Frequently (and not so frequently) Asked Questions
BRIEF: Are these plants really poisonous?
QUESTION:
Just went through your list of Poisonous plants......I should be dead because I
use a great majority of these plants......some for their medicinal properties and
some as simple salad ingredients.....flax, goosefoot, stinging nettle,St Johns
Wort, rhubarb, and many more. While I know that the leaves of the rhubarb are
poisonous, both the stem and the roots are edible are they not?
ANSWER:
The dose, the part, and the condition of these plants as well as
which species of animal eat them have a lot to do with their ultimate toxicity.
St. Johns Wort, whatever its value to humans as an anti-anxiety drug at very
small doses, certainly killed thousands of sheep in Northwestern US years ago.
The rhubarb stem is edible.