Dangerous & Deadly Plants on the Planet

Dangerous & Deadly Plants on the Planet

By: nobert bermosa

There are numerous species of plants that are poisonous and can be deadly to humans and animals. Here’s a list of the most dangerous plants in the world.

1. False Helleborine (Veratrum album )

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The root of this plant with elegant flowers is very poisonous. It has a paralyzing effect on the nervous system. In two cases of fatal poisoning from eating the seeds, the toxins veratridine and cevadine were present in the blood at 0.17-0.40 nanograms/milliliter and 0.32-0.48 nanograms/milliliter, respectively. In 1983 sneezing powders produced from the herb in Germany were reported to have caused severe intoxications in Scandinavia. False Helleborine, a native to Europe, is also known as White Hellebore, European White Hellebore, and White Veratrum. Although this plant is poisonous, it is also considered a medicinal plant.

2. Anthora (Aconitum anthor)

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Anthora is a plant that is extremely toxic to livestock and humans. Even small doses can be deadly. Foliage and stems contain diterpenoid alkaloids. Anthora, variously known as Yellow Monkshood, or Healing Wolfsbane, is a yellow flowering plant species of the genus Aconitum. It is endemic to European Mountains and Asia.

3. Indian Poke (Veratrum viride)

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Indian poke is native to North America and it is extremely toxic. It is considered a pest plant by farmers with livestock. The species has acquired a large number of common names within its native range, including American False Hellebore, American White Hellebore, Bear Corn, Big Hellebore, Corn Lily, Devils Bite, Duck Retten, Indian Hellebore, Itch-weed, Itchweed, Poor Annie, and Tickleweed. The plant is highly toxic, causing nausea and vomiting. If the poison is not evacuated, cold sweat and vertigo appears, respiration slows, cardiac rhythm and blood pressure falls, eventually leading to death.

4. Lice-Bane ( Delphinium staphisagria )

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Lice-Bane, a perennial plant, is also known as Stavesacre. All parts of this plant are highly toxic and should not be ingested in any quantity. The plant has purple flowers, May to August.

5. Death Camas (Zigadenus venenosus)

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All parts of this plant with lovely flowers called the Death Camas are poisonous. It is dangerous for humans as well as livestock, though some poisoned by it have been treated. Alkaloids are responsible for the plants being poisonous. Fish or beef broth, grease, or butter are said to be the antidotes.

The bulbs of Death Camas are oval and look like onions but does not smell like onions. Death camas occurs in some parts of western North America and can be easily confused with edible onions of genus Allium. They tend to grow in dry meadows and on dry hillsides as well as sagebrush slopes and mountain forests.

6. American Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)

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American Pokeweed is also known as American nightshade, cancer jalap, oakum, garget, inkberry, pigeon berry, pecan bush, poke root, pokeweed, redweed, scoke, red ink plant and chui xu shang lu, parts of this plant are highly toxic to livestock and humans..

The fruits of American Pokeweed look edible too like the Jerusalem cherry that’s why Pokeweed poisonings are common. Although the fruits are toxic to humans, they’re not to birds. The toxic components of the plant are saponins. Deaths are currently uncommon, although there are cases of emesis and catharsis, but at least one death of a child who consumed crushed seeds in a juice has occurred.

7. Mountain Death camas (Zigadenus elegans)

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This pretty flower of Mountain Death Camas is extremely poisonous. It is also known as Elegant Camas, a flowering plant that has white lily-like flowers and two-pronged, greenish-yellow glands on each petal. Distribution is throughout North America and occurs in many habitats.

8. Western Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa)

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Western Bleeding Heart is a flowering plant generally found in moist wooded areas from California to British Columbia. Herbologists have claimed that there are uses for Dicentra formosa in relieving sharp pains that are difficult to bear, such as toothaches. However it is recommended to be used in a drop dosage, if used at all, because if used improperly it can be harmful and possibly fatal.

9. Indian Aconite (Aconitum ferox)

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Indian Aconites supply the Indian (Nepal) poison called bikh, bish, or nabee. It contains large quantities of the alkaloid pseudaconitine, which is a deadly poison. Aconite was often used as an ingredient in the psychoactive drugs prepared by the descendants of Hecate (the Greek goddess of sorcery and witchcraft). It was also used in European witchcraft ointments.

10. Purple Nightshade (Solanum xanti)

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Purple Nightshade is a plant that is poisonous to humans. It is native to California, it can now be found in most of North America. Purple Nightshade has been observed climbing higher on fences, shrubs and saplings, sometimes choking or blocking sunlight thereby killing off the host plant.

