PINK, NOT BLUE

Ask any horticulturist or any gardener to describe the plant known as Periwinkle and you will be told that it is a wiry-stemmed, sometimes evergreen, sub-shrub with sky-blue flowers; known botanically as Vinca minor. The flowers of Periwinkle are famously blue but you can dare to be different and seek the wine-red or white. A dissenter might suggest Vinca major; a trailing type much used in hanging baskets and containers. This form with variegated green and white foliage is tender and used only as an annual.

    The pamphlet ‘ Information for Families-Plant Safety ‘ that the Poison Information Centre co-publish with Sick Kids’ Hospital does not provide botanical names. Families have to do a lot of guessing. In fact it is very short of information; they tell you nothing. In their list of ‘plants known to be poisonous to humans’ they make an exception for Periwinkle, (Vinca). The one and only time that you are given the plants’ botanical name, and they get it precisely wrong.

     If there is a Periwinkle that might be poisonous (by their standards, not by mine) it would be Madagascar Periwinkle. Admittedly, it was once Vinca rosea, so-named by the great Linnaeus but changed to Catharanthus roseus by the English botanist George Don. This name change is not recent. Don died in 1846.

     Medical staff at the hospital will know the therapeutic value of Madagascar or Rosy Periwinkle. Two potent chemicals derived from this plant are vincristine and vinblastine which became the drugs of choice in the treatment of childhood leukemia and Hodgkin’s disease.

     The concentration of active ingredients in Catharanthus is so low that that it takes more than 250 kilograms of leaves to make one 500mg therapeutic dose. Rather more than the few plants in your window box.

     Only an ill-informed smart Alec or Alicia would interpret the medicinal use of Rosy Periwinkle as cause for a public alarm and to call the plant poisonous. It is a joke. Our world-famous Hospital for Sick Children is poorly served by lending their name to this shabby list.

     Garden Centres now offer so many plant choices that Rosy Vinca has lost its’ once prominent place in our summer gardens. Putting aside the plants’ value as a pharmaceutical (It is now grown world-wide for that purpose) to look at the plants qualities as an ornamental: Madagascar Periwinkle shows its’ Indian Ocean origins by revelling in heat and humidity. The open five-lobed flowers can be rosy pink or white, usually with a red eye. Grown in the sunniest spot in the garden it has the look of a small roundish 60cm shrub and will produce flower clusters all summer. The attractive leaves are dark green with a noticeable mid-vein that combines as an attractive package.

I intend to help this fine plant overcome the unwarranted slurs it has suffered at the hands of the uninformed. I cannot recommend Rosy Vinca too highly.

     This is an annual to die for, if you will excuse the expression.

POISONOUS PEONIES. WHO KNEW?

According to the Ontario Regional Poison Information Centre, peonies are ‘not non-toxic’. Now there is a quibble if I ever heard one.

 The American Medical Association does not mention peonies in their Handbook of Poisonous or Injurious plants. Very few of the books in my growing library mention the peony; when they do it would be a casual remark that peonies have been used medicinally most usually in Chinese Medicine. Everything appears in the Chinese Pharmacopeia including bears gallbladder and powdered dragon bones and is not a resource that I would normally refer to.

     In a telephone query to the Poison Centre we were told that the toxic parts of peonies are the roots. This matches the advice in Chinese Herbal Medicine, (Daniel P. Reid (1990) distributed in Canada by Random House.) This cannot be where Sick Kids’ Hospital is getting their information, although it would explain a lot. The Chinese in fact, have nothing but good to say about peony roots. The skin of the tree peony root ‘has highly effective antiseptic action against a broad range of germs’. The whole root of the white peony is tonic to the blood and yin-energy. The red variety promotes circulation of the blood.

The Poison Information Centre warns that handling the roots can irritate the skin and eating them can cause diarrhoea and make you vomit. Quite right too. That’ll learn you. When the grandchildren visit be sure that the garden spade and digging fork are locked in the shed.

