Poisonous Flowers

There are a number of fairly common poisonous flowers which can often be found in gardens or growing wild in the countryside. Young children love flowers with their bright colours, love picking them, and very young children, especially babies and toddlers, are prone to putting anything and everything in their mouths!

There are a number of edible flowers, and as a child gets older, it is fun and interesting introducing these, but in the meantime the golden rule must be to teach them not to eat ANY flowers, berries or plants from the garden, and to always wash their hands well after playing outside.

The most common poisonous flowers

LILY OF THE VALLEY (Convallaria): Beautiful dark green plants with white bell-shaped flowers, often seen growing wild in woodland. The whole plant is highly toxic if ingested.

DAFFODIL (Narcissus): the stems but especially the bulbs can cause stomach upset.

FOXGLOVE (Digitalis): the whole plant including flower is highly toxic and can affect the cardiovascular system as well as the gastrointestinal system.

HYACINTH (Hyacinthus): as with the daffodil, the bulb can cause stomach upset and generally affects the gastrointestinal system. Note that the BLUE BELL are also in the same family.

BUTTERCUP: the milky-white juice in the stems of the buttercup can cause damage to the gastrointestinal system and also irritate the skin.

IRIS (Iridaceae): the whole plant can cause stomach upset and discomfort, but the tubers in particular affect the gastrointestinal system.

DEADLY NIGHTSHADE (Atropa): the whole plant is very toxic.

For a more comprehensive list please see the RHS list of Potentially harmful garden plants.

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