Ancient people learned early on to identify edible plants and to avoid poisonous ones. However, they quickly discovered that even poisonous plants can be put to use if you wish to nefariously dispose of your enemies or rival or capture prey. In fact, the word toxic is derived from the ancient Greek work toxikon, meaning “arrow poison.”
As modern society continues to distance itself from its natural surroundings, knowledge of toxic plants has shrunk to a small circle of trained professionals. Most people would be surprised to learn that there are thousands of plants that contain toxic chemicals that range from mildly irritating to fatal.
Poisonous Plants of Swamp, Forest and Wooded Areas
Poison hemlock and water hemlock are among the most poisonous wild plants in North America. Their toxin is concentrated in the yellow sap that exudes from cut roots. It produces violent convulsions and, unless treated promptly, death invariably follows.
Wild and cultivated cherries contain a potentially fatal compound in their twigs and foliage (but not fruit) that releases cyanide when eaten.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit contains small needle-like crystals of calcium oxalate in all parts but especially the roots that cause intense irritation and burning of the mouth and tongue.
Moonseed berries, which resemble grapes, may prove fatal if eaten.
Mistletoe berries can be fatal to both adults and children if eaten.
Poisonous Plants of Field and Backyard
Milkweed is a common and easily recognized milkweed containing toxins that affect the cardiovascular system. Livestock and humans, especially children, have been poisoned by eating milkweed.
Oleander is a shrub that contains dangerous levels of over 50 toxic compounds in all its parts. The toxins are even found in the smoke from burning leaves and branches, and breathing it can be dangerous. Unwary picnickers have died from the toxins their roasting hotdogs absorbed from green oleander sticks.
Yews are another group of poisonous shrubs. They are prized for their dark green needlelike leaves and are grown as hedges, shrubs, or small trees. Poisons are found in all parts of the plant. The initial symptoms of dry mouth and dizziness quickly give way to labored breathing and erratic heartbeat. Death due to cardiac or respiratory failure soon follows.
Rhododendrons, laurels, and azaleas are broad-leafed, flowering shrubs that contain poisonous compounds so powerful that leaves, flowers, pollen, nectar, and even the honey made from it are deadly. These toxins first stimulate then block the nervous regulation of the heart. The Delaware Indians would make a tea from the mountain laurel for use as a suicide potion.
The bean family hosts a number of poisonous species. The rosary pea, lupines, black locust, Wisteria, Vetch, and Golden Chain are just a few types that have been implicated in human or animal poisonings.
Some spring flowering plants such as the tulip, hyacinth, star-of-Bethlehem, daffodil, and narcissus are deceptively deadly containing several different toxins. One toxin irritates the digestive system causing diarrhea and vomiting while the other, the more dangerous of the two, can slow the heartbeat down until it stops.
Members of the spurge family carry potential harm in the characteristic milky latex or sap, which exudes when the plant is cut or bruised. Poinsettia, crown-of-thorns, pencil tree cactus, and snow-on-the-mountain are all known to cause irritation of the skin and mucous membranes.
Another member of this family, the castor bean, has large and colorful seeds that contain what may be the most deadly natural poison known. Ingesting just one seed may kill a child, while eating three seeds would be fatal to most adults. The first symptoms of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and burning to the mouth and throat may not appear for several hours to several days after the seeds are eaten. These are followed by retinal hemorrhaging, internal hemorrhaging in the digestive tract and lungs, and extensive damage to the kidneys and lungs. Death results from kidney failure.
Based on this information, one can see that a wise course of action is to treat unknown plants of all types wherever you find them as potentially toxic and to teach your children to do the same.
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