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

i know that olearea is toxic because i grow it but what about yew
(taxus) that effects the heart then you die or what about the hemlock
or ragwort?

luke wrote:
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 the
castor bean some say it is the roseary pea but some people say it
deadly nightshade(atropa belladona) i just dont know

What about the seed of Datura, I was told to wear gloves when handling
the seed.

judith lea wrote:

luke wrote:
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 the

What about the seed of Datura, I was told to wear gloves when handling
the seed.

Overcautious. Just don't lick your fingers. The seeds make very
effective rodent bait.

I have been slightly lightheaded after transplanting a lot of datura
seedlings ...

Regards,
Martin Brown

"Martin Brown" wrote in message

Some of the nastier plants that have mastered organofluorine
chemistry
that are native to South Africa and Australia are not to be trifled
with. See for example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoroacetate

Well blow me down! I never knew that Oz had any plants like this and
I didn't know that 1080 was a naturally occurring poison - and to be
accurate I still don't as I haven't done a further search to find out
abot the origins of 1080, but to find that it occurs in a plant is
simply amazing.

Anyway, you're right aobut not trifling with it as apparently mammals
are hsitory once they ingest 1080 and although dogs are teh usual
victims, I guess the same would apply to humans.

But my vote is still for Ricinus seeds.

It certainly seems to be the best candidate for mass murder, but
probably 1080 would be more effective if one was planning to murder
one single person :-))

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
Duncan wrote:

but Nicotiana probably kills more than all the other poisonous
plants put
together.

It used to kill the people who smuggled the leaves in olden days
(nasty
way to go).

So how did they die, or perhaps more correctly, I mean what was the
cause of death?

Martin Brown wrote:
judith lea wrote:

What about the seed of Datura, I was told to wear gloves when handling
the seed.

Overcautious. Just don't lick your fingers. The seeds make very
effective rodent bait.

I have been slightly lightheaded after transplanting a lot of datura
seedlings ...

Regards,
Martin Brown

Right, I am just off to the attics!

On 5 Dec 2006 11:36:42 -0800, "luke" wrote:

i know that olearea is toxic because i grow it

News to me, and I grow several species. Are you sure and if so, can
you give any more info?


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

Following up to "luke" :

i know that olearea is toxic because i grow it but what about yew
(taxus) that effects the heart then you die or what about the hemlock
or ragwort?

Like potato plants, rhubarb...

Ragwort's not toxic is it?
--
Tim C.

"Tim C." wrote in message
...
Following up to "luke" :

i know that olearea is toxic because i grow it but what about yew
(taxus) that effects the heart then you die or what about the hemlock
or ragwort?

Like potato plants, rhubarb...

Ragwort's not toxic is it?
--
Tim C.

Ragwort is toxic. Very bitter taste so not likely that you would eat much.
Main problem with Ragwort appears to be that horses may eat the stuff
particularly in contaminated hay. Whether or not horses are particularly
susceptible to the poison seems a bit of a mystery.

Farm1 wrote:

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
Duncan wrote:

but Nicotiana probably kills more than all the other poisonous
plants put
together.

It used to kill the people who smuggled the leaves in olden days
(nasty way to go).

So how did they die, or perhaps more correctly, I mean what was the
cause of death?

To smuggle it sailors wrapped the leaves around their body inside their
clothes. When they sweated profsely on a hot day the nicotine dissolves
slightly and crosses into the body. Death by nicotine poisoning is very
unpleasant. Tobacco pickers often suffer a milder form of nicotine
poisoning - I think it targets the central nervous system.

It used to be used as an insecticide in the old days but these days is
considered too toxic in mammals (and can harbour tobacco mosaic virus -
which will infect many other plants)..

You can extract LD50 of nicotine from a couple of cigarettes with the
right solvents. On toxicological grounds you would not sell tobacco to
the general public if it was discovered today. And as for smoking the
stuff - in theory at a chemical plant you should fill in a hazardous
experiment form each time before lighting up (for doing an experiment
that will synthesise and release known carcinogens into the
environment).

Regards,
Martin Brown

Following up to "Rupert \(W.Yorkshire\)" :


"Tim C." wrote in message
.. .
Following up to "luke" :

i know that olearea is toxic because i grow it but what about yew
(taxus) that effects the heart then you die or what about the hemlock
or ragwort?

Like potato plants, rhubarb...

Ragwort's not toxic is it?
--
Tim C.

Ragwort is toxic. Very bitter taste so not likely that you would eat much.
Main problem with Ragwort appears to be that horses may eat the stuff
particularly in contaminated hay. Whether or not horses are particularly
susceptible to the poison seems a bit of a mystery.

Thanks, I didn't know that.
--
Tim C.

Following up to "Martin Brown" :

It used to be used as an insecticide in the old days..

and still is, from the point of view of the tobacco plant itself. ;-)
--
Tim C.

"judith lea" wrote in message
ps.com...

Martin Brown wrote:
judith lea wrote:

What about the seed of Datura, I was told to wear gloves when handling
the seed.

Overcautious. Just don't lick your fingers. The seeds make very
effective rodent bait.

I have been slightly lightheaded after transplanting a lot of datura
seedlings ...

Regards,
Martin Brown

Right, I am just off to the attics!

I think we have won with our uninvited visitors, son reported scuttling
noises so I put a couple of mouse traps up into loft and over the next 5
days got 9 longtailed field mice. Been 3 days now of no bait taken or traps
set off, so hopefully that's the lot. I may of course be left with the
smarter ones!!

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collections of Clematis viticella (cvs) and
Lapageria rosea

I think we have won with our uninvited visitors, son reported scuttling
noises so I put a couple of mouse traps up into loft and over the next 5
days got 9 longtailed field mice. Been 3 days now of no bait taken or traps
set off, so hopefully that's the lot. I may of course be left with the
smarter ones!!

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.

Last night I thought there were elephants jumping right over my head
and in the cavity wall, behind my head. I have just been up there and
all the traps are still baited. I say it is a rat but Edward says it's
mice. However, last time he said that, the vermin man presented him
with a dead rat from number 1 attic, i.e. over the bedrooms! I shall
have to call him in again, this is getting expensive.

I've just had a thought, could it be bats as they do fly around outside
my bedroom window at night and I have taken to closing it as I am
scared of them.