Poison flower plant

[Alicante]

Its not just humans, pet owners need to be aware of plants that are poisonous. The kennel club site provides a list of plants, I dont know if it is comprehensive. I removed foxgloves from my garden (to the allotment) because the dog seems to find them tasty and I have no idea how much he would need to eat to be poisoned by them.

[Glutton4...]

We have this in one of the gardens we work in. It's the blue-flowered one, and stands around six feet tall. So glad I wore gloves when tying it up!

[Two_Sheds]

there will be many other plants which are just as poisonous that I don't know about!

Yes, including daffodils & tulips


I scared the beejaysus out of the old headteacher when I told her daffs were poisonous: he'd handed out a free posy to each child at Easter

If I avoided all the plants on the list on the RHS site, I'd hardly have any flowers at all!

Indeed, and on the whole I don't like banning plants, not least because there's bound to be something you miss: I think it's better to teach children good hygiene, "look but don't touch" & "don't pick unless I say you can".

I like to get my class to look around the flower garden and choose which they think is the most deadly plant there ~ they never get it, and I bet you don't either (well, Kristen or VC might)

This is a terrific book for anyone who has children in the garden: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Poisonous-Pl...plants+dauncey

[veggiechicken]

An interesting blog about this sad event THE POISON GARDEN website

[Guest]

Everyone reacts differently to things. I react to pulmonaria which can be quite a common one. However as I have gotten older I now react to christmas trees and come out in lots of little red blotches and I am still adamant that we have to have a real one every year just imagine that - christmas trees being put down as a poisonous plant and trying to make people stop having them

It will be interesting to know the full story of this tragic incident when it all comes to light. It would also be nice when news stops being constant shock factor and scare mongering.

[Two_Sheds]

It would also be nice when news stops being constant shock factor and scare mongering.

Avoiding the Daily Wail & the red tops certainly helps

[Kristen]

An interesting blog about this sad event THE POISON GARDEN website

Good article, thanks for the link

[BertieFox]

The Mail just LOVES these scare stories, though Aconitum has been associated with florists and others handling the flowers and stems with getting ill. Just don't touch them too much or use gloves. The Daily Liar also had a story this week of a woman who died after being bitten on the finger by a British spider, so I wouldn't panic and start believing that everything in the garden is dangerous. After all, we would have to pull out all of our foxgloves (deadly Digitalis), as well as those terrible potatoes (poisonous berries and foliage), deadly tomatoes (roots and foliage poisonous), not to mention all those other members of the deadly nightshade family we grow for our peppers and aubergines.

Even rhubarb can poison you if you eat it too late in the season when the oxalic acid has built up in the stems, and I have read that raw French and runner beans are poisonous, though I have eaten lots without cooking them.

Must end now, I'm just going collecting fungi from the forest... I understand the 'trompette de la mort ' is very good eating. (Actually, it IS!)

[Two_Sheds]

I have read that raw French and runner beans are poisonous, though I have eaten lots without cooking them.

They all have the lectin phytohaemagglutinin: some have more, some have less. The green pod has much less than the mature seed, and cooked seeds have less than under-cooked or raw ones