Gardening is a favorite hobby of millions worldwide. Basically, we choose beautiful plants or plants that bear beautiful and colorful flowers for our garden because our very purpose is to beautify our surroundings. But we should be very careful in choosing ornamental plants for our garden because there are plenty of poisonous species of plants that can be very harmful to us, to our kids and to our pets.

Here’s a list of poisonous ornamental plants.

American Rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum)

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The leaves of this ornamental plant with lovely flowers can be poisonous. American Rhododendron, also called Great Rhododendron, Great Laurel, Rose Bay, American Rhododendron or Big Rhododendron, is a species native to eastern North America.

Yellow Azalea (Rhododendron luteum)

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This beautiful ornamental plant that bear pretty flowers is poisonous. Despite the sweet perfume of the flowers, the nectar is toxic, containing grayanotoxin; records of poisoning of people eating the honey date back to the 4th century BC in Classical Greece. Yellow Azalea also known as Honeysuckle Azalea is a species of Rhododendron native to southeastern Europe and southwest Asia.

Western Azalea (Rhododendron occidentale)

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All parts of Western Azalea contain grayanotoxin (formerly known as andromedotoxin, acetylandromedol, and rhodotoxin), arbutin glucoside. Nausea, salivation, vomiting, weakness, dizziness, difficulty in breathing, loss of balance are the common symptoms of poisoning. The Western Azalea is found in Oregon and as far south as the Palomar Mountain area in southern California, with reports that it is found in Baja California, Mexico. 100 to 225 grams of azalea leaves must be eaten to seriously poison a 55 lb child.

Marsh Labrador Tea (Rhododendron tomentosum)

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All parts of this beautiful plant contain poisonous terpenes that affect central nervous system, causing aggressive behavior. First symptoms of overdose are dizziness and disturbances in movement, followed by spasms, nausea and unconsciousness. The mere smell of the plant may cause headache to some people. Marsh Labrador Tea, also known as Northern Labrador Tea or Wild Rosemary, is a flowering plant. It grows in peaty soils, shrubby areas, moss and lichen tundra.

Alpenrose (Rhododendron ferrugineum)

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This ornamental plant is moderately toxic, containing arbutine, aricoline and rhodoxanthine, and can cause vomiting, and difficulties of the digestive, nervous, respiratory and circulatory systems. Alpenrose, snow-rose, or rusty-leaved alpenrose is an evergreen shrub that grows just above the tree line in the Alps, Pyrenees, Jura and Apennines, on acid soils

Common Rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum)

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This ornamental plant is poisonous. Xenophon mentions that Greek soldiers in Asia Minor were poisoned by honey made from the flowers of R. ponticum. Common Rhododendron or Pontic Rhododendron is a species of Rhododendron native to Europe and Asia.

All parts of these Azaleas are poisonous and cause nausea, vomiting, depression, breathing difficulties and coma. Azaleas are the most common toxic plant that dogs ingest. Some species are poisonous to grazing animals. These Rhododendrons have a toxin called grayanotoxin in their pollen and nectar. People have been known to become ill from eating honey made by bees feeding on rhododendron and azalea flowers.

Mother of Millions (Kalanchoe tubiflora)

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Who would think that this lovely plant is poisonous? This plant is commonly called Chandelier Plant, Mother of Millions, and Mother of Thousands. This plant is a succulent plant native to Madagascar. This plant contains bufadienolide cardiac glycosides which can cause cardiac poisoning, particularly in grazing animals. In 1997, 125 head of cattle died after eating mother-of-millions on a traveling stock reserve near Moree, New South Wales.

Miracle Leaf (Kalanchoe pinnata)

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Like Mother of Millions, Miracle Leaf has been found to contain bufadienolide cardiac glycosides. These can cause cardiac poisoning, particularly in grazing animals. Miracle Leaf also known as Air Plant, Life Plant and the Goethe Plantis a succulent plant native to Madagascar. It is also a popular houseplant and has become naturalized in temperate regions of Asia, the Pacific and Caribbean.

Venus’s Car (Dicentra spectabilis)

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Contact with the Venus Car plant can cause skin irritation because the entire plant is toxic, so should be handled with gloves and long sleeves. Venus’s car, also known as bleeding heart, Dutchman’s trousers, or lyre flower, is a perennial herbaceous plant native to eastern Asia from Siberia south to Japan.

