Tokyo Food Safety Information Center » Good things to know »  Poisonous plants easily mistaken for harmless ones » Rhododendron japonicum (Ericaceae)

Rhododendron japonicum (Ericaceae)

About 1 to 2-meter-high shrub that exfoliates and grows in the highlands, but is also planted as a garden tree. In the spring after leaves come out, it blooms with red, yellow, etc. funnel-like bell-shaped flowers.


Characteristics

Habitat Highlands, grasslands. Also planted in gardens, etc.
Parts of the plant that may be ingested accidentally. Floral nectar, flowers, leaves, roots, etc.
Symptoms Vomiting, cramps, etc.
Venomous constituents Leaves contain andromedotoxin, flowers contain rhodojaponin, roots contain suparasol.

Rhododendron japonicum
Rhododendron japonicum

 

Bureau of Public Health, Tokyo Metropolitan Government
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