Edible Houseplants?

giantmutantbroccoli

Hi guys,
I'm looking for some non-toxic houseplants for my livingroom. I have pet rats who like to climb about and no out of reach places to put toxic plants, so I'm currently limited to kitchen herbs in my livingroom. I want to get some pretty houseplants, preferably with flowers to add a bit of colour over christmas. Anyone got any reccomendations for edible plants I can use?
I'll check if they're edible for rats before I get any, but most things that are okay for humans are okay for rats as well.

dragon47

I am fairly sure the following are all non-toxic;

Yucca
spider plant
buisy lizzie (impatiens)
violets

laurel7172

Um...well, the day I discovered my dd could move from a sitting position, she bum-shuffled to a maidenhair fern and helped herself. It was the only green thing she ever ate voluntarily.

One call to the hospital toxicology department later, I was told it wasn't poisonous. But not to leave it where it was....

lostinrates

I don't know how hard work they are, I keep other citrus, but I understand budda's fingers are wonderful houseplants, beautifully scented when in flower. My citrus trees comeinto the conservatory over winter, and are relatively hard work, but I'mreally keen to try a house plant budda's fingers. The reason I first thought about it is I have cats.

giantmutantbroccoli

Thanks guys, that's all good to know. I've spotted that Ikea is selling wintergreen, an edible evergreen with red berries, so I'm going to give that a try. The berries should last all of 5 minutes
I like the sound of buddha's fingers, and the freaky way they look! Luckily my rats are female, so citrus fruit is okay. Male rats have an enzyme in their liver that converts something found in orange/citrus peel to a toxin.
Violets sound good as well.
laurel - can't say as I'd like to try feeding my rats maidenhair but your description of the bum-shuffling made me lol! Sometimes I wonder how anyone survives childhood

lostinrates

giantmutantbroccoli wrote: »

. Male rats have an enzyme in their liver that converts something found in orange/citrus peel to a toxin.

How interesting! But you raise a good point. There are lists on the internet of plants toxic to cats. Toxicity is not always unviersal, as your example shows, so it may be worth searching for a simialr list of non toxic plants for rats!

giantmutantbroccoli

Thanks lostinrates! Never occurred to me to look, I feel a right dummy now
If anyone else is looking for something similar, there's lists of plants that are toxic to rats here:
http://www.ratfanclub.org/plants.html

Still, if anyone has any ideas on other pretty, non-toxic houseplants - or pretty vegetables that you can grow indoors - I'd love to hear them. I know little about houseplants other than if you water them too much they get mildew and die, and if you don't they dry out and die My only survivors are some basil that just won't die, a couple of christmas cacti (not in the livingroom - and a month early!) and a peace lily (also not in my livingroom).

lostinrates

With that impressive list you'de think they'd be easier to, er, keep in check when unwanted barn visitors!