Gothic Gardening: Theme Gardens

The Garden of Deadly Delights

By popular demand, here is a garden which should never be planted, for it contains some of the most deadly botanic specimens known to man. This is a garden where only a Borgia or a Medici could stroll along happily, a Garden of Deadly Delights.

The Most Toxic Plant?

In North America, this award would probably go to the water hemlock,Cicuta maculata, a relative of the carrot. This plant is most often ingested when it is mistaken for wild parsnip. A case documented in England graphically describes the result of making this mistake:

When about the end of March, 1670 the cattle were being led from the village to water at the spring, in treading the river banks they exposed the roots of this Cicuta, whose stems and leaf buds were now coming forth. At that time two boys and six girls, a little before noon, ran out to the spring and the meadow through which the river flows, and seeing a root and thinking it was a golden parsnip, not through the bidding of any evil appetite, but at the behest of wayward frolicsomeness, ate greedily of it, and certain of the girls among them commended the root to the others for its sweetness and pleasantness, wherefore the boys, especially, ate quite abundantly of it and joyfully hastened home; and one of the girls tearfully complained to her mother that she had been supplied too meagerly by her comrades, with the root.

Jacob Maeder, a boy of six years, possessed of white locks, and delicate though active, returned home happy and smiling, as if things had gone well. A little while afterwards he complained of pain in his abdomen, and, scarcely uttering a word, fell prostrate on the ground, and urinated with great violence to the height of a man. Presently he was a terrible sight to see, being seized with convulsions, with the loss of all his senses. His mouth was shut most tightly so that it could not be opened by any means. He grated his teeth; he twisted his eyes about strangely and blood flowed from his ears. In the region of his abdomen a certain swollen body of the size of a man's fist struck the hand of the afflicted father with the greatest force, particularly in the neighborhood of the ensiform cartilage. He frequently hiccupped; at times he seemed to be about to vomit, but he could force nothing from his mouth, which was most tightly closed. He tossed his limb about marvelously and twisted them; frequently his head was drawn backward and his whole back was curved in the form of a bow, so that a small child could have crept beneath him in the space between his back and the bed without touching him. When the convulsions ceased momentarily, he implored the assistance of his mother. Presently, when they returned with equal violence, he could be aroused by no pinching, by no talking, or by no other means, until his strength failed and he grew pale: and when a hand was placed on his breast he breathed his last. These symptoms continued scarcely beyond a half hour. After his death, his abdomen and face swelled without lividness except that a little was noticeable about the eyes. From the mouth of the corpse even to the hour of his burial green froth flowed very abundantly, and although it was wiped away frequently by his grieving father, nevertheless new froth soon took its place.

A Deadly Family: The Solanaceae

If there was a list of the "Most Dangerous Plants" members of this family would probably fill over half of the top ten. Many members of this group were regular denizens of the witch's garden, including nightshade, henbane, jimson weed, mandrake, tobacco, and tomato. Yes, tomatoes are poisonous, but it's the vines and leaves, not the fruits, that contain toxic alkaloids. Some other poisonous members include:

Ground Cherry

Physalis species are common ornamentals, and are also known as Chinese Lanterns. The berry on these plants is surrounded by a papery puff (a persistent calyx), which looks like a small lantern.

Potato

The green parts of the potato contain the alkaloids characteristic of the Solanaceae family. The potato tuber itself can also be a problem if the skin is excessively green. But even if the potato didn't contain the solanine alkaloids, it would still be considered dangerous. Ruskin said of it: "In the potato, we have the scarcely innocent underground stem of one of a tribe set aside for evil." Why did he say it was scarcely innocent? Because the potato is the source of one of the scourges of Russian society--vodka is made from fermented potatoes.

Cyanide Sources

Members of the rose family, Rosaceae, often contain compounds called cyanogenic glycosides. These compounds, when broken down in the body, liberate cyanide, one of the most toxic substances known to man. It's lethal dose is only 1 mg/kg body weight. Luckily for us, the concentration in these plants is usually far below the toxic dose, and the breakdown of the cyanogenic glycosides is often not complete. However, several species in common cultivation do have high concentrations of the glycosides in their seeds, and eating these seeds can (and has been) fatal. These toxic seeds include apple seeds, cultivated cherries, peach and apricot pits, almonds, and pears, which are all members of the rose family. The leaves of wild cherries will also contain the poison.

