Safe Plants For You, Poisonous For Your Pets

 According to the California Poison Control Center,  some plants that are not a problem for humans can be a problem for dogs and cats. The plants in this list are considered to be safe to humans, but can cause toxic reactions in your pets. However, even non-toxic plants can cause vomiting. Also children can choke on a plant piece, causing gagging or choking.

Notice that this list contains many pet-unfriendly plants that are houseplants or cut flowers, including the Corn Plant (and most other Dracaena species, including Lucky Bamboo), Cordyline (including the Good Luck Plant), Lilies and Schefflera.

 

Grapes

Also: you may enjoy munching on grapes straight from the vine...but those will cause adverse reactions in dogs and cats.  

 

Because dogs, especially, will eat large amounts, it is important to keep pets and these plants apart:

• Cordyline  Cordyline spp
• Cornplant   Dracaena fragrans 
• Daylily  Hermocallis spp (poisonous to cats)
• Dracaena  Dracaena spp
• Dwarf schefflera  Schefflera arboricola
• Easter lily   Lilium longiflorum
• European grape  Vitus vinifera
• Good luck plant   Cordyline or Dracaena terminalis
• Grape, wild  Vitus californica
• Janet Craig plant  Dracaena deremensis
• Lily (most),  Lilium spp
• Lucky bamboo  Dracaena sanderiana
• Macadamia nut  Macadamia spp
• Ribbon plant   Dracaena sanderiana
• Ti plant  Cordyline or Dracaena terminalis 

• Tiger lily   Lilium spp
• Wine grape   Vitus vinifera

For a more complete list of poisonous and non-poisonous plants, click here.

Dracaena

Daylily

Call your state's poison center if a person or an animal has eaten a plant. 

The California Poison Control System is available 24 hours a day by calling 1-800-222-1222. 

If you are not in California, call 1-800-222-1222 to be connected to your nearest poison control center.

WHAT TO DO FOR A PLANT POISONING, KIDS OR PETS:
• Do NOT induce vomiting.
• Remove any plant parts from the mouth or hands.
• Wash around the mouth and hands and give a few sips of water.
• Check for any irritation of the skin, mouth or tongue.
• Call the California Poison Control System at 1-800-222-1222
• Even if you are not sure, call the poison center for help. It will not be a waste of
time.
• Do not wait for symptoms to appear. Treatment will be more difficult once
symptoms have developed.
• If you are advised to go to the hospital, take the plant or part of the plant with you.

Pretty Pokeweed: Fall Color That Will Knock You on Your Butt

"Fall Color" isn't just limited to the changing hues of the leaves of deciduous trees this time of year. There are lots of colorful shrubs right now, producing flowers and berries, many of which are outstanding garden plants: cotoneaster, toyon, bottlebrush, the strawberry tree, Oregon grape, pyracantha and beautyberry, for example. But there are some pretty poisonous plants putting on a show right now in Northern California. Plants, that if you get a little too curious, could knock you on your ass.

For example, Laura writes in, with pictures:

 

This gorgeous invasive plant invading her Citrus Heights backyard? Pokeweed.

 After posting these pictures at the Get Growing with Farmer Fred Facebook Page, valley and foothill gardeners responded with words of warning:

"It is poisonous and it is becoming an invasive weed in California and so is posted as a noxious weed. I had a friend who had them in their yard and their son wrongfully thought they were elderberries so they had picked a bunch to make jam. Thankfully she didn't get time to make that jam and they got moldy."

"Definitely pokeweed...would not recommend putting in the compost pile...they also have a deep tap root and are hard to get rid of...Placer County posted a warning on this plant as being both poisonous and invasive."

Cindy Fake of the Placer County Cooperative Extension office has written extensively about the dangers of pokeweed (Phytolacca americana, also known as pokeberry, inkberry and American pokeweed):

"If you have seen this plant, beware!  Pokeweed, a poisonous invasive species, has become more and more common...pokeweed is a rapidly growing perennial shrub, up to 10 feet tall, with large leaves and red stems. While some homeowners may be tempted to keep pokeweed in their gardens because of the pretty white flowers and glossy dark purple berries, all parts of the plant are toxic to humans, pets, and other mammals. Pokeweed berries provide food for birds, which are not affected by the toxins. However, the birds then spread the seeds, helping the plant to invade orchards, fields and yards, and competing with crops and ornamentals. Once established, pokeweed can be very difficult to eradicate.  It grows a very large taproot, and can have multiple stalks growing from a single root. Do not put plants or berries in green waste disposal bins or in compost. Unfortunately, the taproot usually remains and often resprouts the following year." 

