In article ,
"H Ryder" writes:
| she should and could have checked in a book or elsewhere on
| the Web to find out that quinces are NOT poisonous.
|
| I know that quinces are not poisonous, that's why I said that ....

I apologise for misunderstanding you.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article . com,
writes:
|
| I agree wholeheartedly that plants capable of inflicting serious pain
| and/or permanent skin or eye damage are too dangerous to grow in a
| garden where children will play. Fortunately there are not too many of
| them. ...

Agreed.

| Though the handful of seriously deadly plants where the flower or
| fruits are potentially lethal in low doses (colchicum or autumn crocus
| and oleander) are also worth avoiding. The list I posted that you
| complained about was over cautious, but AFAICT it did contain most of
| the nasty ones classified as nasty (but also some pretty harmless ones
| falsely accused).

Oleander, yes, though it isn't really a UK plant. But would a child
really eat colchicum? The risk must be lower than having an aircraft
fall on its head.

That list omits a large number of seriously poisonous plants which have
caused deaths - e.g. beans (Phaseolus), bluebells (Scilla), and pretty
well all of the tropicals. And then there are fungi - which you can't
prevent appearing when you least expect them. Even given that, such
risks are negligible - and you can be sure that the people who panic
over such things don't take trains instead of driving (which reduces
the risk to their brats MUCH more).

| You will have the Poinsettia society after your scalp. As far as is
| known the toxicity of euphorbia pulcherrima or Poinsettia is pretty
| much an urban legend that has never been confirmed in any independent
| toxological trials. See for example:

Interesting. As with Solanum, not all are toxic :-)



Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

H Ryder writes
And remember to never grow dwarf, French or runner beans, tomatoes,
potatoes, rhubarb or horseradish.

I know that we are all having a laugh here but you are sort of making my
point for me. There probably are some things out there which really are
nasty - i.e. things which could kill a child if they eat a bit. However
trying to get information which tells you which things you really should
avoid seems impossible as most lists have things like the above listed along
side really nasty things.

I'd always thought that most of the potato plant is 'really nasty' - am
I wrong? Does it merely come into the bad tummy ache' category?
--
Kay

Nick Maclaren writes

In article .com,
"Sacha" writes:
|
| However, you say that the sap isn't life-threatening but that is one
| of the most toxic plants going. A friend of ours ended up in hospital
| after contact with it. He had horrible blisters and three years later,
| the areas of his skin affected, still react badly to exposure to
| sunlight. It's definitely not a plant to take lightly or to recommend
| to others, IMO. Anyway, Hayley, I'm sorry - that was a mistake on my
| part.

I would (and did) take the "chemical burn" plants more seriously than
the "poisonous" ones. If a child gets the sap on its hands, and rubs
its eyes, that could be VERY bad news. And that is actually a likely
scenario, unlike a child munching random unpalatable leaves, digging
up and eating roots etc.

My son is allergic to grass sap - I can well remember the sight of him
with his eyes (and I mean his eyeballs, not the skin around) swollen
like a large plastic bag.
--
Kay

In article ,
K writes:
|
| I'd always thought that most of the potato plant is 'really nasty' - am
| I wrong? Does it merely come into the bad tummy ache' category?

You're right - it's deadly. But it is also as bitter as gall.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:
snip

I would (and did) take the "chemical burn" plants more seriously than
the "poisonous" ones. If a child gets the sap on its hands, and rubs
its eyes, that could be VERY bad news. And that is actually a likely
scenario, unlike a child munching random unpalatable leaves, digging
up and eating roots etc.

Unfortunately, there are a fair number of such plants. Giant hogweed
is one; all sumachs and euphorbias are others - and the last include
petty spurge (a very common weed) and the house plant "poinsettia".
Also periwinkles, but mere touch isn't enough to reach the sap.
snip
While the saps of Toxicodendron (poison sumac(h)s) are highly
allergenic for most people, do you have a cite that shows that all
other sumachs have "toxic burn" saps?

I notice that just about every plant other than Monkshood has been
mentioned. Does this mean that it isn't as poisonous as I have been
led to believe? I am such a novice still compared to some of you on
here and would love to know if I have been worrying for nothing.