Cyanogenic glycosides are not exclusive to this family, though: more than 2050 species of higher plants contain them. Some other common plants which can generate cyanide include hydrangeas, tropical lima beans (not the white american ones), bamboo sprouts, sorghum shoots, and cassava tubers. Cassava, in particular, is very toxic, and cannot be eaten raw; this is important since large parts of the world use cassava as a main carbohydrate source.

P.S. Roses themselves don't contain the cyanide-producing compounds.

Fatal Fungi

When talking about mushrooms, it's easier to talk about the ones that aren't poisonous, rather than the ones that are. The former is a much shorter list than the latter. However, these mushrooms are some of the most toxic of the known species.

Death Cap

Death Cap, Amanita phalloides is a member of a family that contains probably the best known of the deadly mushrooms. While some amanitas are edible, it is too easy too confuse the edible ones with the fatal ones, so it's a family best left alone. These mushrooms have white spores, a cup at the base of the stalk, and a skirtlike ring just below the cup. However, the ring can be buried, so the most important identifier is the spore color. Some other fatal amanitas include Destroying Angel, A. virosa, and Fool's Mushroom, A. verna. These three are almost always fatal if ingested.

Fly Agaric

A. muscaria, is another well known member of the amanita family, and is only slightly less deadly. It gets its name from the fact that flies are killed by the ibotenic acid on the mushroom. The toxic compounds it contains are muscarine and mycoatropine. It is possibly the source of the ancient drug Soma. Panther Cap,A. patherina, contains the same substances as Fly Agaric, and also has a mycotoxin, making it the deadlier of the two.

False Morel

Gyromita esculenta is a strange mushroom--in some regions where it grows, it is edible. In other areas, it is deadly. The toxic principle in the false morel is gyromitrin, which the body breaks down into monomethylhydrazine, a compound which is similar to what is used in rocket fuel.

Inocybe fastigiata and Clitocybe dealbata

These two mushrooms are only fatal in about five percent of the cases of ingestion. They both contain large amounts of muscarine, much larger than the amount found in fly agaric.

Plants of War

Man has, of course, found a way to use plant poisons in one of his favorite pastimes, the waging of war. Achilles was most likely killed by a poison arrow. How else could a heel wound be fatal? In his case, the most likely candidate would be aconite, the poison found in monkshood. All of the following poisons are also plant-derived, and while they have been used quite often in hunting, they are just as often used when the prey was another man.

Curare

This infamous poison from South America has two different sources. One is a liana vine, Chondodendron tomentosum, related to moonseed, a deadly wild plant found in the US which can be mistaken for wild grapes. The other vine is Strychnos guianensis. Other ingredients enhance the quality of the poison. Curare paralyzes the victim, starting with the limbs, until eventually the diaphragm is paralyzed and the victim cannot breathe. The mind remains alert throughout the whole process.

Ouabain

A poison used in Africa, ouabain is derived from a tree known as "muriju", a species of Acocanthera, or the related Strophanthus. This poison stops the beating of the heart, and its primary use today is for elephant poaching.

Strychnine

A small tree native to India is the source of this poison. The Nux-vomica tree, Strychnos nux-vomica, was once thought to prevent vomiting. However, the bark and seeds of the tree contain strychnine, a poison that leaves the victim with his face stretched into a gruesome death grin. Many of the nux-vomica's relatives also contain strychnine-like poisons, including a vine used by Punan aborigines in Borneo to poison their blowgun darts.

Upas

The upas tree was called the world's most deadly tree by Erasmus Darwin (Charles' grandfather). Its sap, if it enters the bloodstream, will paralyze the heart in a few minutes. The tribes of Java dipped their arrows into this sap during the rebellions against the Dutch.

Death Be Thy Name

Some plants have such bad reputations that their name reflects this....

El Arbol de la Muerte

The "Tree of Death" of the Spaniards is now know as the manchineel, and is a native of the Carribean and Florida. The leaves and wood contain a toxin that burns the skin on contact, and can cause ulceration or even paralysis. If you sit in the shade of the tree, you risk blistering or worse. The apples of the tree are shiny and green, and if eaten are fatal.

Dead Men's Fingers

Oenanthe crocata is considered one of the most dangerous poisonous plants in Great Britain. It is found in marshy areas, like the water hemlock, and contains a very similar and equally deadly poison.

Death Camas

This common range plant of the western US has been responsible for the death of untold numbers of sheep, probably moreso than any other plant. People are killed by it when it is mistaken for edible camas.