 

The UC Integrated Pest Management Pest Note on Pokeweed has removal tips: "Hand pulling is effective on small plants. Once plants are established and develop an extensive root system, hand removal is difficult. Digging out established plants with a shovel is effective, but often difficult in summer when soils are dry. Established plants may have large roots that must be removed to prevent regrowth. Cultivation can be effective on new seedlings in raised beds or other areas where tilling can be used. Cultivation on large established plants is not effective. When removing mature plants, ripe berries should be bagged and discarded so the seeds don’t reinfest the soil." Consult that Pest Note on eradicating pokeweed with herbicides. Read and follow all label directions.

More pokeweed facts here and here.

Those of you from the South may recall "poke salad" as more than a song by Tony Joe White. As Cindy Fake points out: "in some parts of the US, young pokeweed leaves are eaten after extensive processing to remove toxins, but even after processing, some toxins remain, so consumption is not recommended."
          
Agreeing with that is the California Poison Control System, which reports pokeweed (Inkberry) as a Class 3 toxin: "Ingestion of these plants is expected to cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms that may cause illness but is not life-threatening."

WHAT TO DO FOR A PLANT POISONING
• Do NOT induce vomiting.
• Remove any plant parts from the mouth or hands.
• Wash around the mouth and hands and give a few sips of water.
• Check for any irritation of the skin, mouth or tongue.
• Call the California Poison Control System at 1-800-222-1222

What Plant Is Your Horse Eating Right Now?

   
 A caller to the radio program awhile back asked a good question, one that livestock-owning country dwellers ought to also consider:
    

     "I want to plant some trees or shrubs that will grow quickly to hide the view of a new house going in next to us," said the caller. "But I don't want to plant anything that might be poisonous to our horses, which will eat just about anything. Any ideas?"

    "There definitely are some plants that you should avoid," advises Dr. Frank Galey, now with the University of Wyoming, formerly the toxicologist at the California Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Systems at UC Davis. 

Highly poisonous plants that should not be planted within the reach of horses include:

                                         oleander 
The book, "The UC Davis Book of Horses", says that the oleanders (of which all parts are toxic) can cause horses to develop diarrhea, colic and an irregular heartbeat.

                                            yews

"A yew can kill a pile of horses in a heartbeat," says Dr. Galey.

                                     rhododendrons

                                   

                                          azaleas

Rhododendrons and azaleas, which can cause severe colic or diarrhea, can often be found while on wilderness expeditions with your horses. They will be become hungry during prolonged treks and may eat any forage available at rest stops or campsites. A good piece of advice? Don't picket your horse near any shrubs.

                                Privet with berries

                                         pieris 

 There are many, many more plants that can be toxic to horses, a list of which you can probably get from your veterinarian. "Toxic" has a wide meaning, from gastric distress to death. Among the other highly toxic plants that are commonly found in California: 
the twigs and leaves of deciduous fruit trees, including apricot, cherry, peach and plum;
Foxglove
Lupine
Mountain Laurel
Nightshade
Oak acorns (in large quantities)
Sweetpea seeds
Tomato vines

   

PLANTS THAT ARE LEAST TOXIC TO HORSES





There are a number of trees and shrubs that can provide a quick screening effect; here are a few that will do well in our area of California and are the least toxic to horses:

* Eucalyptus. "Horses tend to leave eucalyptus trees alone," says Dr. Galey. For a quick, bushy screen, plant the Eucalyptus globulus 'Compacta', the dwarf blue gum, about six feet apart.

* Bottlebrush (Callistemon citrinus). This evergreen shrub can reach 15-20 feet tall, and is dotted with colorful, bright red bottlebrush-shaped flowers several times throughout the year. "We haven't had any poison reports about the bottlebrush, so it should be pretty safe," says Dr. Galey. "But because the plant attracts bees, it's possible the horse could be allergic to bee stings."

* Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). Given ample water, this evergreen tree can grow several feet a year. It also has a low incidence of toxicity. Horses, though, may trample the lower branches.


     It's up to the horse owner to be vigilant, patrolling the pasture regularly for unfamiliar plants, especially those that may pop up seasonally. Look for toxic plants near water tanks or ponds; along fence rows; or, roadside gullies that a hungry horse might reach.

    This word of caution: anything eaten in mass quantities by a horse may cause medical problems. A good book that goes much more in depth on this topic is "The Horse Owners Field Guide to Toxic Plants". And check your horse insurance policy. Make sure you have thorough coverage if your pasture is surrounded by a field full of mystery plants. Some companies may drag their feet if the horse is suffering due to human error.
So, if you have horses that have never missed a meal, you may want to install a horse fence or hot wire between the screening plants and your ravenous friends.