Be cautious with sweet clover

[hoodat]

When my doctor heard I often used herbs and herbal teas he gave me a list of plants to avoid. Since my open heart surgery and diagnosis of atrial fibrilation I have been on Warfarin. According to the list he gave me I should avoid sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis) in any form. It is a natural source of coumadine (warfarin)so using it could cause an overdose.
The coumadine is more concentrated in moldy sweet clover but also occurs in green plants.
It follows therefore that it should be avoided with rabbits, especially pregnant does. Warfarin in the blood could cause excessive bleeding and possibly even death in a doe giving birth.
Besides it's medicinal use warfarin is used as a rat poison since an overdose of it causes the rats to bleed internally.
Be cautious when cutting bur clover for your rabbits since sweet clover bears a strong resemblance to it. You can tell the difference as soon as you cut it. Bur clover has little odor whereas sweet clover smells very sweet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melilotus_officinalis

 

[CWD]

WOW thanks for the heads up.
I use sweet clover herbal tea. I had bypass surgery 2 years ago along with 4 stints.
I do not use warfarin, I am on corage. I'll have to ask my Dr. next week when I see him.
I will also be watching what clover my rabbits get.

 

[Miss M]

Wow, I had no idea!

My mom has had a Starr-Edwards valve for 43 years now, and all this time on Warfarin. She likes herbal teas, but hasn't had sweet clover.

 

[MaggieJ]

I knew there were issues with sweet clover and I never feed it to my rabbts. Thanks for the information behind the simple knowledge to avoid it, Hoodat. It's always better to have the full story.

 

[GypsyTinker]

Maybe the pills are what should be avoided Stick to the sweet clover tea instead!

As you can see, I am NOT a doctor. Plants are powerful medicine and there is too much lost knowledge. Everyone should learn about them and use them.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

I rememebr from doing one of my research papers on Invasive weeds- that this plant is considered in many stes, to BE a weed that can negatively impact the quality of agricultural products- in other words-- MOST farmers do NOT want to see it in their fields!!!

 

[trinityoaks]

That's good to know, hoodat! I wish I'd known that back when I had a blood clot in my leg. I was on heparin instead of coumadin, which I couldn't take because I was pregnant.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Wow, interesting! Thank you for sharing.

 

[MaggieJ]

Sweet clover, grown as a cover crop, does great things for the heavy clay soil here in Southern Ontario. I remember my dad growing a big patch and then plowing it under. The beets that year grew to the size of rutabagas and my mom would send me down to the fruit cellar to bring up a carrot or two. We were a family of seven.

 

[Secuono]

Other clovers also get a fungus on them and with horses, can cause swellings, some minor and some serious. Most common side effect of a horse on a lot of fungy clover is the slobber.

 

[Frecs]

First: always check for counter-indications when mixing medicines and herbs. A good resource is HealthNotes (available at http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/health/)

Second: always good to positively identify a plant because some clovers make good rabbit food and some do not.

 

[hoodat]

First: always check for counter-indications when mixing medicines and herbs. A good resource is HealthNotes (available at http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/health/)

Second: always good to positively identify a plant because some clovers make good rabbit food and some do not.

That's why I cautioned about not confusing sweet and bur clover. Bur clover is one of the main foods that are available to foragers around this area and is a very good feed but I often fing bur and sweet clover growing close to one another.