Trial by Ordeal

Several plants in different parts of the world were used for the ritual known as trial by ordeal. If a person was suspected of some crime, which was often witchcraft, they were subjected to an ordeal where they were forced to drink a poison. If they survived, they were considered innocent. If they died from the poison, they were guilty. In West Africa, the ordeal bean was from a vine, Physostigma venehosum. This bean is known as the Calabar bean, and is the source of the poison physostigmine, which is used medicinally against glaucoma. The Merina tribe of Madagascar used the seeds of the tree Tanghinia venenifera for trial by ordeal. When the French took over Madagascar, the only way they found to stop the practice was to cut down the trees, which nearly eliminated them from the island. In medieval Italy, foxglove was used for trial by ordeal. The Bible describes a trial by ordeal also, in which a woman suspected of adultery should be forced to drink "the bitter water that brings a curse", although the source of the poison is not mentioned by name.

Common Dangers in Home and Garden

It is simply amazing how many of the common houseplants and landscaping plants with which we voluntarily surround ourselves are deadly.

Dieffenbachia

This plant is a very common houseplant, and also goes by the name of dumbcane. The leaves and stem contains needle-sharp crystals of calcium oxalate, which, if the plant is chewed, lodge themselves in the mouth, tongue and lips, and cause great swelling. In fact, the swelling is so bad that the ability to speak is impaired, hence the name dumbcane. But how is this deadly? It is not unusual for these crystals to become lodged in the back of the throat and cause swelling there--which leads to painful and agonizing suffocation.

Yew

All species of yews, from the Japanese to the American to the English, are lethally dangerous. This common ornamental shrub was once used as an abortifacient, hence the name "bastard killer". Its main problem was that it killed the mother as often as it killed her fetus. The poison is an alkaloid, taxine, which first causes gastrointestinal upset then leads to convulsions and stops the beating of the heart. A few small nibbles on a sprig while hanging Christmas decoration was enough to kill a woman within three hours.

Rhubarb

Many consider rhubarb to be a tasty, tangy vegetable. But only the stalks of the leaves are safe to eat. The leaves themselves, which are large, may be tempting as a source of greens, but they contain high amounts of oxalic acid, which, unlike the calcium oxalate in dumbcane, enters the bloodstream. There it clots the blood, crystallizes in the kidneys, and eventually leads to death. During WWI, the English government, in an effort to conserve food, mistakenly encouraged people to eat the leaf blades of rhubarb and many people died as a result.

Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and Mountain Laurel

These are common landscaping bushes, especially here in the southeastern US, which is known for its azalea gardens. But all parts of these plants including the flower nectar contain a resinoid, andromedotoxin. This toxin affects the nervous system and the heart. Not only is consuming parts of the plant lethal, but bees which feed on flowers from these plants make poison honey. Mountain laurel was once used by the Delaware Indians to brew a "suicide tea".

Castor

Castor bean oil was used medicinally as a laxative, and the plant is grown ornamentally for its showy leaves. But the beans themselves, which are supposedly pleasant-tasting, contain ricin, which causes vomiting, cramps, stupor, convulsions, destruction of red blood cells, and circulatory collapse. As few as three beans can be fatal, but luckily, ricin is a water-soluble protein, so it isn't present in the oil.

Jequirty Peas

The seed from the jequirty vines was once used for bean bags, rag dolls, and rosaries. This seed has a very distinctive appearance: shiny red with a black tip. One seed, if chewed before ingested, can be lethal. However, if the seed is swallowed whole, it passes harmlessly through the digestive tract.

Oleander

The colorful flowers of the oleander make it popular for hedges. However, it contains two cardiac glycosides which will stop the heart if only a single leaf is ingested. Even roasting a marshmallow over a flame provided by an oleander branch could prove fatal.

But the danger hardly ends with this list. Buttercups, a common lawn weed, can be as deadly as the closely related monkshood and wolfsbane, used by witches. Carolina jessamine, fragrant in the evening, has poisonous strychnine-like nectar, which leads to poisoned honey, if it doesn't kill the bees first. Lily of the Valley has a cardiac glycoside in the bulb that stops the heart. Most members of the lily family, including autumn crocus and Star of Bethlehem, contain fatal alkaloids. Lantana, with its showy flowers planted to attract butterflies, is noted for its liver toxicity. We truly live in a garden of death.