Homestead Survival Site

  • HOME
  • CONTACT
  • ANIMALS
    • Birds
    • Livestock
    • Other
  • DIY
    • Power
    • Projects
    • Structures
    • Upcycling
  • FOOD
    • Cooking
    • Food Storage
    • Recipes
    • Water
  • FREE STUFF
  • GARDENING
    • Fruits
    • Herbs
    • Projects
    • Tips
    • Vegetables
  • MISC
    • Beginners
    • Holidays
    • Natural Living
    • Weather
  • SKILLS
    • First Aid
    • Frugality
    • Homesteading
    • Off Grid Skills
  • SUPPLIES
    • Lists
    • Medical
    • Tools
    • Weapons
You are here: Home / Skills / Off Grid Skills / 11 Toxic Plants That You Should Learn to Identify

Want to Start a Homestead but Not Sure How?

Sign Up and Get Your FREE Book, "How To Homestead No Matter Where You Live."

I will never give away, trade or sell your email address. You can unsubscribe at any time.

11 Toxic Plants That You Should Learn to Identify

By Heidi 1 Comment ✓ This post may contain affiliate links*

849
SHARES
PinShareTweetPrint

11 Toxic Plants That You Should Learn to IdentifyWhether you’re going camping for the weekend, exploring the land around your homestead, or learning about edible plants and medicinal herbs, knowing which plants are highly toxic is essential. Never, ever, consume a plant you have not positively identified as safe, OR that is a look-alike for one of the poisonous plants. For example, wild carrot is not poisonous, but its look-alike Water Hemlock is the most toxic plant in the US – a single drop of ingested sap can kill a child or adult.

Some plants are safe to handle as long as they are not ingested. Other plants can cause severe burns, rashes, and more just by brushing against the plant or getting sap on your skin. If you suspect you have had physical contact with one of the irritating toxic plants, immediately wash the area with warm water and soap, and seek proper treatment (like calamine lotion for Poison Ivy).

If you have children, one of the best things you can do is teach them to identify and avoid poisonous plants. Even a toddler can get interested in learning plants, and remember characteristics of toxic plants (like the “leaves of three, let it be” to identify and avoid poison sumac, poison ivy, and poison oak).

Here are 11 common toxic plants to beware of.

1. Water Hemlock – Cicuta

Water Hemlock
Water Hemlock

Water hemlock is a lacy plant with broad umbrellas of white flowers. Its leaves resemble those of carrot, and also elderberry. Unlike carrot and elderberry, however, it thrives in wet and marshy areas like stream banks and lakeshores, or marshes. To avoid water hemlock, avoid all carrot-looking plants growing in or close to water.

2. Giant Hogweed – Heracleum mantegazzianum

Giant Hogweed
Giant Hogweed

This large plant prefers pasture, and the sunny edges of forests. Contact with the sap causes blisters, swelling, and sever photosensitivity that can cause second and third degree burns with sun exposure. This plant should be avoided, or reported. One should not attempt to chop (or burn) it on one’s own, it would require a hazmat suit.

3. Poison Hemlock – Conium maculatum

Poison Hemlock
Poison Hemlock

Not quite as poisonous as water hemlock, poison hemlock has only slightly different characteristics.  It is a showy white-flowered plant with purple-spotted hollow stems, and leaves resembling parsley or carrot in their growing habit. The danger with poison hemlock is confusing it with wild carrot, or Queen Ann’s lace, which are not toxic.

4. Poison Ivy – Toxicodendron radicans

Poison Ivy
Poison Ivy

Possibly the most common plant to cause painful irritation and rashes, poison ivy is found throughout North America. Its growing characteristics include leaves in groupings of three, pointed leaf tips, green leaves in spring, and yellow leaves in fall, with white berries.

Any contact with poison ivy can cause a rash, including if it is on your clothing and you touch the contaminated spot. If you come in contact with poison ivy (or poison oak and poison sumac), do not touch any other part of your body with the contaminated part, and do not touch your clothing.

Wash clothing as soon as possible, and wash any skin area the plant touched with soap and warm water before applying soothing lotions or other treatments.

5. Poison Oak – Toxicodendron diversilobum

Poison Oak
Poison Oak

From the same family as poison ivy, poison oak also has similar characteristics. Poison oak has leaves in sets of three, is a low-growing plant that has green leaves in summer, and rich orangy red leaves in the autumn. The irritant in poison oak is the same as that in poison ivy, and the treatment would be the same.

