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Poisonous Plants

1. Accidental ingestion of poisonous plant

It may be difficult to distinguish poisonous plants from edible plants just by looking at a part of the plant such as new sprouts, young leaves, roots, and berries. When eating collected wild vegetables, you need to be certain to learn their features and how to distinguish them.

Edible plants	Poisonous plants easily mistaken for harmless ones	Similar parts
Hosta montana, alpine leek	Veratrum grandiflorum	Young leaves
Burdock (root), sesame (seed)	Datura	Roots, seeds
Artemisia, sacalia delphiniifolia	Aconitum	Young leaves
Taro (Colocasia esculenta)	Alocasia odora	Stems, rhizomes
Chinese chive (leaf), wild garlic（bulb）	Narcissus	Leaves, bulbs
Butterbur sprout	Scopolia japonica	New sprouts
Star anise	Illicium anisatum	Berries
Japanese parsley (leaf), Japanese horseradish (wasabi)（rhizome）	Water-hemlock	Leaves, rhizomes
Cirsium dipsacolepis	Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), pokeweed	*roots

*Ingredient of commercially available “Japanese pickles of pokeweed” is the root of cirsium dipsacolepis.

2. Food poisoning cases caused by poisonous plants

Occurrence of food poisoning during the past 13 years (2003 to 2015) for which responsible plants were identified or surmised is shown below table;

Plant name	Number of incidents	Plant name	Number of incidents	Plant name	Number of incidents
Narcissus	43	Arisaema	3	Cyrtanthus	1
Veratrum grandiflorum	42	Scopolia japonica	3	Rhododendron	1
Common bean	33	Gourd	3	Snowflake	1
Datura	30	Glory lily	2	Chinese elder	1
Potato	24	Digitalis	2	White rain lily	1
Aconitum	21	Water-hemlock	2	Eggplant (eggplant is grafted on Angel’s trumpet as a base)	1
Alocasia odora	12	Bottle gourd	2	Symplocarpus nipponicus	1
autumn crocus	11	Rhizome of Calla lily (Taro, Zantedeschia)	1	Japanese wisteria	1
Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)	5	Carolina jasmine	1	Common vetch	1
Hydrangea	3	Nicotiana glauca	1	Rhododendron japonicum	1

3. Major poisonous substances in plant

While the reason why plants produce poisonous substances has not clearly elucidated, one of the reasons may be protection from being eaten for species preservation.
Specific poisonous substances include nitrogen compounds which are called “alkaloids” and “cyanogen glycoside” with enzymatic action producing cyan.

4. Preventive measures for food poisoning caused by poisonous plants

Please be careful not to develop food poisoning caused by poisonous plants.

Five points for preventing food poisoning caused by poisonous plants

1	Be aware that it is difficult to distinguish types just by looking at new sprouts and roots.
2	Learn accurate knowledge under the guidance of experts.
3	When collecting wild vegetables, be careful that poisonous species do not get mixed in with them.
4	Prepare them correctly (removing scum of bracken or sprouts of potatoes).
5	Do not eat if you are uncertain whether it is edible.

If you are poisoned, please seek medical care immediately.
When doing so, take the poisonous plant that you suspect to be the cause if there is any leftover to the doctor for his/her reference.