![]() While the rest of us may be content with our pasta sauces and french fries, everybody needs to watch out for these two beautiful, yet deadly, flowers listed below. Some people have extreme sensitivity to all nightshades and can’t eat any of these tasty treats. The family includes popular culinary vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, and peppers. In fact, if a nightshade plant isn’t deadly poisonous, it is likely on your dinner plate. Though this family comes with plenty of exceptions that prove the rule. With an ominous name like “nightshades,” the entire plant family of Solanaceae found a spot on our deadly flowers list. Larkspur flowers look like wee fairy hats – hardly a foreboding figure! Deadly Nightshades Like all the deadly flowers on this list, you wouldn’t guess it from their dainty appearance. ![]() Alkaloids in the plants target the muscular-skeletal system and can cause weakness and paralysis when consumed. While this Delphinium species is rarely fatal to humans, it gets an honorable mention on the list as it can be a terror for cattle ranchers. Larkspur: An Honorable MentionĪnother member of the buttercup family is wolfsbane’s cousin larkspur. Even in small doses, wolfsbane can cause numbness and nausea. The deadly flower factor comes from aconitine, an alkaloid chemical that paralyzes nerves, lowers blood pressure, and causes heart failure. Aconite even made a celebrity appearance in Shakespeare’s Hamlet – Laertes uses wolfsbane to poison the blade that ( Spoiler Alert!) kills Hamlet in the final scene. Both ancient Greece and Rome civilizations have recorded uses of the drug, and Cleopatra purportedly used the poison to kill her brother Ptolemy XIV. In fact, it’s one of the oldest documented plant-derived poisons. Wolfsbane isn’t a surprise to the deadly flower list. The petals of each individual flower arrange themselves to look like a little cowl for a miniature Catholic monk. Generally, this herbaceous flower perches in purple clumps on tall stalks. However, the plant’s cousins in the same genus can be found worldwide. Touted as a defense against werewolves, this member of the buttercup family can be found across central and western Europe. WolfsbaneĪlso known as monkshood, aconite, or devil’s helmet, folktales popularized the plant Aconitum napellus. However, consuming them straight from the oleander bush causes irregular heart activity, eventually leading to cardiac arrest and even death. ![]() In minuscule, measured doses, these potent chemicals can actually act as a medicinal treatment for heart failure. As you know if you’ve ever taken a CPR class or witnessed the shock of a defibrillator, maintaining regular electrical currents is imperative for cardiac health. When eaten, these chemicals disrupt the electrical conductivity of the heart. What makes oleander such a beautiful menace? The plant contains two types of cardiac glycosides. Even just touching the leaves or stem can cause skin irritation. A single leaf can kill a child, and honey made from oleander nectar can be toxic. Even just roasting a marshmallow on an oleander branch has resulted in deaths. Every part of the plant is highly toxic and, in many cases, fatal. But oleander is worth that second glance… and probably a third. With its delicate whirl of pastel petals scented like apricots, you wouldn’t cast Nerium Oleander a second glance before adding it to a bouquet or burying your nose in a cluster of blooms. However, all those perks come with a very serious cost. Tolerant to heat, drought, salt, and herbivory, oleander is easy to care for as well. It grows as an evergreen shrub and decorates itself with showy flowers and fruits, not to mention it’s extremely hearty. It’s popular as a backyard plant for good reason. Native to Europe and Asia, but planted worldwide in ornamental gardens, oleander is at the top of our list of deadly flowers. ![]() An incredible juxtaposition of beauty and destruction, we found it incredible to learn about these pretty, poisonous flowers. With different concoctions of toxic chemicals, these deadly flowers pose a significant threat to those who eat (or sometimes even just touch) them. We love to celebrate beautiful flowers! They bring us joy, romance, a splash of color, and… hold on…death?! That’s right, some species of plants take their self-defense beyond a simple thorn.
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