia contributors.  “Grass Tetany” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, viewed 13 October, 2017.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_tetany

Wikipedia contributors.  “Precautionary Principle” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, viewed 13 October, 2017.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle

Wikipedia contributors.  “Stringhalt” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, viewed 13 October, 2017.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stringhalt

WikiVet contributors.  “Photosensitizantion” WikiVet, viewed 13 October, 2017. http: www.wikivet.net

Citations from FEIS On-Line

Fire Effects Information System, [On-line].

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service

Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Science Laboratory (Producer)

http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/[date]

The following citations are listed alphabetically by common plant name.