| URI Master Gardener Members Only | Master Gardener Projects in RI | Master Gardener Program and Association | Community Events | Links | Home Gardening Tips |
Knowing plants and understanding how to live with them is the key to avoiding the problems that can develop when dealing with poisonous plants. The most important rules to follow are:
| 1. | Only eat plants if you are certain of their identity. |
| 2. | Teach your family and friends not to eat plants they do not know; sometimes they think they know a plant but are confusing it with a related species. |
| 3. | Never store seeds or bulbs near any food items; a daffodil bulb is easily confused with an onion! |
| 4. | Never chew on jewelry made from seeds or other plant parts. |
When poisonous plants are eaten, the toxic principle (alkaloids, glycosides, peptides, resins, volatile oils, or oxalates) may cause any of the following to occur (example of poisonous plant noted for each):
| 1. | Blood poisoning (wild cherry) |
| 2. | Nerve poisoning (mushrooms) |
| 3. | Cardiac poisoning (foxglove) |
| 4. | Skin irritation (poison ivy) |
Plant poisons affects people in a variety of ways depending on many factors including:
| 1. | Age of the victim; infants are affected more than adults |
| 2. | Maturity of the plant when it is ingested; young, tender shoots and leaves contain much more toxin than mature plant parts. |
| 3. | Form in which the plant is eaten; cooking, exposure to sunlight, and other factors greatly affect toxicity. |
| 4. | Allergies; there are some individuals who are not allergic to poison ivy and will not experience skin irritation if they rub the leaves. |
In certain species, some plant parts are poisonous while other parts of the same plant are not. Therefore, it is better not to eat any portion of a suspicious plant.
IN CASE OF POISONING: Call your local or regional poison control center. Keep remaining parts of the suspect plant because this will help to make a positive identification.
No list of poisonous plants is ever complete because there are many unknown species and also because there are matters of interpretation. Therefore, instead of a list we offer the following list of links to authoritative and informative websites.Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) Poisonous Plants
Cornell University Poisonous Plants
Florida Poisonous Plants
Internet Links for Botany and Plant Ecology
Pesky Poisonous Plants
Texas A&M Poisonous Plants and Plant Parts
University of Pennsylvania Poisonous Plants
US Army Center Guide to Poisonous and Toxic Plants
top of page