On 09/09/2013 08:07, Martin Brown wrote:
On 07/09/2013 20:48, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
David Hill wrote:

Not British but has some of our plants
http://listverse.com/2011/07/02/top-...will-kill-you/

It's crap. Sorry, but that's all I can say. There are FAR more
lethal plants around, though none can grow out of the tropics,
and most of those aren't a problem unless you are insane enough
to eat significant quantities.

I think it has been weighted by the chances of American children eating
them as well. In terms of total economic impact the ones that have
mastered organofluorine chemistry like Dichapetalum are hard to beat.

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

Not only does the plant kill livestock that eats it but the carcass can
also be lethal to anything that subsequently eats that.

There are many Western Australian plants (such as gastrolobiums and
other papilionaceae) which also use fluoroacetate. They were a great
problem for the early settlers as their sheep and cattle ate them, and
even if they survived those animals apparently did not learn to avoid
eating them in future. See he
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastrolobium
Note how many have been given common names which end in "poison"!

Many of these are small shrubs and are very attractive. They would grow
happily in a frost-free greenhouse.

--

Jeff