Poisonous Plants guidebook provides important information for anyone caring for children 
(12/08/2010)
Poisonous Plants:a guide for parents and childcare providers provides important information for anyone caring for children, and for educators, medics, sellers of plants and flowers, gardeners and those responsible for plants in public places.
From deadly nightshade and foxglove to laburnum and even rhubarb, there are some plants that can be harmful to humans. Certain plants produce unpleasant-tasting, poisonous chemicals to protect themselves against animals and insects if they are eaten or if contact is made with the skin. Other risks include physical injury from spines and thorns, as well as allergic reactions.
This accessible guidebook aims to reduce the anxiety surrounding the subject of poisonous plants, and is the result of a long-standing collaboration between the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Medical Toxicology Information Services at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London.
Poisonous Plants provides helpful descriptions to over 130 plants likely to be encountered as pot plants, in flower beds and vegetable plots and in more natural environments, with the potential to cause harm to humans if eaten or touched.
The book’s detailed introduction explains how plants cause harm, accompanied with useful safety points, how to make a risk assessment, advice on a safe garden and interesting plants to include, and an overview of plants with low toxicity berries and the most toxic plants.
The main sections of the book provide plant profiles for outdoor and indoor plants. Each profile is illustrated with colour photographs to aid identification, with the Latin and common names of the plants, description, and the toxins contained in each plant (especially in plant parts that are attractive to children). The likely symptoms should they be inadvertently touched or eaten are explained. The plant profiles are accompanied with symbols to indicate the attractive plant parts, plant type and where the plants are found, with keys on the inside of pull out cover flaps, enabling quick reference for the reader. A table of berry and flower colour for all plants covered in the book is also included.
It is the first book to illustrate all the plants on the Horticultural Trades Association list of ornamental plants for sale that should be labelled as potentially harmful.
Poisonous Plants: a guide for parents & childcare providers
By Elizabeth A. Dauncey; toxicity by Leonard Hawkins and Katherine Kennedy
Price: £15.00
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