Beautiful but Deadly: A Guide to Poisonous Flowers

When you think of flowers, you usually think of something that's pretty and smells nice. However, most flowers aren't food, and some flowers can even kill you if you eat them. It's important to know which plants are poisonous before you think about eating any part of them.

Foxglove

Foxglove is a tall flower that has pink, purple, or white blooms. All parts of the foxglove plant are poisonous, especially the leaves and flowers. The plant contains a substance that's found in heart medications, so if you consume it, it's like taking a bunch of medicine you weren't prescribed. It can cause an irregular heartbeat, nausea and vomiting, and possibly death.

Lily of the Valley

Lily of the valley has pretty little white flowers and smells sweet. It can also grow red berries that might look like food. But the berries, leaves, and flowers of the lily of the valley plant are poisonous. If you eat them, you might experience nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, irregular heartbeat, or seizures.

Oleander

Oleander is a plant with pink flowers that's often used to decorate people's yards. It's also poisonous. Eating any part of an oleander plant can cause dizziness, blurred vision, irregular heartbeat, seizures, or even death.

Rhododendron

Lots of people plant rhododendrons in their yards. They grow into large bushes with big, flashy flowers that can be pink, white, or purple. Their leaves and flowers contain grayanotoxins, which can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and irregular heartbeat if you eat them.

Daffodil

Daffodils bloom in the spring, so these pretty yellow flowers are a sure sign that winter is over. Eating a daffodil probably won't kill you, but it's definitely a bad idea. Every part of the plant is poisonous, but the most dangerous part is actually the bulb: People sometimes think that daffodil bulbs are onions and eat them, which can make you really sick. Eating daffodils can cause stomach pain and vomiting.

Hydrangea

Hydrangea bushes have big balls of pink, blue, or white flowers, and lots of people like to grow them in their yards. Eating this plant can make you throw up or give you diarrhea.

If a person has eaten part of a poisonous flower, it's important to get them to a doctor right away. This is also true about your pets: The same things that are poisonous to people can hurt dogs and cats, too.