11. Apple of Sodom (Solanum mammosum)

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Apple of Sodom is also known as nipplefruit, titty fruit, or Cow’s Udder. It is a close relative of the tomato. The poisonous fruit is native to South America, but has been naturalized in the Greater Antilles, Central America and Caribbean.

The fruit is grown for ornamental purposes, in part because of its resemblance to a human breast. It is reputed to have medicinal use in various treatments, from athlete’s foot to irritability and restlessness, and is sometimes used as a detergent. It is imported to Taiwan for use as a religious offering.

12. Hound’s Berry (Solanum nigrum)

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Hound’s Berry is native to Eurasia and introduced in the Americas and Australia. The green berries and mature leaves contain glycoalkaloids and are poisonous to eat raw. Their toxicity varies and there are some strains which have edible berries when fully ripe. Although fatal human poisonings are rare, at least one case has been documented. The poison is believed to be solanine. Hound’s Berry is known commonly with the ff names; Black Nightshade, Duscle, Garden Nightshade, Petty Morel, Small-fruited black nightshade, popolo, Sunberry, or Wonderberry.

13. Little Larkspur (Delphinium bicolor )

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Little Larkspur plant is poisonous to cattle and to sheep. It is a species of larkspur also known as low larkspur. This plant is native to northwestern North America. It grows in mountain forests and foothill scrub and prairie.

14. Conker Tree (Aesculus hippocastanum )

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All parts of this lovely-looking plant called Conker Tree are poisonous, causing nausea, muscle twitches, and sometimes paralysis. The nuts, especially those that are young and fresh, are slightly poisonous, containing alkaloid saponins and glucosides. Although not dangerous to touch, they cause sickness when eaten. Conker Tree is also commonly known as Horse-chestnut. This plant is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is widely cultivated throughout the temperate world.

15. California Corn Lily (Veratrum californicum)

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California Corn lily is a poisonous plant native to mountain meadows in southwestern North america and the Rocky Mountains. This plant is a source of jervine and cyclopamine, teratogens which can cause birth defects such as holoprosencephaly and cyclopia in animals that graze upon it.

16. Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum)

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All parts of the mandrake plant are poisonous. The plant grows natively in southern and central Europe and in lands around the Mediterranean Sea, as well as on Corsica Mandrake contains deliriant hallucinogenic tropane alkaloids such as hyoscyamine and the roots sometimes contain bifurcations causing them to resemble human figures. Their roots have long been used in magic rituals, today also in neopagan religions such as Wicca and Germanic revivalism religions such as Odinism.

17. Poison Ryegrass (Lolium temulentum)

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The seeds and seed heads of this common garden weed contain the alkaloids temuline and loliine. Some experts also point to the fungus ergot or fungi of the genus endoconidium, both of which grow on the seed heads of rye grasses, as an additional source of toxicity. Poison Ryegrass is also commonly known as Darnel or Cockle and grows plentifully in Syria and Israel.

18. Trailing Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara)

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The fruit of Trailing Bittersweet is poisonous to humans and livestock but edible for birds, which disperse the seeds widely. Like other Solanum species, the foliage is also poisonous to humans. Although fatal human poisonings are rare, several cases have been documented. The poison is believed to be solanine. Trailing Bittersweet is also known commonly as bittersweet, bitter nightshade, blue bindweed, climbing nightshade, fellenwort, felonwood, poisonberry, poisonflower, scarlet berry, snakeberry, trailing nightshade, violet bloom or, woody nightshade. It is native to Europe and Asia.

19. Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)

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Dutchman’s Breech is a flowering plant that occurs mainly in the eastern half of the North American continent. It typically grows in rich woods. The common name Dutchman’s breeches derives from their white flowers that look like white Breeches. This plant may be toxic and may cause contact dermatitis in some people.

20. Nelson’s Horsenettle (Solanum nelsonii)

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Nelson’s Horsenettle is an annual to perennial plant of the nightshade genus. The poisonous plant is native to the Pacific islands.  It grows low to the ground in sandy soil.

21. Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)

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Black Locust is native to the southeastern US, but has been widely planted and naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe and Asia. Unlike the pods of the honey locust, but like those of the related European Laburnum, the black locust’s pods are toxic. In fact, every part of the tree, especially the bark, is considered toxic, with the exception of the flowers. However, various reports have suggested that the seeds and the young pods of the black locust can be edible when cooked, since the poisons that are contained in this plant are decomposed by heat. Horses that consume the plant show signs of anorexia, depression, diarrhea, colic, weakness, and cardiac arrhythmia. Symptoms usually occur about 1 hour following consumption, and immediate veterinary attention is required.

See more deadly plants on these sites:

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10 Deadliest Plants on the Planet 2

Amazingly Beautiful But Poisonous Ornamental Plants

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