     The peony of southern Europe is Paeonia officinalis. The name does not refer to a modern office but that there was commercial trade in the plant as a medicinal herb. When you read between the lines and note how often it is recommended for increasing  blood flow; that the intention was ‘to bring on the menses’. In other words, to provoke an abortion. The Peony Formula is still well known and used in Chinese and in so-called traditional medicine.

     The staff at the Poison Information Centre did not mention this aspect and we did not bring up the subject with them.

DEATH BY MISADVENTURE

The death of Andre Noble, a young actor full of promise, was a tremendous shock.

Apparently his untimely death was due to aconite poisoning.

     So much has been said and written about Monkshood being deadly poisonous that we have come to believe that such stories belong to the myths of times past. A modern case shows just how tragically real and yet how rare an event this was. With about a 100 species of Aconitum growing around the world and a population of 6.3 billion humans or 6.4 by the time I get to the end of this sentence; one would expect that there would be many such deaths.

     The young actor died on July 30, 2004 at the age of 25 in the countryside that he enjoyed so much, near Centerville on Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland where he was born and raised.

     I turned to the 2007 edition of the AMA Handbook of Poisonous or Injurious Plants, but his case is not mentioned. No human poisonings involving the living plant are cited. We are told that all parts of the plant are toxic, especially the leaves and roots but that human exposures are ‘relatively uncommon’. ‘However these plants are utilized in some herbal products (e.g., chaunwu, caowu, fuzi.)’ There are six references to scientific papers that in each instance refer to the use or misuse of Aconitine preparations in Asian medical practise. In the West, as far as I am aware, it is used only in so-called alternative medicine and in labelled water as dispensed by homeopaths.

The one and only time that I have ever heard of a gardener, grower or florist being affected by Monkshoods is an incident that took place in England in 1993. A man who sold cut flowers in the streets of Salisbury and Southampton was hospitalized, due, it is believed to handling Aconitum. If I knew more than that I would tell you.

So, what of the tragic death of Andre Noble? He knew and enjoyed the outdoors. This was familiar territory to him. He grew up there. At the time of death his stomach contents showed that he had consumed wild berries and green vegetation. The Aconitum that grows wild in Newfoundland is not a native but is an escape from gardens; Aconitum napellus. As an intelligent well educated young adult with an interest in nature, he would know Monkshood and its’ deadly reputation. What happened?

Andre and his friends were exploring and foraging on a small island when he became ill. He died on the small boat that was taking him to where an ambulance was waiting. Victims of Aconitine poisonings who get immediate medical attention can expect to make a full recovery within 24 hours. It was not to happen here.

A sudden death from a common naturalized flower was so startling and so rare that many questioned whether some other factor was involved. He was a vegetarian with a known interest in natural foods. “He was really into health foods, herbs and nature. I was in Toronto a while ago and went to a few health stores with him.” said his father. Questions still remain on this puzzling case. The best that can be said is that the chances of such a freak accident being repeated are somewhat more than six billion to one.

HAVE A VERY BERRY XMAS

     Toronto’s Sick Kids’ Hospital lists Mistletoe as poisonous; of course they do. We must learn to disregard those spoilsports. I don't think that our Canadian Food Inspection Agency would let stores sell poisonous plants, Yuletide tradition or not.

      Most of us, even as untutored laymen have some understanding of the ‘placebo effect’. A patient seemingly experiences relief from symptoms and apparently benefits from the use of a prescribed medicine when in fact it is nothing more than a sugar pill. It is generally believed that such psuedopharmaceuticals really work but the reasons are still mysterious.

     Poison Control Agencies and people like me who write about ‘poisonous’ plants should now consider the ‘nocebo effect’.  Just as a patient obtains real benefit from a worthless pill when it is prescribed by a trusted physician or in a hospital setting, that the obverse could be equally true.

     Having been assured by a well-regarded authority that a plant part was poisonous someone might indeed show the unpleasant effects of poisoning from an innocuous and harmless source. The more trusted the authority, the stronger the nocebo response.

