Hi all, John and Jim, plants in the amaryllis family, like Narcissus and Lycoris for example, contain toxic alkaloids that are presumably there because they deter predation. It's also why we may eat fried onions but not fried daffodils! Jim Shields in cold and snowy central Indiana (USA) At 01:25 PM 12/16/2005 -0500, you wrote: >......... >John Bryan asked why some bulbs are devoured and not others. One reason is >that some contain bitter compounds of magnesium (or is it manganese? I >always get those mixed up.) which make them unpalatable to all but starving >critters. Certain lilies such as Lilium henryi and its hybrids, L. hansonii >and its hybrids, are good examples. > >Jim McKenney ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA