Dangerous Houseplants

There are a lot of plants commonly sold as houseplants that can be dangerous for people and pets; the list is surprisingly long. With these types of plants, there are more inherent dangers for pets (cats and dogs) but small children who chew on everything can be at risk as well, so keep an extra-close eye on those kiddos around them. In this list, I am concentrating on plants that may actually pose a threat to adult humans who live around them. It pays to educate yourself because in many cases the plant seller either downplays the risk or does not acknowledge it at all.

 Sago Palm (Cycas revoluta) –

First of all, these are not palm trees - they are Cycads, an ancient type of plant that dates back to prehistoric times. These are incredibly tough, slow-growing plants that are clearly on this planet for the long-haul. Perhaps part of their successful longevity can be attributed to their toxicity. Sago Palms contain cycasin, a neurotoxin that causes a litany of unpleasant symptoms and then liver damage, liver failure and death. All parts are poisonous, but the danger is concentrated in the seeds. The good news is that the plant parts have to be ingested for the poison to take effect and most animals avoid this plant. It is the unwitting or unwise human who may purposely ingest this that are at serious risk. Perhaps it’s best to choose another plant for your house – they take too long to grow anyway.

 Euphorbia spp –

All of the succulents in this family are toxic, with some being no-so-much and others being highly toxic. In all likelihood, you will not be informed by sellers as to which ones are worse when you are out shopping so you may as well consider all of them highly toxic. To be on the safe side, as the saying goes. The danger here, and it’s quite serious, is that these plants have a milky sap that is super-toxic. These plants also poisonous if ingested, but ingestion is not likely to happen in the normal course of events.  What does happen is that people take cuttings or do trimming-up and repotting and come in contact with the sap. It is extremely irritating to the skin and mucus membranes (keep your hands out of your mouth!), but the effects can be tragic if it is gets in your eyes. This article has more to say on this. These plants have become very popular, with the Pencil Cactus (Euphorbia tirucalli) being one of the most popular.  With the real danger literally in these plants, it may just be best to plant them outside. When planted outside, succulents in general may even help keep your house safe from fires by serving as a firebreak.

 Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum) – 

These pretty plants have become known among plant collectors for their air purifying qualities. And while that may be true, they also contain calcium oxalate crystals in their sap that are like tiny little needles. As with the Eurphorbia, this liquid can come into contact with skin (and eyes, and mouth) with general plant care. This contact may not be dangerous (again, unless it gets in your eye), but it can be extremely unpleasant. Should a person ingest the flowers or seeds, however, it can cause diarrhea and vomiting and other increasingly disagreeable symptoms; some patients even end up hospitalized.  According to this article, it actually makes the blood toxic.  Because the crystals make eating this plant painful and swallowing difficult, severe poisonings are rare and usually of an accidental nature.

Aloe Vera (Aloe barbadensis miller) –

Yes, that Aloe Vera that seems to be in everything from body lotions to makeup to health drinks. The thing is, while the gelatinous inside of the leaves is an excellent topical ointment that soothes and helps heal any number of skin conditions, the outside of the leaves are not so good. Strangely enough, that part of the plant can cause serious skin irritation. And, like everything else on this list, it should not be ingested. Although it is commonly used as a laxative, latex produced from the aloe should definitely not be taken orally.  Scientists have discovered that this plant causes cancer in animals and, by extension, most likely people. Which means, of course, ingesting it for health benefits may have the exact opposite effect that’s desired. Just stick to rubbing the gel on your skin and you’ll be fine. 

These are the plants that you could easily come into contact with that could easy hurt you. Please bear in mind that there are many plants I left off this list that can seriously sicken or kill your pets, so please do your homework before you bring something home. The ASPCA (American Society for the  Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) has a site with a comprehensive list of plants that are toxic to dogs, cats and horses. Check it out here before you adopt anymore plants.

On another note, if you are interested in scary-potent plants check out this article on the world’s deadliest flowers.

