Today, just before we left Hubby’s parents’ home, he plucked a leaf of something he thought was parsley from the garden. He bit into it, and had an immediate burning sensation in his mouth. He spit the leaf out and went in and rinsed his mouth several times. His mouth continued to burn for about an hour. He had excessive salivation, but not to the point of drooling. His stomach was upset for a while, but settled after he ate something.
I’ve tried to look up poisonous plants, but not knowing what it was is hampering my search.
The plant he showed me did have leaves that looked very much like parsley, but the plant was about 24" tall with blue, poppy-like flowers. The stem of the leaf was a little spongy. The flower stalk has a leaf ring a few inches below the blossom that looked different than the leaves. The leaves grew from the ground, with the flower in the center of several leaves.
It wasn’t a Himalayan blue poppy, the leaves are much different and the color was more a purple-blue.
I didn’t have a camera, so no picture, sorry. His dad didn’t know what the plant was, but it had obviously been planted on purpose, as they were in a straight row at the edge of the garden.
Thanks for any help. I think he’s going to live, and promises to stop browsing in the flower garden.
Parsley is less than 12" tall. What is with people and eating unidentified plants in the last two days? I can’t id someting without a picture and that description. Even poppy leaves contain piosons. Bat him up side the head for me, if you’re not so inclined. You should really give a location , because different stuff is in bloom at different places.
For future reference, most poison centers keep a phone number of plant specialists who can ID plants based on a conversation with a layperson. There used to be a guy we used at Morton Arboretum outside of Chicago, for instance, who batted 100% when we called him. It’s an amazing skill and requires only that the eater have a sample at hand so the specialist can walk him down the diagnostic pathway to identification.
I agree casual nibbling of unidentified plants is foolish. With some mushrooms, for instance, you only get to be wrong once, and there is no cure except to borrow someone else’s liver for the rest of your life.
(And his wife is a Pediatric Intensive Care Nurse?!! At least one of you got the brains…)
I wasn’t outside when he did it. I know parsley is shorter. (I thought he did too. :rolleyes: )
Sorry, I thought my location was enough. The plant was in Sequim WA. The flowers were past prime, just losing their petals. I did bat him, verbally.
Maybe I can get his dad to take a picture.
Even better he’s an EMT!
I told him to bring a sample home, but he didn’t. He’s pretty embarrassed. Since we were on the road before he told me he felt bad, I didn’t call poison control, because he felt ok by the time we got home, about 2 hours later.
It wasn’t true blue, but more toward purple. The flowers were 5-8 petals, not multiple, like the ranunculuses. I’ve never seen ranunculus grow here. I think it’s a bit too cold.
I’ll try to get a picture tomorrow.
There are so many possible flowers in a garden this could be. The number of petals on the flowers will help, then you get down to leaf and branch structure. I’ll look in tomorrow.
For what it’s worth, parsley is a bad plant to choose a “looks-like” from. It’s a member of the Umbelliferae family, which, in addition to food plants such as carrots and parsley, contains such bad actors as Poison Hemlock, which was used to poison Socrates, and Water Hemlock. These are the most poisonous plants in the US. There’s a good description of the family [EMAIL=http://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com/Plant_Families/Apiaceae.htm]here.
intention, the thing is, it didn’t have the typical Umbelliferae family flowers. I did see one with blue flowers in the link, (thanks, Joey P) but they were little clusters rather than poppy like.
Hubby is fine now, and has learned a valuble lesson.
I’ll still try to post pictures, because I’d still like to know what it was.
OK, I misspelled anemone. From Wikipedia, “The plant has poisonous chemicals that are toxic to animals including humans, but it has also been used as a medicine. All parts of the plant contain protoanemonin, which can cause severe skin and gastrointestinal irritation.”
I miss the Sequim area. We used to go camping near Port Townsend.
Certainly sounds like something in the ranunculaceae - I was thinking anemone, but it could be Aquilegia, or even Delphinium. There are some really seriously poisonous plants in that family.
Tikki has it right. In the interim of your last post, picunurse, I was searching around for a better photo, and found a beautiful one of Anemone coronaria. Is that the particular one?
Those anemones are tough fellas, phytochem-wise. I’ve even heard of the seeds of pasqueflower/pulsatilla, causing blistering skin damage after one botanist collected them and put them in his pant’s pocket.
On the other hand, those chemicals, coupled with the fantastic flowers, make them resistant to pests and disease, so desirable for the garden.
Glad your husband is OK, though. A good rule of thumb is “Poppy Flower= potent chemicals, Don’t nibble”. And intention has it right with parsley family plants. Water Hemlock can kill with a rather small dose of it. Poison Hemlock, the bevarage of choice for Socrates, likewise.
(I’m kidding, of course. 
)