     If, as I assure you that mistletoe berries are not poisonous, why would they be listed as such? Most likely someone has heard that a substance found in the mistletoe plant is being used in the immediately discredited treatment of some cancers. As somebody once said, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. Still, I am aware that if you ‘search’ mistletoe you will be told that consumption of large quantities of leaves and stems can cause painful discomfort to the digestive system and probably diarrhea. Although it is beyond me how they could possibly know that, except perhaps by tests on animals.

     American Mistletoe is Phoradendron and an official symbol of the State of Oklahoma. All mistletoes are partial parasites (partial because they have their own chlorophyll) and live on many types of trees apparently without harming them.

   The Mistletoe of commerce is Viscum album and it will probably be English. It grows in continental Europe too but the English form is thought to be the best. It has lots of plump white berries that ship well and do not fall off in transit. The berries are not poisonous.

   The supply of English Mistletoe is now threatened. Nothing wrong with the mistletoe, they’re fine  Although the parasite can grow on many types of trees, in England their preference is the apple. So many orchards are now being lost to the urban sprawl of shopping malls and huge parking lots, that  mistletoes are losing their homes.

     Now that China is supplying the world with most of its' apples, it  appears that they will also be the source of this traditional Christmas decoration.      Shèng Dàn Kuài Lè.

I'M MAD AS HELL

    

     If you would like to make a small contribution to a healthier world, consider catering to the needs of butterflies and their caterpillars. A butterfly garden will not only provide great beauty from the plants, butterflies and hummingbirds which is reward enough but  give satisfaction in having done something worthwhile; a small penance for the many abuses that we have laid on our planet.

     In my home garden there is a dense planting of butterfly favourites with flowers for the imago and foliage for their larvae. Great magnets for enticing clouds of Monarchs, are forms of prairie Liatris. The 6 foot tall dense flower spikes of Meadow Blazingstar, Liatris ligulistylis and Kansas Gayfeather, Liatris pycnostachya bring in Monarch butterflies from miles around. That is fine for you and good for the adult/imago Monarch but does nothing for the caterpillar/larvae. Monarch caterpillars eat Milkweed and only Milkweed.

     If indeed, you want to do something truly worthwhile, beyond your own immediate pleasure, a butterfly garden needs foliage for the caterpillar. Carrot, dill or parsley is needed by the Black Swallowtail so I plant lots of parsley between the Agastache, Echinacea and the many milkweeds.
     The spectacular Giant Swallowtail is supposedly very rare in Ontario; nevertheless I am privileged to be visited by this rarity every summer, drawn to my garden by a Hop Tree, Ptelea trifoliata. Apparently this visitor from Florida can detect a solitary tree from a great distance. Cosmopolitan Painted Lady enjoys its’ world-wide distribution by not being so singularly fussy about the caterpillar food choices. A sure bet to bring the American Lady to set up home in your garden is by growing Pearly Everlasting, Anaphalis margaritacea

     Monarch Butterflies depend entirely on Milkweed of which there are many species and closely related plants from tropical America to as far north as 52 degrees. Monarchs returning each year from their Mexican winter roosts, fly ever further north in overlapping leapfrogging generations seeking Milkweed. They depend on it. In my garden there are Swamp Milkweed, Asclepius incarnata with pink flowers; a yellow form and a white. Asclepius tuberosa with pure orange flowers and shinier thicker leaves. Since the sap of this species is clear rather than white we call it Butterfly Weed not Milkweed. These are all good hardy perennials, but a Monarch Garden would not be complete without their top-of-the-list favourite; the Mexican annual sub-shrub, Asclepius curassavica known as Bloodflower. The bicoloured flowers come in scarlet and yellow or deep red and yellow. Both the Monarchs and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are daft about them.

 The most northern species is Common Milkweed, Asclepius syriaca found in abandoned fields, roadsides and ditches. It is not included in my garden proper but I am happy to know that it is close by.

