What Are Poisonous Plants For Children? ( 116 Outdoor Plants)

About Poisonous plants

There are numerous poisonous plants, both outdoors and indoors. Some of these plants can be harmful to people if consumed, while others can lead to allergic reactions like dermatitis. For instance, it could be deadly if a young infant chews and swallows one or two castor bean plant (Ricinus communis) seeds.

Depending on the species, poisons may be found throughout various plant parts or may be concentrated in one part. That is why it is possible to eat the harmless petioles of rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) but not the poisonous leaf blades. 

Similarly, some plant components that are lethal when raw or unripe become edible when cooked or ripened. For instance, cooking removes the toxicity present in some varieties of cassava roots (Manihot).

Taro leaves (Elephant ear leaves) are yet another example. Uncooked taro leaves are poisonous and unsafe for humans to eat. The reason is that oxalate is present in high concentrations in taro leaves. 

Cooking can deactivate the harmful oxalates in these leaves; therefore, cooking taro leaves before eating is necessary to reap the health benefits of the elephant ear plant.

What to do regarding the poisonous plants?

The best practice may not always be to completely remove dangerous plants from your play area due to the complexity of these plants. Most plant poisons can act only if ingested, and the severity of the reaction is based on the amount consumed.

For example, apple (Malus) seeds are among poisonous seeds, but the child would have to eat a large number of apple seeds to fall seriously ill. It would be an extreme reaction to keep children away from apples to protect them from these toxic seeds. 

If adequate care is used while choosing plant species and placing them in children’s outdoor play areas, the real risk of children being hurt by outdoor plants can be minimized.

The easiest way to handle this issue is to become familiar with poisonous plants for kids and take precautions. You can quickly identify some of the more popular plants that contain poisons by checking the list of poisonous plants for children, which is in the last section of this article.

Teaching kids about poisonous plants 

In addition to increasing your knowledge about poisonous plants for children, you should consider the following factors to make sure you are keeping kids safe in play areas;

Age of children

When choosing and placing plants, keep in mind the age of the children using the space; since infants and toddlers are more prone to put plant parts in their mouths if given a chance. More caution needs to be exercised when it comes to dangerous plants in locations where these age groups gather.

Keep hazardous plants out of the reach of children this age, especially those with deadly fruits and those that can cause dermatitis. Plants having tiny seeds or berries that young toddlers could ingest are also a cause for concern.

Teaching at schools

Children will come into contact with dangerous plants at some point during their childhood. They are more likely to expose themselves to those dangers if they are not aware of what those plants look like or the risks they entail.

Schoolyards and other supervised environments provide opportunities for teaching children about poisonous plants. You can purposely include different types of common poisonous plants in your planting design to support such educational opportunities. You can label or group these plants together depending on your chosen species. 

Supervision and prevention

The most effective prevention strategy is to teach kids not to eat any plant or plant component they cannot clearly identify as wholesome, healthy food. Selected plantings of edible species can help children identify plants that are good to eat so that they can avoid all others.

Supervisory staff should also be aware of poisonous plants in the play area and keep small children away from them. The moment a poisonous herb is consumed, a doctor should be consulted. For such cases, you should keep the phone numbers of your doctor and your local or regional poison control center next to your phone.

Pesticides and children

Children can also be at risk from non-poisonous plants. If a plant has been exposed to pesticides, it can become poisonous for children and animals. Each year, exposure to pesticides causes far more pediatric illnesses than ingestion of naturally occurring plant toxins. All plants in your play area, even edible species, could become poisoned due to improper weed and pest management techniques.

You should use organic weed and pest management techniques wherever possible. These can include choosing plant species resistant to pests and diseases, using mechanical controls like forceful jets of water to wash bugs away physically, removing plant debris that attracts pests, or just plain old-fashioned hand weeding.

Other non-chemical pest control options include releasing or promoting beneficial insects and using botanical pesticides like natural pyrethrins.