Poisonous plants in Turkey and their most common look-alikes: how to tell them apart
Many plant poisonings happen when an edible or medicinal plant is confused with a poisonous look-alike. Below are the poisonous plants most often confused in Anatolia, how to tell them apart, and folk practices that lead to poisoning.
The main causes of plant poisoning in Turkey
The Turkish Ministry of Health phytotherapy book summarises plant poisonings in Turkey under these causes:
- Taking too much of a plant used for treatment
- Using a poisonous look-alike instead of a medicinal plant
- Eating a poisonous species by mistake instead of a plant gathered as a vegetable or herb
- Eating a part of a plant without knowing that it is poisonous
- Using poisonous plants to induce miscarriage
According to the book, most cases are in children aged 1–12 who eat poisonous species by mistake.
Plants that look alike
| Poisonous plant | Confused with | How to tell them apart | Symptoms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autumn crocus Colchicum species | Edible crocus (Crocus) corms; in spring, wild garlic (ramsons) leaves | According to Baytop, in the edible crocus the stem rises from the very centre of the corm, in autumn crocus from its side. Crushed wild garlic leaves smell strongly of garlic; autumn crocus leaves have no smell. | Colchicine poisoning: vomiting and severe diarrhoea starting a few hours later, followed by organ failure. Because symptoms start late, do not assume “nothing happened”. |
| Poison hemlock Conium maculatum | Edible umbellifers such as parsley, wild carrot and fennel | The stem is hairless, hollow and spotted purple-brown (Baytop). Crushed leaves give off an unpleasant smell like cat urine. Do not gather an umbellifer you cannot identify with certainty. | Burning in the mouth, muscle weakness, paralysis rising from the legs; breathing can stop. This is the plant that killed Socrates. |
| Thorn apple (jimsonweed) Datura stramonium | Its seeds can contaminate grain and pulses; its spiny fruit attracts children | A spiny seed capsule the size of a walnut, containing black, kidney-shaped seeds. Crushed leaves have a heavy, unpleasant smell. | Dry mouth, dilated pupils, flushed face, fever, racing heart, agitation and hallucinations. |
| Henbane Hyoscyamus niger | Known locally in Turkey also as “gavurhaşhaşı” or “dağdağan”; the same names are given to other plants (Baytop) | Sticky, hairy leaves, pale yellow flowers with purple veins and a heavy smell. Do not trust a local name; look at the plant itself. | The same picture as thorn apple: dry mouth, dilated pupils, racing heart, confusion. |
| Foxglove Digitalis species | Before flowering, its leaves resemble comfrey and mullein leaves | In flower: drooping, thimble-shaped flowers arranged on one side of the stem. Do not make tea from a flowerless leaf rosette you cannot identify with certainty. | Cardiac glycosides: nausea, vomiting, yellow-green vision, heart rhythm disorders. |
Do not gather or eat a plant you cannot identify with certainty. Do not rely on identification from a photo or an app.
Folk practices that lead to poisoning
Mad honey (Pontic rhododendron)
Honey made by bees in the eastern Black Sea region from the flowers of Rhododendron ponticum (locally komar, kara ağu) and the yellow-flowered R. luteum (sarı ağu). Xenophon of Athens tells how Greek soldiers passing through the region around 400 BCE were poisoned by it. Today eating it by the spoonful as a “cure” is the main cause of poisoning: dizziness, nausea, sweating, a slow pulse and low blood pressure. It is treated in hospital (Baytop).
Oleander
Grown everywhere in parks and gardens. Boiling its leaves and drinking the liquid for diabetes or cancer causes serious heart poisoning; even a small amount is dangerous.
Opium poppy
According to the Turkish Ministry of Health phytotherapy book, ethnobotanical studies still record opium being used to put children to sleep, a practice that goes back to Ottoman times. It can stop breathing in babies.
Bitter almond and apricot kernels
The amygdalin they contain turns into cyanide in the body. Even a few can be dangerous for children; bitter apricot kernels sold as a “cancer treatment” carry the same risk.
Poisonous house plants
According to US data cited in the Turkish Ministry of Health phytotherapy book, 85 per cent of calls to poison centres about plant poisoning concern children under six, and the plants most often involved are ornamental plants grown in homes and offices. Dumb cane, philodendron, peace lily, pothos and Swiss cheese plant, all in the arum family, contain needle-shaped calcium oxalate crystals: chewing them causes burning and swelling of the mouth, tongue and throat. Keep these plants out of reach of small children and pets.
- Dumb cane Dieffenbachia
- Philodendron Philodendron
- Peace lily Spathiphyllum
- Pothos (devil’s ivy) Epipremnum aureum
- Swiss cheese plant Monstera
- Calla lily Zantedeschia aethiopica
- Poinsettia Euphorbia pulcherrima
- Ivy Hedera helix
The dose makes the poison: medicinal plants on the list
The list of poisonous plants of Turkey in the phytotherapy book also includes many medicinal plants in the catalog. It is a reminder that “the dose makes the poison”: the same plant can be a medicine in small amounts and a poison in large ones, and in some only one part (the seed, the root, the unripe fruit) is poisonous. The book also stresses that a list of poisonous plants depends on a country’s flora and on local habits: henbane causes poisonings in eastern Anatolia but not in France, while Jerusalem cherry (Solanum pseudocapsicum), which grows in Turkey, causes poisonings in France but not here. That poison hemlock, henbane and some autumn crocus species are recorded as occasionally eaten in Anatolia also shows how much the dose matters.
- Syrian rue Zygophyllaceae
- Rue Rutaceae
- Stinging nettle Urticaceae
- St John’s wort Hypericaceae
- Elder Caprifoliaceae
- European mistletoe Loranthaceae
- Flaxseed Linaceae
- Oleander Apocynaceae
- Autumn crocus Liliaceae
- Aloe vera Liliaceae
- Jimsonweed Solanaceae
- Henbane Solanaceae
- Mandrake Solanaceae
- Ashwagandha Solanaceae
- Hemp Cannabinaceae
- Wormwood Asteraceae
- Opium poppy Papaveraceae
- Horse chestnut Hippocastanaceae
- Mahaleb cherry Rosaceae
High-risk Anatolian plants in the catalog
These plants are poisonous or have serious side effects; they are in the catalog for their cultural and historical importance and are not recommended for use.
Sources
- Baytop T., Türkiye’de Bitkiler ile Tedavi: Geçmişte ve Bugün (Plant Healing in Turkey: Past and Present), 3rd ed., Nobel Tıp Kitabevleri, 2021
- Turkish Ministry of Health, Fitoterapi Uygulaması Kitabı (Phytotherapy Practice Book), 2022 (chapter on poisonous plants)
- Baytop T., Baytop A., Mat A., Sun S., Türkiye’de zehirli bitkiler, bitki zehirlenmeleri ve tedavi yöntemleri (Poisonous plants, plant poisonings and their treatment in Turkey), Istanbul University, 1989 (as cited in the phytotherapy book)
- Seçmen Ö., Leblebici E., Yurdumuzun zehirli bitkileri (The poisonous plants of our country), Ege University Faculty of Science, İzmir, 1987 (as cited in the phytotherapy book)
- Nelson L. S., Shih R. D., Balick M. J., Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants, 2nd ed., Springer (as cited in the phytotherapy book; house plant data)