     Toronto’s Sick Kids’ Hospital in 'Information for Families' tells us that Milkweed are ‘known to be poisonous to humans’. Now you know why I am as mad as hell. I guess that I would not be allowed to choke someone but perhaps I could give them a good shake.

    My butterfly garden delights me and I would like to see more gardeners enjoying swarms of Monarchs on their favourite Milkweeds. It does not help to have them labelled as ‘poisonous to humans’. Most people know that the caterpillar and hence the butterfly derives protection from birds by being highly distasteful; due to chemicals in the Milkweed. (The butterflies are not totally immune to these poisons but they have a high tolerance.) Listing them as poisonous plants is not a public service but a disservice and the lists’ authors a public nuisance.

NOTE: Neither the first or second edition (2007) of the American Medical Association Handbook of Poisonous or Injurious Plants mentions Milkweed.

A LITTLE LEARNING IS A DANGEROUS THING

    George Russell of York was an allotment gardener who developed a passion for Lupins. (My preferred spelling is Lupins rather than Lupines.) For more than 20 years he saved seed from the best plants and ruthlessly destroyed the others. He began with Lupinus polyphyllus but added some annual species and a shrub lupin and let the bees do the cross-pollinating. It seems reasonable though; that once he had produced a pink such as Chatelaine and the white Noble Maiden that open pollination would need to be avoided. Russell Lupins were a sensation at the 1937 Chelsea Flower Show.

    It is a crying shame that Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children calls them poisonous. They are not alone. You can find lupins on many such lists. Go to Nova Scotia Museum’s Poison Patch museum.gov.ns.ca/poison/lupin for more misleading facts and fictions. The page devoted to lupins immediately ropes-in black locust, laburnum and scotch broom. You must read carefully since the most serious of consequences apply to laburnum alone and those perils are greatly exaggerated. They do say that the greatest danger of lupin poisoning is to grazing livestock. There are a number of wild lupins growing in cattle country and is part of the animals foraging diet. Under some very rare circumstances lupins are said to cause ‘crooked calf’ disease. It is claimed that contaminated milk has caused birth defects in humans. I don't beleive that for a moment. 

    Although it might bring us to the same result, it is quite possible that it is not the lupin plant itself that is the cause but that a fungus growing on the lupin that is the real source of the toxin. Note too that the flower used to illustrate the page is not a weedy wild form but a cultivated hybrid which is deceitful or at least unhelpful.

    We have come a huge distance from George Russell’s beautiful flowers and we appear to have got totally lost along the way.

PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT

Cardinal Flower
Lobelia cardinalis





Someday, we will fondly remember when mood- altering drugs were all botanical and not cooked from chemicals in a laboratory or a rented garage.

   Instead of tea, coffee, chocolate, marijuana, cocaine, opium, alcohol and nicotine, we now have the scourge of crystal meth. And worse. Meanwhile, parents are being alerted to the dangers inherit in Lobelias of all things. What an atrocity this Sick Kids’ list is. It is appalling. When this alphabetical roster was put together (by someone from the typing pool perhaps) it appears that no one thought to ask, “Are we doing the right thing in telling people that Delphiniums, Daisies, Peonies and Wisteria,( the whole silly list,) are ‘known to be poisonous to humans’? “ If they ask why, can we tell them? Does anybody know?”

   Do not for a moment suppose that the list derives from cases arriving at Emergency Admitting or treated in the wards of the hospital. They got the list from other peoples’ lists and probably from the, as yet, immature Internet. The literature on poisonous plants is intricately incestuous as one writer parrots the claims of another while they have been quoting someone else, perhaps even you. Everyone believing and depending that the originator or someone somewhere along the line knew what they were talking about. A circular recycling of arrant nonsense for the most part.

