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 What Plants are Poisonous?

What Plants Cause Allergies?

PLANTS TO AVOID
Prickly plants are no fun in confined places where children play. Plants with poisonous sap are best avoided in places where they need to be pruned back frequently.

Poisonous Plants
Most people are totally ignorant of just how poisonous many of our common garden plants are. Figures from the U.S.A. have shown that 4.5% of poisonings in the United States are due to plants (excluding toadstools). Often poisoning from plants is mild; an irritation or a rash caused by skin contact with sap, but occasionally the results can be much more serious causing permaneant injury or death.
There are four ways a plant can poison a person:

1. ALLERGIES
Allergic reactions to wind blown spores or pollen (eg. Hay fever from grass or wattle pollen during the
flowering season)

2. DERMATITIS
Skin irritation (eg. Brushing up against leaves of a plant whilst weeding or coming in contact with sap
when picking or trimming flowers).

3. INTERNAL POISONING
Eating part of a plant, either directly (eg. children chewing a leaf or a twig), or unconciously (eg. eating
meat turned on a bbq with a stick from a poisonous plant).

4. MECHANICAL INJURY
Spines, prickles or thorns from some plants not only puncture the skin but also inject a poison.

Commonly Grown Poisonous Plants

  • Euphorbia pulcherrima (Poinsettia)
  • Ligustrum spp. (Privet).
  • Nerium Oleander

Some Common Plants which have caused deaths:

  • Caladium
  • Convallaria majalis (Lily of the Valley)
  • Daphne odora
  • Datura
  • Diffenbachia
  • Digitalis sp. (Foxglove)
  • Euphorbia pulcherrima (Poinsettia)
  • Lantana
  • Nerium oleander (Oleander
  • Rheum rhaponticum (Rhubarb leaves are poisonous)
  • Ricinus communis (Castor Oil Plant)
  • Taxus buccata (Yew)

Plants known to cause skin irritations with some people:

Plant Common Name and Offending part

  • Agave sp. Century plant sap
  • Buxus sempervirens English box leaves
  • Chrysanthemum sp. Chrysanthemum daisy leaves
  • Delphinium ajacis Larkspur leaves and seed
  • Euphorbia sp. Poinsettia, spurge milky sap
  • Ficus sp. Fig sap or juice
  • Ginkgo biloba Maidenhair tree seeds
  • Grevillea sp. Spider flower prickly foliage
  • Hedera helix Ivy leaves
  • Iris sp. Iris, flag roots
  • Morus rubra Mulberry leaves, stems
  • Nerium oleander Oleander sap, leaves
  • Plumbago auriculata Leadwort all parts
  • Plumeria sp. Frangipani sap
  • Primula sp. Primrose leaves
  • Ranunculus sp. Buttercup leaves
  • Rumex sp. Dock or sorrel leaves
  • Rhus sp. Sumac all parts
  • Urtica sp. Stinging nettle foliage hair
  • Veratrum Hellebore leaves

 

 




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