I love Stargazers. They are so beautiful and fragrant. I put up a short post about them once in 2009. There is a picture. It seems that the most recent ones we have gotten have not been as pink. They are very pale. And they do not have that strong intoxicating fragrance. We used to have them all the time in the house. Then I heard that they were toxic to cats, so we stopped buying them. We had some recently . . . I do love them.
I was looking at the information on Wiki hoping to share more information than in my first post. There was not a lot of information. The most interesting fact was that they were created in California in 1974. A lily breeder created them. Wow. What a cool thing to have done. Created one of the most popular flowers. If you Google her name a lot of lilies show up. So I am thinking that some are named Leslie Woodriff. The pictures I saw were of “drooping” lillies. I have not seen stargazer droop like that. Click here to see what I mean.
Wiki said the cats are the only animals poisoned by star gazers. About.com had more information about toxicity in cats. The article said the flower itself is the most toxic but ANY part of the plant, if ingested by a feline, can cause problems. Information directly from the article:
The first signs seen are:
• vomiting
• lethargy
• loss of appetite
• tremors
• seizures
Kidney (renal) failure usually follows, and the signs seen are:
• increased thirst
• increased urination initially, followed by lowered urine output, and finally, no urine output
• dehydration
• death
Kidney failure occurs as early as 36 – 72 hours after ingestion.
The article states in addition that treatment is aggressive and can be successful if administered within the first 18 hours. Wow.
Our cat was not one to climb up on things all the time. Yeah, she did it, but not all the time. She didn’t get into a lot of things. But once we learned they were poisonous to cat’s we didn’t buy them any more.
Also, if you have ever had these types of lilies you might have experienced staining from the anther, the orange pill shaped thing that is on the end of the stamen and is powdery to the touch. I had thought these lilies were older than 1974 and was convinced that ancient civilizations used them to dye things. That stuff stains no matter what it touches. Just a little powder from one of those things can make a huge stain. My husband and I are very diligent in pulling them off and throwing away before they can dust the surface below the vase with any powder or worse yet, fall onto the surface. If powder does happen to get onto something VACUUM it up or use a DRY cloth. If any amount of moisture touches that powder it has even MORE staining power. Any of you know what I am talking about when it comes to those things? Incredible.
So do you like these flowers? Do you love the smell? What type of flower do you like?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 