6. Poison Sumac – Toxicodendron vernix

Poison Sumac
Poison Sumac

The foundation of the family, along with poison ivy and poison oak, this plant has very similar characteristics as well. Namely the leaves of this plant also growing in groups of three. This little group of three plants is why the “leave of three, let it be” is good to remember, then you’ll never go tramping through a growth of them accidentally.

Since the irritation from the Toxicodendron species is caused by an irritating oil, the most effective way to prevent it is washing the oil off your skin as soon as you realize you have come in contact with it.

7. Oleander – Nerium Oleander

Oleander
Oleander

A showy and sweet-smelling ornamental in the dogbane family, this plant is toxic if ingested. There is no part of this plant that is not toxic. It bears a slight resemblance to an olive, and also to the also-poisonous rhododendron. The flowers grow in showy clusters, and can range from white to red with shades of pink in between, with dark green lance-shaped leaves in alternating pairs, sometimes whirls of three instead of pairs.

8. Deadly Nightshade – Atropa Belladonna

Deadly Nightshade
Deadly Nightshade

While nightshade has a history of cosmetic use, its foliage and fruit are all highly toxic. It bears a resemblance to the potato, with similarly shapped leaves. Its flowers are tubular with five petal-points, usually purple in tone. The fruit is dark purple black, and is the most toxic part of the plant.

9. English Yew – Taxus Baccata

English Yew
English Yew

The yew is one of the few evergreens that grows flat needles. The needles appear flat, and are paired, giving the branches a flat feathered look. Unlike most conifers, the yew tree has a bright red, fleshy, berry/cone which holds the highly-toxic seed.

Both the foliage and the seed of the Yew tree are poisonous, and during some European wars, there were reports of soldiers dying after drinking from yew-wood canteens. Caution should be observed when working with yew for any reason due to this toxicity.

10. Wolfsbane – Aconitum napellus

Wolfsbane
Wolfsbane

This is a very pretty purple flower that vaguely resembles a hooded monk. Traditionally, the Aconitum spp. were used for poisoning wolves, by farmers, hence it’s other common name of “wolfsbane.” All parts of Monkshood are poisonous to humans and animals.

As a quick rule of thumb, any flower that has a deep tube or trumpet shape (fox glove, petunia, lilac), is likely to be poisonous, no matter how good it smells. Also, bulb flowers that are trumpet-shaped, like Easter lilies, daffodils, and narcissists, are also poisonous and should be avoided.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but if a plant has these characteristics you should only consume it after positively identifying it as safe, by 3 different people and/or sources.

11. Castor Bean – Ricinus communis

Castor Bean
Castor Bean

The castor bean plant is from the spurge family and is highly toxic. Even though edible castor-oil is produced from it, the oil is only safe because the process is designed to remove the water-soluble toxin, ricin, from the oil.

The castor bean specifically is the most poisonous part of the plant, and a single ingested bean can kill an adult. The castor plant is a common ornamental due to its showy feathery red flowers, and multi-fingered green-purple leaves.

Conclusion

As I said at the beginning of the article, you should only touch plants that you are positive are safe AND don’t look like any toxic plants. Remember, even if you’re sure a plant is safe, if it has a toxic lookalike, then you risk making a deadly mistake by handling it. Better safe than sorry.

Want to Start a Homestead but Not Sure How?

Sign Up and Get Your FREE Book, "How To Homestead No Matter Where You Live."

I will never give away, trade or sell your email address. You can unsubscribe at any time.

849
SHARES
PinShareTweetPrint

You May Also Like:

Comments

  1. Lynne Williams says

    October 18, 2019 at 12:25 pm

    Burning oleander creates toxic fumes and smoke that can be fatal.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Facebook Icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon
Lost Book of Remedies Video
Easy Cellar Video
Lost Ways Video
Water Freedom System
Megadrought USA
Prepper Website

TOP POSTS

60 Things You Should Stop Buying And Start Making
30 Dirt-Cheap Items You Should Stockpile While You Still Can
11 Powerful Medicinal Herbs You Should Be Growing
45 Homestead Tools for Off the Grid Living
35 Emergency Foods To Stock Up On
15 Foods You Can Grow In Buckets Year-Round

© Copyright 2017-2021 Homestead Survival Site · All Rights Reserved

Disclosure · Privacy · Terms of Use

Facebook · Pinterest · Twitter

* Homestead Survival Site is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Copyright © 2021 · Agency Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in