How to identify poisonous plants

With so many different types of plants out there it’s easy to walk into any woodland and be surrounded by dozens, if not hundreds of different types of species, but how do you know which ones are safe to eat and which ones can cause you harm just from touching them?

The single most important rule regarding which plants to eat is if you are not 100% positive about what something is, stay well away from it. You would be much better off in the long term getting hungrier than risking eating something poisonous. Mushrooms can make a tasty filler to any bushcraft meal, but use the wrong ones, and you could also be dead within a few hours, so it’s better to remember, “If you don’t know what it is, don’t touch it.”

There are however a number of general rules to remember to narrow down your chances of consuming or touching something poisonous, but they serve as general guidelines only.

1) Stay away from ivy

There are very few vine leaves which are edible, and the ones that are you wont come across in the wild, such as grape vine leave. Whenever you see vines anywhere in the wild always assume that they are not only poisonous to eat, but can also be harmful to touch, such as the very common Poison Ivy. The oils contained in the plant can cause a very nasty rash which often includes blisters and severe itching, and in particularly bad cases can cause intense pain and scarring.

Some forms of poisonous vines include but are not limited to:

Poison Sumac Bleeding Heart Azalea Poison Oak English ivy Nerium Oleander Heartleaf Philodendron.

2) Bright colours

Nature seems to have a way of warning things that they shouldn’t be eaten. The poison arrow frog isn’t bright yellow and blue because it’s trying to look cool, its a natural way of saying “If you eat me I’ll kill you”, and the same applies to most brightly colored plants.

There are a number of bright flowers that are safe to eat, such as the flowers of wild garlic or primrose, but typically red is the most common warning color. Any mushroom that has red on it, such as the fly agaric, or berries on any type of vine and most winter berries are normally red and harmful in some way, even if they aren’t poisonous. Hawthorn berries aren’t actually poisonous, but if you eat too many of them they can make you ill, as well as the seeds contain cyanide, and eating too many can cause stomach pain, vomiting, and other unpleasant side effects, so it’s best just to stay away altogether.

3) Saps and oils

If the plant you are wondering about eating has any kind of obvious sap, dew, or oil on it, normally on the leaves, then it’s a good idea to stay away from it. Even touching poison ivy can cause a painful rash as the poison is contained within the oil that sits on the surface of the plant and can be absorbed through the skin, which sometimes takes as long as a couple of days to show up.

There are some plants that contain these features that have edible parts to them, like the dandelion for example. The yellow flower heads are edible to eat as they are, but the stems contain a white milky sap which apart from not tasting very nice, can make you feel rather ill.

Plants create these oils and saps for various reasons, whether its to protect themselves from herbivores or to act as a preservative to protect them from the elements, whatever the reason, anything with a thick oil or off-coloured sap, like the milky white sap found in the dandelion stem should always be avoided.

(Hemlock is one of the most common plants around the UK and is supposed to be the poison used to kill Socrates)

What to do if you touch a poisonous plant?

If you have come into contact with something poisonous then you’ll normally know about it pretty quick, and even though some things can take several hours or more to show the symptoms, the majority of things will appear soon after making contact.

If you have touched a stinging nettle or come into contact with something like poison ivy, wash the affected area with cold water and preferably soap or some kind of disinfectant, and avoid scratching it, which can make swelling and any itching sensation more painful. Also be careful not the transfer anything to another part of your body, such as wiping off some kind of harmful oil with your bare hand and then touching your face.

The best thing would be to use some kind of cream to ease the pain, or preferably something specific to the wound, like an ointment specifically for ivy, but most people normally don’t carry such things with them.

If you clean the area and the effect continues to get worse or shows signs of something more serious, such as extreme swelling in a short period of time, then you should seek medical attention as soon as possible as you could well be allergic, and what would normally just be uncomfortable for most people, could mean something much more severe for someone with an allergy.

What to do if you eat a poisonous plant?

This one is obviously much more serious as the poison will be distributed directly into your body, giving it a chance to cause much more harm considerably faster.

There are generally 2 main groups of symptoms when something poisonous has been ingested. The first is the less serious kind and includes things such as vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps.

This effect normally occurs when you’ve eaten something like too many elderberries for example, which aren’t in themselves poisonous but the seeds contain a toxic alkaloid and high levels of pectin, and if too many are eaten will cause you to feel sick.

The second group is much more serious and includes symptoms such as intense pain in a specific organ or body part, and any changes to your vision. There are certain mushrooms that can even cause you to hallucinate, though it would be very unlucky to have consumed such a type, but generally, any changes to your vision are a good indicator that you should seek medical attention.

If you have consumed something then you are generally in great danger if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms and should seek medical attention immediately.

Numbness

This would include entire limbs or regions of your body going numb as opposed to a slight tingling of the fingertips.

Changes to your Vision

If you experience ANY negative changes to your eyesight then seek medical attention as soon as possible. The most common cause of this will most likely be a mushroom but can also be caused by a particularly bad reaction to something else.

Other effects may also include seeing things in different colors, hallucinations, or double vision, but no matter what happens to your eyes, this is a very serious sign.

Extreme energy loss

If you suddenly feel intensely tired or start to drift in and out of consciousness I think it goes without saying, seek medical attention immediately.

Intense pain

There are certain types of poisons out there that attack particular organs, for example, the death cap mushroom kills by destroying the victim’s liver, so if you feel intense pain in one specific area or organ then again, get help immediately.

Respiratory problems

A number of wild plants contain chemicals or poisons that can make the chest feel extremely tight, or even cause swelling in the throat, making it extremely difficult to breathe.

How to increase your chances if you’ve consumed poison

1) Remember what it was

If you are taken to a hospital after being poisoned you will massively increase your chances if the medical staff know what they are dealing with. If you can tell them exactly what you have consumed they can administer the antidote right away, instead of wasting precious time on a diagnosis.

If you don’t know the name of what it was try and take a picture or if possible take a sample of the plant to show them, but be careful to collect it in such a way that it won’t harm you further.

2) Don’t try and put up with it

If you feel ill then don’t be afraid to tell whoever you’re with or call for help. An upset stomach can be something as simple as eating a few too many elderberries, or it could be the early warning signs of the ongoing effects of a death cap.

3) Be prepared

If you know that you are particularly susceptible to something like ivy, there are numerous kits out there that include various treatments, and some of the more advanced ones contain things such as EpiPens, which can treat things such as anaphylactic shock which some plants can induce.