KNOW YOUR 
        POISONOUS PLANTS
 

Many plants that we grow in our garden and home are
poisonous to humans esp. children, livestock and pets.

They may be pretty to look at and are decorative in the
house, but it is important to know which plants are
poisonous and can cause illness and death.

Many common weeds we find in our garden are poisonous. This is a recent case of a family that came down with poisoning when herbs were gathered from their backyard garden for an evening meal and some toxic weeds were unknowingly gathered with their edible herbs.

This poisonous plant is a common naturalized annual
herb called the Jimson weed, known also as Devil's
Trumpet or Devil's Apple. Its botanical name is Datura stramonium. The leaves of the juvenile plant look enticing enough to eat. It  has been known to cause poisoning in humans and livestock.

All parts of the plant are poisonous including the seeds
and the nectar in the flowers. The sap contains a
complex of belladonna alkaloids consisting of atropine
and scopolamine and hyoscyamine. At high dosage,
it can cause death. At lower dose, neurological effects
are evident such as nausea, dizziness, hallucinations and delirium.

There are innumerable reports of gardeners with dilated pupils from unknowingly rubbing their eyes after touching this weed. Ancient literature reports of Egyptian
women rubbing their eyes with the sap of a garden weed, possibly Datura, to dilate their pupils. Large pupils then,  were a sign of beauty, but these women walked around all day with fuzzy vision.
 

Here are several good sites for more information:

Weeds/plants poisonous to livestock:

Go to this site to see dramatic photos of death of livestock.
This site has a list of toxic plants that cause death and economic losses to pasture cattle and sheep farmers.

● http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/54282000/
PPClassPPSlides/1-10-08RalphsHistory%20Plant%20Animal%20Interactions.pdf
 

Weeds/plants poisonous to children
● http://nrc.uchsc.edu/CFOC/HTMLVersion/Appendix_
U.html

Weeds/plants that are poisonous to pets
● The Humane Society has a list of plants that are
toxic to your pets.

Other useful links are:

● http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publications/poison/
poison.html

● http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=10086
 

● http://www.cenyc.org/files/citylot/Poisonous_And_
Injurious_Garden_Plants.pdf
 

● http://www.library.uiuc.edu/vex/toxic.htm 
Has a list of plants that are toxic to animals.

● http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/ 
has good information on plants toxic to livestock
and other animals.

● http://www.library.uiuc.edu/vex/toxic/garden.htm

The University of Illinois poisonous Plant Garden
has a live plant collection of more than 90 species of
poisonous plants common in the garden or
houseplants and ornamentals and weeds/herbs.
This garden is open to the public free of charge.
 

● http://www.plantations.cornell.edu/our-gardens/
botanical/poisonous
also has a living collection of poisonous plants
growing in their greenhouse.
It makes identification much easier with live
plants rather than trying to identify a poisonous
plant from dried herbarium specimens.

                                         

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