Submitted by Pam

Corpse Flowers and Other Beautifully Strange Plants

An extraordinary thing occurred this past April in Tucson, Arizona. Right in midtown, a corpse

Corpse Flower

flower bloomed at the Tucson Botanical Gardens. These rare flowers carry the scientific name of Amorphophallus titanum. This Latin name comes from three root words: amorphos (without form or misshapen), phallos (penis) and titanum (giant). It’s easy to see where they are going with this; a fact that was not lost on Sir David Attenborough, the English naturalist. For his BBC documentary, The Private Life of Plants, he coined a more benign name – titan arum. In their native Indonesia, they are known as bunga bangkai.

Corpse plants are huge; growing up to 12 ft. in the wild, with cultivated ones generally between 6-8 ft. However, back in 2010, a man in New Hampshire grew a 10 ft. 2¼ in. flower and won the Guinness World Record for the tallest bloom.

While their sheer size is impressive, it is the powerful smell of a corpse flower that makes a lasting impression. It takes many years, sometimes even a decade, for these flowers to build up enough energy to bloom. Once they are at about 98°F (about the same as the inside temperature of a mammalian body), they burst into a bloom that lasts no more than 48 hours. Working with such a small window of opportunity, the corpse flower amps up the enticement for carrion insects and others pollinators by emitting a stench that they will respond to. The smell gets ranker the longer the bloom lasts and it and has been compared to decaying meat, limburger cheese and poopy diapers. With the warmness of the bloom mimicking a newly dead body and the large spadix serving as a beacon or chimney of sorts to spread the odor more widely, the corpse flower has all the bases covered.

The corpse flower may be the tallest bloom, but the largest flower is the Rafflesia spp.

Rafflesia flower

These rainforest behemoths can grow as large as a meter (3.2 ft.) in diameter. Rafflesia has no leaves, roots or stems, it survives and propagates by parasitizing the Tetrastigma vine. See it in the wild here.

This beast of a flower is very similar to the corpse flower: it also hails from South East Asia, it blooms for a very short time and it emits a noxious odor for the same reasons. Both the corpse flower and the Rafflesia have something else in common: they are both disappearing in the wild due to habitat loss from logging, palm oil plantations and other human endeavors. Time is especially short for the Rasflesia as it has not been successfully cultivated.

Brain Cactus

As I read about the corpse flower and Rafflesia, the man-eating bloom from Little Shop of Horrors kept coming to mind. I would not be surprised if carrion-loving blooms were the inspiration behind the campy carnivorous plant. The following plants could also inspire any number of spooky stories:

Doll's Eyes

Brain Cactus (Mammillaria elongate f. cristata): This Mexican cactus does not always look like a human brain, sometimes it looks like a pile of writhing hairy caterpillars. Either visual is just kind of gross.

Doll’s Eyes (Actaea pachypoda): These “eyes” are really the berries of the White Baneberry plant. This plant is poisonous; but it is also used (carefully, I imagine) in traditional home cures for various ailments.

Lotus Flower Seed Pods

Lotus Flower Seed Pods (Nelumbo nucifera): These may look like comic aliens, but they are really just the seed pods of the sacred lotus plant. Apparently, looking at these pods is highly distressing to certain people who can’t abide the look of clusters of holes and bumps. This condition is called trypophobia and, yes,it's a real thing.

Monkey Face Orchid (Dracula simia): Many types of orchids resemble other living things. At one time, people saw fangs in the long, dangly parts of this flower; thus, the Dracula reference. I'm not too sure about the Dracula thing; but the variety as shown in this picture sure do have monkey faces.

Monkey Face Orchid

Chinese Lantern (Physalis alkekengi): This plant is invasive and poisonous, so it is probably not a choice for your backyard garden. But it is spooky-cool looking when the web-like pods surround the pumpkin-colored flowers.

Chinese Lantern

When looking at these plants, I can't help but think that Nature has a sense of humor.

                                                                      Submitted by Pam