Greek Tortoise dietary question

Question
I have found a lot of sites on the web that list edible plants for tortoises. However on several they list primrose, vetch and Aloe Vera. I have also found these on the Poisonous plants list. So are they edible or poisonouse for my Greek tortoises?
And could you give me some examples of plants in the buttercup family?
Thanks, Robyn

Answer
This is my favorite tortoise diet article: http://www.petdoc.ws/TortDiet.html

The problem we run into with all turtles is that they can eat many things dangerous for humans. Eastern US Native Americans would not eat the local Box turtles because they ate toxic mushrooms and fungis and it made their flesh dangerous for humans!

Some lists include plants they are known to eat in the wild or have been observed eating in captivity, so we can generally assume they are safe... but.

The catch here is how much risk are you willing to put up with? Most keepers limit the diet to foods they themselves would eat, or plants they trust in the gardens. There is nothing special in primrose, etc. that tortoises need, so why bother with the stuff?



As far as the Buttercup family goes- it is a big group. Here are a couple links:
http://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com/Plant_Families/Ranunculaceae.htm
http://www.botanical-online.com/familiaranunculaceasangles.htm



Websites I trust for care issues:
http://www.tortoise.org
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com