Poisonous Plant, any plant that causes serious illness or death if eaten. The term also is applied to plants such as poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac, which cause skin irritation when touched; and to plants such as coca and hemp, which have dangerous effects when chewed or smoked.
Deadly nightshade, or belladonna, is a poisonous plant.Thousands of plant species are poisonous, to some extent. Many contain alkaloids, such as strychnine. Others contain hydrocyanic acid, oxalic acid, or selenium. The poison often is concentrated in roots, leaves, fruits, or bark. Some poisonous plants are dangerous only in certain seasons. Plant poisons often are used as pesticides or, in controlled amounts, as drugs.
| Some poisonous plants | |||
| Name | Poisonous parts | ||
| Aconite (Monkshood) | Flowers, leaves, roots | ||
| Azalea | Entire plant | ||
| Belladonna | Entire plant, especially berries | ||
| Castor bean (Castor-oil plant) | Seeds | ||
| Chinaberry | Berries | ||
| Daphne | Bark, berries | ||
| Death camas | Bulbs | ||
| Foxglove | Entire plant | ||
| Gelsemium (Jessamine) | Entire plant | ||
| Hyacinth | Bulbs | ||
| Jimson weed (Datura) | Entire plant | ||
| Mistletoe | Berries | ||
| Mountain laurel | Entire plant | ||
| Mushrooms, poisonous | Entire plant | ||
| Narcissus | Bulbs | ||
| Nightshade | Entire plant, especially unripe berries | ||
| Oleander | Entire plant | ||
| Poison hemlock | Leaves, roots, seeds | ||
| Potato | Green parts, spoiled tubers | ||
| Rhododendron | Entire plant | ||
| Rhubarb | Leaves | ||
| Tobacco | Leaves | ||
| Water hemlock (Cowbane, Snakeroot) | Roots, young leaves | ||
| Yew | Bark, needles, seeds | ||
