After all, under the circumstances, better safe than sorry is the wisest attitude to take. They appear there because they are related to plants that are known to be poisonous and just might have the same effect. You may also be surprised to learn that many plants appearing on lists of toxic plants have never actually poisoned anything or anybody. And horses have a whole range of plants they can’t eat, but that other animals can. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs, onions and garlic to cats. Plant parts can be very bitter or cause stomach upset or diarrhea without necessarily containing any notable levels of toxicity.Īnd yes, what is poisonous to humans may not be to other animals. are just a few other examples of plants that have both edible parts and poisonous parts.Īlso, a plant can be inedible without being poisonous. Tomatoes, rhubarb, apples, asparagus, elderberries, almonds, etc. The fleshy fruits of cherries, plums and peaches are edible, yet their leaves and pits contain deadly cyanide. Potato leaves, stems and flowers are poisonous, but humans can safely eat the tubers. Whether a plant is poisonous or not can also depend what part is eaten. Rice and kale are other examples of common foods that are poisonous if eaten in large quantities. After all, a lot of people are allergic to shellfish and peanuts, but we don’t consider them to be poisonous.Īnd how much was consumed? A lot of plants are only toxic if prodigious amounts are eaten, but if so, again, should they really be considered toxic? If you eat too much spinach, for example, you could end up in the hospital, as it contains oxalic acid (toxic when consumed in large quantities), yet almost no one considers spinach poisonous. Fine, but was it because of the plant or some fungus or bacteria on the plant? Or had the planted been treated with a pesticide? Are we really sure it really was the plant cited? (Emergency room doctors aren’t botanists after all and can easily mistake one plant for another.) Maybe the person had an allergic reaction, and that really isn’t toxicity. Someone or something ate the plant and got sick. Instead, much of the evidence is anecdotal.
You’re not going to give a leaf of an unknown plant to someone and say, “Here, eat this and we’ll see how it goes.” Nor would you want to try a similar experiment on a family pet. Which houseplants are safe for kids and pets?įinding out exact information about poisonous plants is very difficult, largely because it’s something you simply can’t test.
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