There are plenty of good websites that give info on which plants are poisonous. Children should always be taught that they do not pick and eat anything from the garden without checking with a parent first. I personally see no reason for the plant labels to state that something is poisonous.

Neither do I MG, as children have been in gardens for decades! I also think garden terrain can be just as dangerous. Most parents are responsible enough.

'Lords and ladies' berries....very red...very dangerous. I saw a deadly nightshade at the end of august...incredibly glossy dark berries...such a temptation you a youngster...very dangerous even to touch never mind ingest.

BB I had 2 babies/children in my 1/3 of an acre garden - it was a question of common sense and educating them not to eat unless I said it was ok. Parents learn from the start to protect their children as they go along and with this care most accidents dont happen! I never used electrical tools if the children were in the garden and I never turned the car ignition on till they were strapped in their child seats? But I refused to be a scaremonger! - I worry just as much now they are grown up in the big wide world!!!

We had 5 children and now 7 grandchildren Try as I might I never managed to poison one of the little b-----er babies.
Taught them too well not to eat anything without permission. Drat!
Most plant labels these days do indicate toxicity by the way.

They do? Ah lots of our seed comes from the likes of the SRGC and they never put anything on the wee packets except the number :-)

BB I was taught as a youngster which plants it was safe to eat and which is wasn't, as was Bulba, we passed that on to our son who passed it on to his sons. We can't wrap our children up in cotton wool no matter how much we might want to!

@DRC I totally agree....common sense should prevail...the amount of nasties we have that are a threat on our island is small compared to Australia for example. And one almost never hear of tragedies relating to ingested native plants....in fact other than the odd mushroom story I can't remember a single one. :)

Oh it happens... fortunately not all poisonous plants are so toxic that they kill, just give stomach upsets etc.

My dad was a pro gardener and he taught me what was right from wrong and I have passed this down to my children and soon grand children I agree with benjiboy about our country compared with Australia but I suppose that those who are not so lucky to know about the dangers lurking in our gardens will always rely on parental instinct and common sense

~ it's even more of an eye opener which plants are supposed to be toxic to dogs and unfortunately it's not so easy to say don't touch that, that and that to a puppy that wants to chew everything!

There is a very good new book out, Poisonous Plants - A guide for parents and childcare providers - ISBN: 9781842464069. Published May this year. Clear and sometimes surprising. £15.
I was taught what to try, and what to spit out! Still do it now! Toxicity is all relative. Worthy

I hate this nanny state that we live in, but I'm sure that eventually Europe will insist upon it.....
We taught ours to assume that everything is poisonous, apart from the things that we say are not. We never stopped growing Datura just because there were children about!
And lets face it, even our staple foods can have a level of toxicity - case of point, the humble spud. I think that I'm correct in saying that apple "pips" carry a trace of arsenic aren't I?

Yes Meanie apple pips have arsenic in them.

As do apricot, plum and peach pits...or is that cyanide? Tomato leaves and stalks are toxic but the fruit isn't. Rhubarb leaves contain oxalic acid which is toxic. Azalea and Rhododendron leaves are toxic. Dicentra or Bleeding Heart leaves and roots, Daffodil bulbs, Hyacinth bulbs, Elderberry root, Foxglove, Ivy, Horse Chestnut....the list of common garden plants which are poisonous goes on and on. Much better to teach children to eat NOTHING from the garden unless they check with an adult first. I think I worry more about one of the dogs munching on something than I do the children.

Your right Gilli cyanide not arsenic

Let's face it, if you were a plant and things kept trying to eat you, you would develop toxicity as a defence too!
The parts of plants which are edible are those which the plant wants eaten to carry away its seeds. The seeds are often toxic so that they are not digested, rather they are passed on in their own little parcel of fertiliser.
As said it is all down to common sense really. And you can teach dogs not to chew everything in sight.

I was busy writing a long piece on Aristolochia clematitis, yesterday, so I've only just seen this question.

My reaction whenever anyone talks about how many poisonous plants there are and the danger this brings is to say 'Show me the bodies'.

It is very unusual indeed for anyone to die just from eating a poisonous plant. It's when we make things from the plant, like herbal remedies containing poison or intoxicants, that the harm starts to be done.

Liz Dauncey's book, referred to above, is based on the HTA's list of harmful plants. As she points out, there are only a handful of incidents each year.

People tend to forget about taste when it come to poison plants. Most poisonous plants taste really awful or look unappealing. Have you ever been in the garden and thought 'That dock looks delicious, I must have a munch on a few leaves'?

When it comes to the question of keep or get rid, I always say that teaching the 3-year old what to avoid in the garden is the first step in teaching the teenager it becomes what to avoid in the town centre on a Friday night.

Totally agree the Poison Gardener

I taught my three the do's n dont's of this n that including the poison's in apple pip's simply out of interest as you would need to eat a bucket full of the things to do any damage ( apparently ).
Consequently as a youngster when he ate his apple we then had to duck as he would yell "cyanide bombs" & flick pips at us. One way to get them to eat healthily I guess.
;-)

It is just a trace as I was told it Bampy.
The potato is technically toxic until cooked I believe.

I always thought it was strychnine in apple pips? But only a trace - you would need to eat bucketfuls. There was someone who developed a taste for them, saved up loads for his birthday and ate them all at once. Must go & look up if he survived.

After a bit of research - apple pips contain a compound that breaks down to release cyanide - a very tiny amount. But the pips have a tough coating that is designed to pass through the gut unharmed, so even if you ate HUGE numbers you would not be poisoned.

Beattie,

No, it's cyanolipids in apple pips which, if macerated, produce cyanide and benzaldehyde. It's actually the benzaldehyde that has the bitter almonds smell.

The only reference I've ever seen to death from apple pips comes in
AUTHOR(S): Reynard, G. B.; Norton, J. B. S.
TITLE: Poisonous plants of Maryland in relation to livestock.
YEAR: 1942
CITATION: Maryland Agric Exp Sta Tech Bull, #A10(May), 249-312C [English]

I don't have the paper itself but, apparently, it deals with over 100 plants so I doubt if it has much detail. According to 'Poisonous Plants and Fungi in Britain and Ireland' (Medical Toxicology Unit of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) the case involved a man collecting a whole cupful of apple pips and eating them in one go.

I have seen it suggested that the pips may have rotted, breaking down the indigestible casing.

Strychnine is produced by Strychnos nux vomica, the poison nut tree.

Thank you very much PoisonGardener! I was mostly wrong, but right that someone DID die from eating them. Thanks for the info.

I ate fruit pips as a child what child does'nt! when biting in to unwashed apples fresh from the trees. Little did we know in those days the 'Man Made' dangers of DDT ect! So I refuse to worry about the poisons in my garden that nature put there and who's real beneficial uses we have long ago forgotten! and will continue to worry about how I can reduce the effects of the artificial ones.