Monkshood

[YvonneM]

I was helping at school today and the teacher had been given a bouquet of flowers by one of her parents and there sitting in the middle was a spray of Monkshood I am positive that is what it was. As anyone else seen this for sale in a florist cos I am sure it is poisonous

[naz_nomad]

Yeah ...it's pretty nasty stuff ... you sure it's Monkshood?

[YvonneM]

yes one of the children found a picture on the internet

[B00]

At risk of sounding dim (which I do often and very well!) as long as she doesn't eat it she'll be safe- right?

[naz_nomad]

I don't know what quantities are safe ...I just read that hunters used its sap to poison spears & arrowheads, so I don't think you need to ingest it.

If your kids are old enough to know not to touch it, then leave it ....otherwise, I'd bin it.

[Thunderbird+]

The flowers may well have been Acontium of which there are many garden forms of monkshood and hybrids.
All parts of the plant are poisonous.

[YvonneM]

Thanks everyone putting this flower in any bouquet I think is a bit dangerous I am now going to check any florist shop I pass and find out more.

[jake-the-peg]

We are surrounded by poisonous plants.

There's a whole list here:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0606/Take CareBeAware.pdf

Aconitum is particularly poisonous but so is laburnum , yew, foxgloves of course and many others. Rhubard leaves are full of Oxalates which are poisonous.

I have monks hood in the garden, the children know it's poisonous it's not a problem.

Monkshood seems to have gathered a bit of a mystique about it - I wonder if it's been exagerated in TV dramas - I've heard people claim you can be poisoned by touching it but the RHS just class it as irritant to the skin - personally I've never found it as such maybe in higher exposure.

I think the last person I heard die of from accidental self-poisoning was some years ago when an older man with liver disease mistook wild narcissus bulbs for wild garlic.

It's a matter of keeping things in perspective. There's a nice little article on posonous plants on the BBC web page here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/poisono usplants1.shtml