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Page 47
| Taking Care in the Garden |
| Garden flowers may look delightful, but their beauty can conceal a highly toxic nature and care must be takenespecially if there are toddlers and children to worry about. In many areas, local hospitals can obtain quick access to specialist information from poison units to help identify plant toxins. So, if small children have devoured something in the garden that you're unsure of, try to take a sample of the suspect plant with you to the emergency room. |
| Many common garden plants produce poisonous seeds or berries that can prove tempting: sweet peas, laburnum (L. anagy-roides), privet (Ligustrum vulgare), white bryony (Bryonia dioica), holly (Ilex spp.), mistletoe (Viscum album), and spindle trees like wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus) all have toxic fruits that can attract small children. |
| Helpful herbs can prove equally nasty in certain conditions. The combination of moisture and bright sunshine with both chamomile and yarrow can cause skin rashes in sensitive individuals. Sensitized sufferers need only touch the plant once more to trigger an allergic rash: sunbathing on a damp, chamomile lawn is a classic formula for sensitization. Other common plants can easily cause contact dermatitis, so take care when handling the slightly irritant leaves of runner beans, ornamental primulas, hops (Humulus lupulus), and borage (Borago officinalis). |
| Treat the following plants with extra caution. |
| Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) is safely used by |
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