Poisonous Herbs

In our herb section, we have provided information about herbs for all types of use – culinary, medicinal, perfume ect. However, we have not so far discussed the dangerous side of using herbs.

We have consulted our database of herbs and come up with this short article about the herbs you should not use in your cooking or any herbal remedies. We will continue to research this subject and bring you further articles about these dangerous herbs in the future.

It is essential when gathering herbs for either food or medicine that you correctly identify the herb with absolute certainty and know to which use the particular plant may be put. There are many poisonous herbs which grow side by side or intertwined with food plants, and which can be very similar in appearance at either the leaf, flower or fruit stage. Along damp hedgerows the bright red berries of the black bryony, which are highly poisonous, can be mistaken for the wholesome fruits of the common hawthorn. Black bryony is a vigorous climber that will twine in clockwise fashion around the stems of hawthorn and its vivid berries catch the eye.

Until you can be certain of identifying the plants it would be sensible to buy your herbs from a reliable herbalist. Most recipes call for the fresh herb, but where it is not possible to buy these you can use the dried plants with confidence. If the herb is gathered at the correct time of year, and carefully dried, the healing nature of the herb will not have been impaired. Dried herbs, however, do have a comparatively short shelf life and contain little goodness after 6 or 7 months.

Many herbs are poisonous only if eaten to excess and great care must be taken at all times when dealing with these dubious healing plants. Some herbs are used for external treatment only and the instructions must be carefully carried out when using plants which might be violent in action even though they are not listed as poisonous. When using herbs for treating minor ailments, if any of the treatments should make you feel worse, then stop them at once. The following are poisonous herbs:

Baneberry
Black bryony
Buttercup
Columbine
Common buckthorn
Deadly nightshade
Fool’s parsley
Foxglove
Hemlock
Henbane
Ivy
Laburnum
Meadow saffron
Mistletoe
Monkshood
Spindle tree
White bryony
White hellebore
Woody nightshade
Yew (leaves and berries)

The danger of self-diagnosis and treatment cannot be stressed too highly and where there is obviously a serious condition, a doctor should always be consulted.
Bill & Sheila’s A-Z of herbs
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