A List of Common Poisonous Plants

Poisonous Plants

The other day I wrote an article Edible Wild Plants can Supplement your Food Storage  In that article, I mentioned that sometimes it is easier to learn about the poisonous plants first, so I thought that today I would publish some information on poisonous plants.

The following is a partial list of the more common poisonous plants found in North America.  Unfortunately, I do not have the information readily at my fingertips to publish information on other parts of the world.

Here is a list of 30 of the more common poisonous plants

      • American mistletoe, phoradendron  flavescens
      • Baneberry, actaea rubra
      • Belladonna or deadly nightshade, devils cherries,  atropa belladonna
      • Black henbane, hyoscyamus, hog bean, hyoscyamus niger
      • Black locust, yellow locust, black acacia, Robina pseudoacacia
      • Bleeding heart, Dutchman’s breeches, dicentra Formosa
      • Blacken Fern, pterdium aquilinum
      • Caster bean, Ricinus communis
      • Death camas, zigadenus paniculatus
      • Destroying angel, Amanita verna, a very deadly mushroom
      • False hellebore, skunk cabbage, veratrum californicum
      • Fly amanita, amanita muscaria, a deadly mushroom
      • Foxglove, fairy caps, fairy thimbles, digitalis purpurea, this is also a medicinal plant if use correctly.
      • Jimson weed, Thorn apple, Datura stramonium
      • Jasmine, Jasminum, the berries can be fatal
      • Larkspur, staggerweed, delphinium spp
      • Lupine, Lupinus spp
      • Monkshood, Wolfsbane, aconitum colurnbianum
      • Oleander, Nerium oleander
      • Poison hemlock, poison parsley, Conium maculatum
      • Red Elderberry, sambucus racemosa
      • Rhododendron, rose bay, azalea, rhododendron spp
      • Rhubarb,  rheum rhaponticum,  the part that you can eat is only the stalk, the leaves are particularly poisonous.
      • Scotch broom, cytisus scoparius
      • Snowberry or waxberry, symphoricarpos
      • Sweet pea, wild pea, peavine, lathyrus spp
      • Water hemlock, American cowbane, fool’s parsley, water parsley, cicuta douglasii
      • Wisteria, wisteria spp.
      • Yellow Jessamine, false jasmine, wild woodbine, gelsemium sempervirens
      • Yew, taxus spp
See also  Making Fire Under Adverse Conditions can be Critical to Survival.

The CDC says the most common problems with poisonous plants arise from contact with the sap oil of several ever-present native plants that cause an allergic skin reaction—poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac.

A few simple rules to follow when dealing with poisonous plants

      • If you can’t positively identify the plants don’t eat it.
      • The fact that you see an animal eating it does not mean that it is non-poisonous to humans.
      • If you suspect you have eaten a poisonous plant get medical attention.

One book that helped me to learn plants and is small enough to carry in your bugout bag is A Review of the Book Nature Bound Pocket Field Guide.  This book shows pictures of both edible and poisonous plants.

Knowing both edible and poisonous plants can be very useful information in a survival situation.  However, it is something that takes some effort to learn.  Start now while you still have time.

Howard

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2 thoughts on “A List of Common Poisonous Plants”

  1. I think some prepper with time on his or her hands (I haven’t as of now) should get a few pictures up for each of these plants and everyone should teach the kids too. Would really appreciate it. Maybe even teachers can get interested in teaching this in class?

    1. Good idea. in the future I will try and post more information on poisonous plants. In the mean time you may want to get a copy of the book I mentioned in the post it has pictures of most of these poisonous plants. Nature Bound Pocket Field Guide
      Howard

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