When we moved here three years ago I knew even less than I do now. We
moved at the end of May and found to our delight a garden full of
beautiful flowers/plants. I went around the garden and cut some
flowers and put two vases in the kitchen, this went on all summer. One
day a neighbour called in and pointed to the beautiful purple flowers
which I had been happily cutting and putting in the kitchen and said to
me, "Ooh, Monkshood, I love it, but you do know it's extremely
poisonous don't you"? I had no idea at all and immediately stopped
putting the flowers in the house. I still have loads of it growing all
over the garden, it is so pretty it's hard to believe it could have
such a bad reputation.

I have to say that I have followed this thread closely and have learned
loads. I didn't know that potato, runner beans, tomatoes or
horseradish were poisonous! I did know of Rhubarb but only because a
friend of mine when we were kids picked some leaves and cooked them for
her dad's tea because she thought they were cabbage leaves. He ended
up in hospital a very sick man!

This is a definitely a great site for novices, there is so much to
learn and no better way to do it than on here.

Thank you all!

Gail

In article . com,
wrote:

While the saps of Toxicodendron (poison sumac(h)s) are highly
allergenic for most people, do you have a cite that shows that all
other sumachs have "toxic burn" saps?

We do converse in odd places!

Not really. I have seen such references in gardening books, but they
are notoriously unreliable. Several people have witnessed it for at
least Rhus typhina (though at a MUCH lesser level), and I can for
Cotinus coggygria. I am not a 'sensitive' person. The last produces
very little sap, so the chances are low.

In my case, neither Rhus typhina nor Cotinus coggygria cause me as
much reaction as Toxicodendron diversilobum, though the course of
the reaction is similar. And they can penetrate only thin skin,
whereas the last gets through medium skin (but not thick). They
aren't much worse than Vinca major on me. And, in all of those other
cases, there is no toxin carried on the surface of the leaves, so
that it causes trouble only when pruning/removing and then the sap
gets on thin skin.

In my limited experience, a fair proportion of the effect of
Toxicodendron diversilobum is because the surface oil carries the
toxin. There are many plants whose sap is quite seriously irritant,
but which produce very little even when cut and none at all if merely
brushed against - they then get classified as non-toxic. I have
evidence that these include Humulus lupus.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article .com,
tom&barbara wrote:

... "Ooh, Monkshood, I love it, but you do know it's extremely
poisonous don't you"? I had no idea at all and immediately stopped
putting the flowers in the house. I still have loads of it growing all
over the garden, it is so pretty it's hard to believe it could have
such a bad reputation.

Why stop? Unless you munch into it, it won't harm you. Many of the
most beautiful plants are among the most poisonous. Try Gloriosa,
Brugmansia and Oleander.

I have to say that I have followed this thread closely and have learned
loads. I didn't know that potato, runner beans, tomatoes or
horseradish were poisonous! I did know of Rhubarb but only because a
friend of mine when we were kids picked some leaves and cooked them for
her dad's tea because she thought they were cabbage leaves. He ended
up in hospital a very sick man!

Quite. Never eat any part of a potato except the tubers, never eat
green tubers, and don't eat potato raw if even slightly green. The
same applies to all parts of the tomato except the fruit (which is
edible ripe or green). It is the roots of runner beans that are
poisonous, but never eat runner or dwarf/French beans raw once they
start to ripen.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article .com,
"Sacha" writes:
|
| However, you say that the sap isn't life-threatening but that is one
| of the most toxic plants going. A friend of ours ended up in hospital
| after contact with it. He had horrible blisters and three years later,
| the areas of his skin affected, still react badly to exposure to
| sunlight. It's definitely not a plant to take lightly or to recommend
| to others, IMO. Anyway, Hayley, I'm sorry - that was a mistake on my
| part.

I would (and did) take the "chemical burn" plants more seriously than
the "poisonous" ones. If a child gets the sap on its hands, and rubs
its eyes, that could be VERY bad news. And that is actually a likely
scenario, unlike a child munching random unpalatable leaves, digging
up and eating roots etc.

Unfortunately, there are a fair number of such plants. Giant hogweed
is one; all sumachs and euphorbias are others - and the last include
petty spurge (a very common weed) and the house plant "poinsettia".
Also periwinkles, but mere touch isn't enough to reach the sap.

Incidentally, I never did confuse Hayley with anyone, but did (and do)
feel that she should and could have checked in a book or elsewhere on
the Web to find out that quinces are NOT poisonous.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Over the years I've worked alongside people, adults, with varying
degrees of susceptibility to plant poisons.

