Poisonous plants? What are they and do they have any value. Why not eradicate everything poisonous from the woods and the planet? It would certainly make things simpler, but would it make them better? Let’s look at the value of some poisonous plants!
Some people estimate that almost 90% of the plants are poisonous, or ate least contain poisonous parts. Several of these are food, and quite good food at that! Check out those tomatoes, poisonous leaves, flowers and roots. Think about potatoes, there were ban from France until 1763 because everything except the root is poisonous. Rhubarb has oxalate in the leaves and peaches along with plums and apples contain cyanide, in the seeds (They can be crushed and used as rat poison).
In some cases we eat the poisonous parts, but only after the toxins have been removed! Cassava undergoes three washings and straining before it becomes tapioca. Cashews have a great fruit, but most people eat the nuts which are filled with ursh oil, which triggers anaphalactic shock when taken internally! The seeds are dried and the oil removed (It is then used for making brake fluid).
The human diet would be a lot blander with out poisonous plants!
But then the human life in many cases would also be a lot shorter without poisonous plants, a lot of medicines are made from poisonous plants. Every heart patient knows about digitalis as a stabilizing medication for heart aberrations, but few realize it is also the scientific name for Foxglove, the medicine it the toxin in the plant! There are also periwinkles, Vincas, that are beautiful to see, deadly, and now a source of numerous cancer drugs. Well over 75% of modern medicines originally came from plants, and all were poisonous plants! There are more being discovered each year.
Many poisonous plants have values as yard plants for pest control, insect and animals won’t eat them! That beautiful Red Oleander will keep the deer at bay, or kill them! Caribbean Yellow Bells are beautiful, but deadly to most animals. Plant Neem trees around and you can decrease the insect population without using commercial pesticides. Hawaiian Leis are made from the flowers of Plumeria, it has some very intriguing poisons and keeps bugs away.
The value of poisonous plants is tremendous. They have value as food, medicines, ornamentals, and even for making brake fluid! Everything in nature has a use, even the poisonous plants.
