# Was it poison? Hubby did a dumb thing. (ID a plant) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 26, 2007, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588 "2007-05-26T09:35:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/1 "2007-05-26T09:35:03Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/2 "2007-05-26T09:44:56Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/3 "2007-05-26T10:17:25Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] 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. [/QUOTE] 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…) ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/4 "2007-05-26T10:34:54Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] 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. [/QUOTE] 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. > [@Chief Pedant](#): > > 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…) 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. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/5 "2007-05-26T11:13:33Z")
You weren’t home so I didn’t think I should assume Washington. It has to be a spring blooming plant, because of the Washington location. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/6 "2007-05-26T11:23:01Z")
[http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/ranunculuses.html](http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/ranunculuses.html) Scroll down the page and look at the folliage. I don’t know of a blue flower in the ranunculus or buttercup family, but the foliage is simiar to parsley. There are many related species out there. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/7 "2007-05-26T11:35:27Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] [http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/ranunculuses.html](http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/ranunculuses.html) Scroll down the page and look at the folliage. I don’t know of a blue flower in the ranunculus or buttercup family, but the foliage is simiar to parsley. There are many related species out there. [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/8 "2007-05-26T11:50:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/9 "2007-05-27T12:01:36Z")
FIL is 89, so it might be a few days before he gets a picture to me, sorry. I’ll come back when he does. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/10 "2007-05-27T12:21:15Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] FIL is 89, so it might be a few days before he gets a picture to me, sorry. I’ll come back when he does. [/QUOTE] I have no problem with that. No reason to say sorry. See you around. ---
**Author:** ![intention](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e95f7d/32.png) [@intention](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/intention)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/11 "2007-05-27T20:06:44Z")
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. w. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/12 "2007-05-27T20:16:08Z")
[QUOTE=intention] There’s a good description of the family [EMAIL=[Apiaceae: Parsley or Carrot Family. Identify herbs, plants, and flowers.](http://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com/Plant_Families/Apiaceae.htm)]here. w. [/QUOTE] ::looks around:: Where? ETA: I found it [Apiaceae: Parsley or Carrot Family. Identify herbs, plants, and flowers.](http://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com/Plant_Families/Apiaceae.htm) Weird, you screwed up the link and it didn’t show up at all, strange. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/13 "2007-05-27T20:31:59Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/14 "2007-05-27T20:42:55Z")
Is there any possibility there were some pesticides or fertilizer on the plant that could have caused the unpleasant reaction? ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/15 "2007-05-27T21:20:16Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] 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. [/QUOTE] It sounds like an [anenome](http://www.diannesutherland.com/gallery13.htm) flower to me. Some common varieties have the leaf ring and they come in a wide variety of colors, including blue. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/16 "2007-05-27T21:34:55Z")
OK, I misspelled anemone. From [Wikipedia,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemone_nemorosa) “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. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/17 "2007-05-27T23:21:46Z")
[QUOTE=Tikki] It sounds like an [anenome](http://www.diannesutherland.com/gallery13.htm) flower to me. Some common varieties have the leaf ring and they come in a wide variety of colors, including blue. [/QUOTE] 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. **picunurse** - here are some candidate plants: [http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/ranuncul.htm](http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/ranuncul.htm) -did it look like any of those? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/18 "2007-05-28T02:10:34Z")
[QUOTE=Tikki] It sounds like an [anenome](http://www.diannesutherland.com/gallery13.htm) flower to me. Some common varieties have the leaf ring and they come in a wide variety of colors, including blue. [/QUOTE] {{{{{ **Tikki,** }}}}} you did it! Thank you. That’s it, exactly. BTW, the in-laws are moving to Panorama City, and selling their house in Sequim. Interested? Nice summer home. 😃 (I’m kidding, of course. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/19 "2007-05-28T02:36:48Z")
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](http://a.gerard4.free.fr/images8/Anemone_coronaria.jpg) 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](http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/whemlock.htm) can kill with a rather small dose of it. [Poison Hemlock](http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/conium.html), the bevarage of choice for Socrates, likewise. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588/20 "2007-05-28T02:41:20Z")
[QUOTE=elelle] the bevarage of choice for Socrates [/QUOTE] Did he drink it often? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-poison-hubby-did-a-dumb-thing-id-a-plant/405588.md?page=2)