dangerous plants

'cut flower alert' indicates toxic flowers often brought indoors

 
Gardens have the power to sooth, energise and delight us all, residents, visitors and staff alike. They are also one of the most dangerous areas for our residents. People with dementia, poor vision and/or loss of taste may be attracted to, and eat, any plant in the garden, however unlikely. Poisoning is a real possibility.

We've added this page to help familiarise you with some of the common plants that pose a risk to our residents. Indoor and outdoor plants are included. The phrase 'cut flower alert' will appear next to toxic flowers often brought indoors as part of floral arrangements or, perhaps, a child's garden bouquet. These flowers, stems and/or leaves cause illness or even death when ingested.

The list provided is not complete by any means, just a representation of dangerous plants found around the Cheeryville campus. Information links are included with each entry and we encourage you to spend some time investigating them. We can't remove all the potentially dangerous plants (hedging cedars, for example, are poisonous assuming you can choke down enough) however, learning to recognise the most common dangerous plants and flowers is an easy, practical way for us protect our residents.

This page has been simplified. For detailed information, please visit the Nerd's Page.

lists on the web
Wikipedia here
Penn State School of Veterinary Medicine here

Outdoor plants 

Buttercup 
'cut flower alert'

 

photos: kingcounty.gov 

-----------------------

Daffodil (Narcissus)
cut flower alert
can be fatal

Martin Hirtreiter /Wikimedia

  Olaf Leillinger/ Wikimedia

-----------------------

Field horsetail (Equisetum arvens)

Evelyn Simak/Wikimedia Commons 

-----------------------

Four o'clocks (Mirabilis jalapa)

Storm/creative commons

 Storm/creative commons

-----------------------

Foxglove ( Digitalis purpurea )

 'cut flower alert'

can be fatal 

Jensflorian, Wikimedia commons

-----------------------

 Hydrangea 

'cut flower alert'

can be fatal

Joanne Bergenwall Aw/Wikimedia commons

----------------------- 

Japanese/Chinese lantern (Physalis alkekengi)
cut flower alert

H. Zell/Wikimedia commons

 

XN/Wikimedia commons

H. Zell/Wikimedia commons

 -----------------------

Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis)

cut flower alert

can be fatal

H. Zell, Wikimedia commons

-----------------------

Nicotiana (Flowering tobacco)
 'cut flower alert'
can be fatal

 

Storm/creative commons

-----------------------

Nightshade
can be fatal 
Death is possible if large quantities of unripe berries are ingested.

Omar Hoftun/ Wikimedia commons

D. Gordon E. Robertson/Wikimedia commons  

  

-----------------------

Peony 
'cut flower alert'

Kurt Stüber/Wikiimedia commons via Biolib

----------------------- 

Rhododendron

cut flower alert

can be fatal 

Wikimedia Commons

Marcus334 /Creative Commons

Storm/Creative Commons

-----------------------

Sweet Pea  
'cut flower alert'

 Aftabbanoori/ Wikimedia commons

Storm/creative commons

-----------------------

Indoor plants

Dieffenbachia
A common plant often found in plant gift baskets.

Jerzy Opioła Wikimedia Commons

----------------------- 

English Ivy (Hedera helix)
Sometimes found found in plant gift baskets, also outdoors.

Storm/creative commons

-----------------------

Poinsettia

Creative Commons

-----------------------

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum)
A common plant often found in gift baskets.

 

ZooFari, Wikimedia commons

-----------------------

-----------------------


-----------------------