The Ministry of Health recommends not to plant 8 types of deadly poisonous flowers.

The Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health) warns against planting Chinese parasols, yellow belts, castor oil plants, and some other flowering plants in residential areas.

1. Parasol tree

The ornamental tuberous parasol tree has the scientific name Jatropha podagrica Hook.f and belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family. This plant has a large, rough, and rather thick base. The leaves have petioles attached near the base, are green, and have a long stem. Normally, the leaves of this plant are divided into 3 - 5 large lobes and alloy-like blades.

The characteristic of the ornamental parasol tree is that each tree has a cluster of red flowers growing on the top. Each flower has 5 petals, which later form a capsule. This fruit often explodes when it is moved to a new land by animals such as birds, bats, bees... In Vietnam, this tree is commonly grown from the plains to the mountains.

The Firmiana simplex tree has the scientific name Firmiana simplex and belongs to the Sterculiaceae family. In Vietnam, this tree is called the forest bo tree or the single trom tree. Each wooden sycamore tree can be up to 7m high. The tree often grows wild in the forest, especially in tropical rain forests or on limestone soil. In the harvest season, people often harvest the seeds and leaves.

Woody parasol tree is also called big three-bean or Vong dong, has thorny stem, heart-shaped leaves with slightly three edges, serrated edges. The sap and seeds of the tree contain oil, are poisonous, and can cause death. In Vietnam, this type is rarely used as medicine, only seen in Africa and Indonesia but is also limited because of its strong laxative properties, causing diarrhea, vomiting, and even death. In addition to the poisonous seeds, the sap of the three-bean tree can also cause red and swollen eyes if the sap accidentally gets into the eyes.

2. Milkweed

Milkweed is widely grown in gardens and has more than 140 species. In Vietnam, the most common milkweed has a beautiful orange-red color.

Milkweed species are important nectar sources for bees and other honey-seeking insects as well as food sources for larvae. Their milky sap contains alkaloids and several other complex compounds, including cardenolides (cardiovascular glycosides). Some species are potentially toxic.

Studies show that if children pick flowers and get the sap on their hands and then put their hands in their mouths, it can cause acute poisoning. In people with weak constitutions, the poisoning can cause coma.

3. Castor oil plant

Castor beans (Ricinus communis) are commonly used to produce castor oil, a product that is considered very ordinary. In the pharmaceutical industry, it is often used as a purgative. In the past, there were deworming oils, including castor oil and wormwood essential oil.

However, recently in the list published by the British Government of compounds that can be used to make poisons and explosives, this seed is the starting material for producing "ricin", one of the most dangerous poisons on the planet of plant origin.

Ricin belongs to the toxalbunium family, highly toxic plant proteins (such as crotin in soybeans, abrrin in licorice). With its odorless and tasteless properties, ricin is more toxic than the venom of the most dangerous cobra. Many consider it one of the most powerful poisons known to man.

In theory, with 1 gram of this substance enough to kill about 36,000 people, the toxicity of arsenic compared to ricin is only a small shrimp! Symptoms of ricin poisoning are vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, little urine, difficulty breathing, and pale skin. Because ricin dissolves blood, it can cause bloody urine or stool, vision and cardiovascular disorders, acute pulmonary edema, coma, and death.

4. Belladonna

According to Oriental medicine, belladonna flowers are spicy, warm, poisonous, and have the effect of preventing asthma, reducing cough, relieving pain, preventing convulsions, and rheumatism. The leaves are a medicine to prevent asthma attacks, relieve stomach pain, and prevent motion sickness. In addition, they also treat rheumatism, sciatica, toothache, etc. People often roll the leaves into cigarettes or cut them into small pieces to smoke (to treat coughs and asthma), use heated leaves to treat pain, rheumatism, or dry them and grind them into a fine powder.

Because the plant is highly toxic, it should only be used under the guidance of a physician. When poisoned, there are symptoms of dilated pupils, blurred vision, rapid heartbeat, bronchiectasis, dry lips and mouth, and dry throat to the point of not being able to swallow or speak. The poison affects the central nervous system and can cause death due to coma.