Golden Bean (Thermopsis rhombifolia)

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Golden Bean plant has toxic properties if ingested; symptoms of poisoning include vomiting, dizziness, and abdominal pain. Golden Bean, also known as Buffalo Bean, Wet Tooth, and Buffalo Flower, is a hardy perennial native to the North American plains. The flowers were commonly used by the natives as a source of yellow dye and were boiled in a tea as a cure for stomach ailments for people and horses.

Elephant Ear (Caladium)

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All parts of this garden plant are poisonous. Symptoms are generally irritation, pain, and swelling of tissues. If the mouth or tongue swells, breathing may be fatally blocked. Caladium is a genus of plants of the family Araceae. They are often also known by the common name Heart of Jesus, and Angel Wings. There are over 1000 named cultivars of Caladium bicolor from the original South American plant.

Long Spined Thorn Apple(Datura ferox)

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This toxic ornamental plant is commonly called as Long Spined Thorn Apple or Fierce Thornapple, is a species of Datura. The plant is native to southern Europe and China. Its fruit has unusually long thorns or spikes. The fruit is a red-brown color when ripe.

Indian-apple (Datura innoxia)

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This plant is widely cultivated as ornamental plant for its attractive large leaves, large white flowers, and distinctive thorny fruit but every part of this garden plant is poisonous and is fatal if ingested. It contains the highly toxic alkaloid atropine, hyoscine (scopolamine), and hyoscyamine. The seeds, as well as the entirety of this plant, are also hallucinogenic, but have a high probability of overdose. Thorn-apple, Downy Thorn-apple, Moonflower, Sacred Datura, Toloatzin, or Toloache is a species in the family Solanaceae. It is native to the Americas, and introduced in Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe.

Zombie Cucumber (Datura metel)

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Zombie Cucumber plant is toxic if ingested in any quantity, symptomatically expressed as flushed skin, headaches, hallucinations, and possibly convulsions or even a coma. The principal toxic elements are tropnae alkaloids. Accidentally (or intentionally) ingesting even a single leaf could lead to severe side effects. Zombie Cucumber is also known as Metel, and Devil’s Trumpet. It is a shrub-like perennial herb with large tubular flowers, while typically white; many cultivated forms exist offering yellows and deep purple accents. Native to China, India and South East Asia, it is commonly cultivated as a garden plant in North America and Europe.

European Elderberry (Sambucus nigra)

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This ornamental plant is cited as a poisonous plant to mammals. All parts of the plant except for the flowers and ripe berries (but including the ripe seeds) are poisonous; containing the cyanogenic glycoside sambunigrin. The bark contains calcium oxalate crystals. European Elderberry is a species of elder native to most of Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia. It is most commonly called just Elder or Elderberry, but also Black Elder, European Elder, European Black Elderberry, Common Elder, or Elder Bush.

English Ivy (Hedera helix)

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English Ivy’s leaves and berries are poisonous, causing stomach pains, labored breathing, possible coma. It is widely cultivated as ornamental plant. English Ivy, also called Ivy, or Common Ivy, is a species of ivy native to most of Europe, along the west coast of South America, southwest Asia and Australia. The fruit are small black berries ripening in late winter, and are an important food for many birds, though poisonous to humans. The seeds are dispersed by birds eating the fruit.

Blue Butterfly (Delphinium grandiflorum)

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Care must be taken with pets and small children as all parts of the Blue Butterfly plant are poisonous. Blue Butterfly is plant commonly used in household gardens and is a favorite of hummingbirds. The abundant, long-blooming flowers are ideal for cutting and look wonderful paired with pink or yellow flowers. This variety can withstand hot summers and dryer soil. Dead-heading this plant will encourage more blooming.

Always remember to take a lot of extra care in dealing with these ornamental plants and keep an eye always to the kids who are the usual victims of plant poisoning. Happy gardening to one and all!

For more article about plants see

17 Amazingly Beautiful But Poisonous Ornamental Plants

Top 10 Most Beautiful Garlic and Onion Flowers

20 Deadliest Plants on the Planet

10 Deadliest Plants on the Planet 2

Bizarre Plants and Animals

Ornamental Plants That Bear Flowers All-Year Round

For other flower related articles see

16 Flowers with the Most Repulsive Scents in the World

Top 10 Most Beautiful Garlic and Onion Flowers