2007-11-17 23:42:28 · 8 answers · asked by Don Carpenter 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Botany
I had a salad with oak leaves once..it tasted normal.
2007-11-18 02:06:16 · answer #1 · answered by MusicLove 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, let's think this through a minute:
Leaves are the tree's primary processing centers, where they turn raw materials into key components like food and building materials. They're also expensive to build and maintain - maybe not so much individually, but it's a huge cost to the tree to build all those leaves even once a year (if it's a deciduous tree like an oak). You figure on losing some over the year to a variety of dangers - it cuts into your 'profit margin', but your 'profits' are big enough you can afford it. Now suppose that just anyone could come along and grab a handful of leaves to eat. Pretty soon, you're spending a whole lot more replacing leaves than you want - your 'profit margin' is dropping fast and it's starting to cut into your ability to build yourself up and pump out seeds.
This is why most plants have some kind of defense in the leaves to (hopefully) keep them from being eaten in large quantities. A number of these (chemical) defenses have unpleasant effects on mammals; some can even be serious. It's far better and safer _not_ to eat random leaves; sure some may be relatively harmless (if bad-tasting), but some can be pretty bad for you. I leave it to you to read up on the subject and find out which are which...
2007-11-18 00:09:34 · answer #2 · answered by John R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What Eats Oak Leaves
2016-12-17 06:28:04 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes ~ Some of the leaves are eaten though i am not sure about Oak as the above answerer said the leaves of the various trees may taste dfrnt
2007-11-17 23:51:33 · answer #4 · answered by Pd 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The carbohydrate in leaves is mainly cellulose and our digestive system does not have digestive enzymes to break down cellulose. We get no nutrition from such food
thats a quick bit of info I found from googling it...
good luck
2007-11-17 23:52:12 · answer #5 · answered by grateful 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oak leaves would be safe to eat, but they may not taste very good.
2007-11-17 23:47:32 · answer #6 · answered by Charlie149 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is better to include leaves in the diet, but I don't know about oak leaves.
2007-11-17 23:51:43 · answer #7 · answered by sunlight 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check out the wikipedia article below. You have to click around to figure out what is a tree though, unless you're amazing with tree names.
2007-11-18 09:56:42 · answer #8 · answered by yutgoyun 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