The plant (the leaves and seeds have the highest content) contains many alkaloids (total content from 0.2-0.5%), mainly scopolamine, also hyoscyamine, atropine and saponins, flavonoids, tannins... in insignificant amounts. The pharmacological effects are mainly due to alkaloids: dilating the bronchi, dilating the pupils, reducing intestinal and stomach motility if these organs are constricted, drying saliva, gastric juice, sweat.

5. Yellow belt flower (golden trumpet flower)

The yellow trumpet vine is a climbing shrub with whorled leaves and long, smooth blades. The plant flowers all year round and is very easy to grow. The flower clusters are large and grow near the top. The yellow trumpet vine flowers are bright yellow with 5 petals and a short, bell-shaped flower tube. The fruit is rare, long and round with long green thorns, containing few seeds. The whole plant has white latex, the top has more latex than the trunk and branches. When the plant is cut in half, it will ooze a lot of white latex that condenses into drops.

According to domestic herbal documents, the yellow trumpet vine is a poisonous plant. Foreign medical literature specializing in poisoning has recently also mentioned the plant due to its ability to cause poisoning in children.

The scientific name of the Allamanda cathartica plant is Allamanda cathartica, belonging to the oleander family. This is one of the poisonous plants. The whole plant including the bark, flowers, leaves, seeds and latex are the parts of the plant that contain toxins with laxative effects. Cases of poisoning have been recorded in children due to playing with the plant, chewing on the flowers, or swallowing the latex.

Symptoms of poisoning when children eat it will cause digestive disorders, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, sometimes accompanied by symptoms of swollen lips, dizziness. In addition, poisoning of the yellow trumpet tree also occurs in children with sensitive constitutions, when children touch the white latex of the tree, causing dermatitis, causing rashes and hives on the skin.

6. Oleander

Oleander has a very bitter and poisonous opaque sap, hydrocyanic acid and toxic glucosides such as oleandrin, neriin, neriantin. Ancient medicine has recognized that oleander is very poisonous. Cows and horses that ate some fresh oleander leaves were poisoned. People who ate the meat of animals that died from oleander leaves were also poisoned. Through testing, people found that people who drank water that had fallen oleander leaves or water soaked with oleander roots would be poisoned.

The bark and fresh wood of the oleander stem are more poisonous than the leaves. In Corsica, France, there have been cases of poisoning from eating oleander skewers and drinking water from oleander-stoppered bottles. Although the oleander flowers are less poisonous than other parts, they can still contaminate water if dropped into water. The poison remains intact in parts of the oleander plant that have been boiled or dried. It is also believed that honey containing oleander nectar and pollen is also poisonous.

Symptoms of oleander poisoning include discomfort, weakness in the limbs, nausea, dizziness (with small doses); bloody diarrhea, respiratory disorders, vomiting, convulsions in the limbs, arrhythmia, weak pulse leading to coma and death (with high doses). Therefore, do not plant oleander near water sources such as wells, ponds, water tanks; do not tie or release livestock under oleander trees; do not let children pick oleander flowers because children can easily put them in their mouths; do not use oleander leaves to treat skin diseases in any form.

7. Pine tree

Thevetia peruviana (scientific name: Thevetia peruviana, other name is Cascabela thevetia), is a plant in the Oleander family with lanceolate leaves, growing alternately, the tree trunk is about 3 to 4 meters high. Thevetia peruviana is native to the Americas, commonly found in some places such as Kula, Maui, Waihee, Kihei, Kahana Beach, Hawaii...

Woody plant. The whole plant has a white cap. In Vietnam, the flowers are bright yellow, in some other places the flowers are orange-yellow, the flowers usually have 5 petals. The fruit is green and diamond-shaped.

The plant contains many toxic substances in its flowers, leaves, fruits and seeds. The toxins include: thevetin, neriin, glucoside... which can cause death in humans.

8. Hemlock

Topping the list of poisonous plants and found in abundance in the northern mountainous regions is the aconite. This plant has beautiful flowers that bloom in bright orange-yellow, so many people who don’t know will enjoy picking the flowers to take pictures.

Studies show that just by picking leaves, breaking branches, letting the toxic sap stick to your hands and then accidentally coming into contact with food or open wounds, the toxicity will immediately cause symptoms of thirst, sore throat, dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea leading to very quick death due to respiratory arrest.

According to Star