Euphobias were relatively successful in causing skin irritations.

To a lesser percentage, but more severe, Berberis thunbergi (in march
only).

Rue, on the other hand, affected anyone in contact with it and even got
to me, which surprised me.

On a different angle, fremontodendron is covered in tiny, almost
glass-like-invisible shards. It's a lovely plant which flowers very
well for such a long time that I wondered why it was not more popular.
Then one day I found out when, presumably, I rubbed my eyes whilst
de-heading some of its flowers and by the evening my eye was glued up.
The following day it was even more glued up and I had to go to an
optician. Not exactly a chemical burn, or the deadly-poisonous
catogory, but unpleasant enough in my experience.

In article . com,
"a.c." writes:
|
| Over the years I've worked alongside people, adults, with varying
| degrees of susceptibility to plant poisons.
|
| Euphobias were relatively successful in causing skin irritations.

An amusing typo!

| Rue, on the other hand, affected anyone in contact with it and even got
| to me, which surprised me.

Interesting. I react little to it.

| On a different angle, fremontodendron is covered in tiny, almost
| glass-like-invisible shards. It's a lovely plant which flowers very
| well for such a long time that I wondered why it was not more popular.
| Then one day I found out when, presumably, I rubbed my eyes whilst
| de-heading some of its flowers and by the evening my eye was glued up.
| The following day it was even more glued up and I had to go to an
| optician. Not exactly a chemical burn, or the deadly-poisonous
| catogory, but unpleasant enough in my experience.

Now, that's worth knowing. Nasty.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article . com,
"a.c." writes:
|
| Over the years I've worked alongside people, adults, with varying
| degrees of susceptibility to plant poisons.
|
| Euphobias were relatively successful in causing skin irritations.

An amusing typo!

| Rue, on the other hand, affected anyone in contact with it and even got
| to me, which surprised me.

Interesting. I react little to it.

| On a different angle, fremontodendron is covered in tiny, almost
| glass-like-invisible shards. It's a lovely plant which flowers very
| well for such a long time that I wondered why it was not more popular.
| Then one day I found out when, presumably, I rubbed my eyes whilst
| de-heading some of its flowers and by the evening my eye was glued up.
| The following day it was even more glued up and I had to go to an
| optician. Not exactly a chemical burn, or the deadly-poisonous
| catogory, but unpleasant enough in my experience.

Now, that's worth knowing. Nasty.

Another reason for their lack of popularity might be hardiness; they're
usually OK on a south facing wall, but not necessarily elsewhere. My
came through the previous two winters unscathed, but has been severely
cut back by this winter. And, yes, one wants to be careful with the
hairs of Fremontodendron - they'll embed themselves in your skin like
cactus spines do.

Quite a few 'mallows' are a bit hazardous on contact. Lagunaria (Norfolk
Island Hibiscus) is notorious for the itching seed pod hairs. I've heard
mention of irritant hairs from several types of Hibiscus (possibly
Furcarias), though I'm not aware of how severe they can be. I've also
had a couple of reports of reactions to Lavatera, but this seems to be
to the sap.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

"Nick Maclaren" wrote
Never eat any part of a potato except the tubers, never eat
green tubers, and don't eat potato raw if even slightly green. snip

I've known my Dad to eat pieces of raw potato. Goodness knows why he
likes it but he would often steal chunks while my Mother was preparing
veg for a meal. Though after drinking huge quantities of tea all his
life I expect his stomach lining is as tanned as old leather and maybe
that protects him.

--
Sue

In article ews.net,
"Sue" writes:
|
| Never eat any part of a potato except the tubers, never eat
| green tubers, and don't eat potato raw if even slightly green. snip
|
| I've known my Dad to eat pieces of raw potato. Goodness knows why he
| likes it but he would often steal chunks while my Mother was preparing
| veg for a meal. Though after drinking huge quantities of tea all his
| life I expect his stomach lining is as tanned as old leather and maybe
| that protects him.

Yup. Me too :-)

More seriously, raw potato is indigestible rather than poisonous, but
raw GREEN potato is poisonous. However, the toxin is most harmful to
pregnant women (as is common), so middle-aged men need not worry about
a small quantity.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.