Rod wrote:

"luke" wrote in message
ups.com...
i have been doing research into poisonous plants and i have hit a
stone

what is the MOST toxic plant in the world. some websites say it is

Not the *most* poisonous, but a genus I avoid assiduously is the Rhus
(Poison Ivy family). Even the ubiquitous Stag's Horn Sumach has been
said to put nursery workers in hospital, though I have no confirmation
of this.

I don't think the ordinary stags horn sumach sap will do it unless you
are already hypersensitive through previous exposure to other plants
that make Urushiol.

I can speak for a very unpleasant personal experience with a less
common one, R. verniciflua - this is the plant the Japanese laquer was
made from. The trees I encountered were already dead when I started

Really a very bad idea. Even the smoke can get you and the active
ingredient is almost at the same level of irritant noxiousness as
mustard gas (different chemistry similar effects). Contact dermatitus
is severe in susceptable individuals and was an occupational hazard of
those in the lacquer industry. Once fully cured the resulting
lacquerware was safe to use as food containers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacquer

Raw cashew nuts improperly harvested carry the same risk of exposure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashew

It is as well to be wary of anything in Anacardaceae.

work here just over 30 years ago, in my innocence I started cutting
them up for firewood. The yellowish coloured wood exudes a black tarry
substance and we all got it on our hands and clothes. I and my then
teenage daughter reacted very severely, whole body swelling, violently
itching rash, closed eyes - luckily no blocked airways.

It is very nasty stuff. Reactive intermediate for a natural polymeric
plastic lacquer.

Regards,
Martin Brown