Poison Poppy?

Hi All,

I wonder if anyone can help with my question.

I grow a lot of veg and fruit etc (i.e. edible plants) but growing flowers is relatively new to me. This year, amongst other flowers, I have grown some rather magnificant poppy venus flowers. Passers-by usually stop and admire them.

Today, however a very unpleasent elderly lady seemed to take great pleasure in telling me they are extremely poisonous to kids. Not helpful when I have 2 young children.

Having looked on the internet it appears poppy do have some poison in them - just like many other plants - but are they so dangerous they need special treatment? I couldn't find anything on the internet.

I am aware potato leaves, rubarb leaves etc are poisonous and that e.g. foxglove is very poisonous. I have handled all these from being very young - I just didn't eat them.

Does anyone know if poppy venus is 'dangerous': i.e. it should not be allowed to be anywhere near young children? If so, is it any more dangerous than potato or rhubarb leaves, or the other hundreds of poisonous plants commonly growing?

If they are deadly poisonous, I will certainly destroy them immediately. If not I think I'll be having stern words with the elderly lady for unnecessarily scaring me and my kids!!

Many Thanks

 

These are the poppies from which opium was extracted (and later, by further chemical wickedeness, heroine), so yes they are poisonous, not only for kids but for everyone. The ripe seed is the only non harmful part of the plant. That said, I don´t think that in a garden setting they are more dangerous than, say, foxglove. I think children must be taught to keep a healthy distance from dangerous plants that´s all.

 

Hi Arkman and welcome to GC

I have quiet a few of these sorts of Poppies growing in my garden{not this particular one though}and so do my friends.I have no children but my friends have children and Grandchildren and they have never had a problem with them.Unless the children injest the seeds then I can't see that there would be a problem especially if the children are supervised.These days they seem far more interested in the toys that they have rather than the plants.

I have Googled the plant and it looks quiet pretty and if it was deadly poisonious then I think the seed packet or plant pot would have some sort of warning sign on them stating such.

Just use common sense when your children and anyone elses are in your garden and everything should be fine.I always find that the older generation are usually more cautious about things than us youngsters.Don't give her to stern a warning or else she might have a heart attack and then might need some of that Digitalis stuff to help her get better:thumb::D

PS,if you ever have any spare seeds bare me in mind,we might be able to do a swop

 

Welcome arkman!

Agree wholeheartedly with what's been said above.

It's a shame the old lady chose an unpleasant manner to inform you of the poppies' potency, but there are so many wild and garden plants that could be potentially lethal that her attack on your beautiful poppy in isolation is interesting. She may have her reasons. Bring your kids up to treat plants with the respect they deserve, and you'll have no worries!

 

Unless the weather gets a lot lot hotter, the opiate qualities of the seeds will not develop, indeed when ripe you can sprinkle them on your poppy bread. If anyone ever goes on about plants like this then take a look at this site for the real info.
http://www.pfaf.org/database/index.php

 

I mean if we were to strip every toxic plant from our gardens there wd be pretty little left.

 

Thanks to all the replies. I have to confess I'm not too reassured with the comparison to foxglove. Wikipedia describes its toxicity as "just a nibble being enough to potentially cause death"

I bought the Poppy Venus seeds from Suttons who advise you to eat the seeds (from the flower) on toast etc.

I think my conclusions are:
Poppy Venus = poisonous, but not deadly (unless you eat a lot).
Children = need sensible guidance
Old woman = confused and jealous.
Users on this forum = a great bunch of friendly and helpful people!!!

:rolleyes:

 

MInd well, I have no idea if the toxicity on one bite is comparable to foxglove! I mention Foxglove because it is a very poisonous thing and yet it is fairly commonly accepted in gardens. SO I guess we can coexhist with dangerous plants very peacefully, as long as we ALL know what we are about... including children.

 

Far too many people worry about the plants in their gardens, that may poison them.

Deadly night shade, cuckoo pint, monkshood, foxglove even rhubarb whose leaves are poisionous are all there!

I have never heard of anyone man or boy, being foolish enough to eat any of these or other potential poison plants or material.

If anyone is not happy with any plant growing in their garden, just dig it out as soon as it is recognised,that would be the correct and easiest solution!

 

:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:

 

The old woman would have a heart atack if she new that one of my favourite flavours since a child is that of the flesh of the yew berry, suck of the flesh then spit out the deadly seed.

 

Mrs Pal is a Childminder ,and OFSTED:rolleyes:..sent us a list of flowers on the danger list. I requested they send an expert to ID them for me....still waiting. You see,I can't ever remember having to tell any child,including my own, not to eat the plants.

 

The only 'upset' my son had as a child (falling into nettles apart) was when he and a wee friend picked the seed 'pods' off a euphorbia, and threw them at eachother. Next morning we all woke with a rash caused by the spurge's sap.

I on the other hand, a few years ago, decided to lick a nice looking berry, to see if it was edible. Turned out to be woody nightshade, and even though I spat the horrible tasting juice out, I was ill in bed for three days. Interestingly, the only thing that eased my discomfort was a few leaves of feverfew!

 

I have three small children, them and their friends would ,if they had their way, which they most certainly don't, would live on Big Macs, Chicken McNuggets, Chinese or other takeaways!
Do they want to eat real food or vegetables, definately not!
They do eat bread and home made potato and leek soup, when my wife has the gang for lunch.

But greens,carrots no chance; as for cauliflowers, yuck is the reply.
They will not even eat apples and oranges, only bananas or grapes

So how are they going to get them to eat all the posionous plants that grow in our gardens if they turn their noses up at normal food?