driftwood q, esp for WetMan

[carpguy]

The esp. for WetMan part:
I noticed in your Tea thread you were heading down towards the garden district. I was wondering if you ever noticed the dry goods shop about halfway down the main strip on the north side -- they have madly large chunks of mopani and assorted other driftwood including some very branchy bundles. Thought it might be up your alley.

The open question:
I've seen some wood while out hiking, the most beautiful "drift"wood I've ever seen. I think its dead mountain laurel. No rot, no live sap, no bark or green tissue of any sort. Wind blasted and dry, kept up off the ground by the live plants around it. For some reason the fact that its mountain laurel makes me a little edgy. Does anyone know anything about this wood and its potential toxicity?

Thanks,
carpguy

 

[wetmanNY]

Mountain-Laurel is reputed to have some toxins in the leaves, but the White-Tail Deer that overrun the Eastern forests like rats eat it to the ground. It's gone from the woodlands that are infested with deer.

Besides, the stuff that would pollute the tank is in leaves and sap and in the green inner bark. The weathered knarly branches you're describing have nothing left but lignin and cellulose. I'd even think sections of the peeling bark on such well-weathered pieces would be safe. Sounds like a good resource.

I better have a more thorough look at the florist district the next time. I never thought to look for chunks of Mopane there. Natural corkbark is a nice resource to have on hand.

 

[carpguy]

If I get a decent harvest of the Mountain Laurel I'll alert you to a little pile, say a hundred feet north of Strawberry Fields. Its evergreenness had me a little worried, but I've seen pieces that are blasted raw.

The nice russian lady on 28th St said they carried corkbark intermittently but she could get as much as I needed. An interesting place even if you walk out empty handed.

 

[wetmanNY]

Mountain-Laurel, which is Kalmia latifolia, may be the state flower of Connecticut, but in Appalachia it's called "Lamb-Kill." The toxin, Andromedotoxin, is common to some other shrubs and woody shrublets of the heath family. In general, I'd avoid evergreen wood in an aquarium, too. And you have to be wary of anything you find sold as a tincture in homeopathic medicine Websites: too chemically active for an enclosed system.

But the weathered wood itself is safe.

(psst, carpguy: on the steep slope right against the Central Park West wall?)