Indian Tobacco
Lobelia inflata

To simply state that Lobelia are poisonous (or anything else on the list) without explanation must fall short of anyone’s expectations. It is perfectly true that Indian Tobacco, Lobelia inflata is always described as poisonous although it is still touted as a remedy for asthma and bronchitis in the world of ‘alternative medicine’. It is a poor substitute for a smoke. The nicotine is minimal if any and its’ effect is described as ‘transient’. The University of Maryland has a special interest in Alternative or Complementary Medicine although I can’t decide whether they are for it or against it. Just don’t say that I sent you.

European settlers were bemused to see First Nations people smoking Kinnikinnick, a mix of all kinds of bark and leaves including this Lobelia. When there were no doctors and no pharmacies, folks had to cope with their ailments as best they could. The blue-flowered Lobelia syphilitica was obviously named with the hopeful idea that it would cure that sexually transmitted scourge. Lobelia and a thousand other herbal nostrums would be tried to that end. That was then, this is now.

 “Information for Families” could benefit many but they would hardly need advice about the Lobelias in their life. Indian Tobacco is a weedy form that I can not recommend for any reason but there are some beauties for the garden. Brilliant red is comparatively rare in perennials but you will find it in the hardy native Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis. Lobelia ‘Queen Victoria’ has rich red foliage in addition to the five- lobed tubular red flowers but is scarcely hardy due to its’ crossing with a Mexican form.    These are absolutely essential plants for the butterfly garden and the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds go crazy for the tall flower spikes. They demand moist soil. Water them, then soak them and water again. Then keep them moist.

EVERY BRIDE'S FAVOURITE

 I am perfectly delighted that the Republic of Finland chose Convallaria majalis as the country’s floral emblem in 1967 on the 50^th anniversary of their independence from Russia. Lily of the Valley flowers are perfectly formed and perfectly white. It is a perfect choice. Not that I know anything about Finland other than their famous architects, musicians and Nokia mobile ‘phones. My overall impression is that they are studiously serious people with probably the best education system in the world. My obvious question is, what does the Helsinki equivalent to Toronto’s Sick Kids’ Hospital tell the public of the possible toxicity of Lily of the Valley ?

I always thought that ‘majalis’ referred to the month of May, but wondered about it. Dependent on latitude, elevation and snow cover, Lily of the Valley can be flowering by early March. I hate to tell you this but can do no other; majalis is Latin for a male pig; a boar or hog. A most inappropriate epithet for such an elegant flower with such enchanting fragrance. What was Linnaeus thinking? Pearls before swine indeed. Nevertheless, despite the awkward results of my fact checking, bunches of the sweet flowers are traditionally sold in the streets of Paris on May 1^st. apparently we are all wrong. I hope that I am correct in believing that ‘convallaria’ means ‘of the valley’.

Before Dr. William Withering introduce Digitalis to the world in 1786, Lily of the Valley was known to have heart stimulating qualities in some measure: not enough for clinical purposes and hardly enough to be called a poison, yet the idea lingers on in our folk memory. You would have to eat vast amounts of the plant and its orange-red berries to suffer any consequences. Now that we know that the plants specific epithet ‘majalis’ refers to a male pig it could very well be that we gained our awareness of Convallaria toxicity from ancient swine herds. We have already learned from the stories of Larkspurs, Buckeyes and St.John’s Wort, that veterinary science was always light years ahead of human medicine.

One maddening story that kept recurring while searching at many websites, is the warning that children have died from drinking the water in a vase that contained lily of the valley leaves and flowers. This is an outright falsehood. No such incident ever took place nor could it. People who tell such alarming stories should face criminal charges for spreading false news.

Convallaria majalis spread by rhizomes that stay connected and the plant seems prepared to go on for ever. In late summer a swollen bud emerges at the tip of a stolon forming a “pip’ which will form a new pair of leaves and a flower stem in Spring. The flowers do not set seed using their own pollen, they are self sterile. If you want to have berries you must introduce a plant from a different clone. Since garden centers are most likely all getting their plants from one major supplier you may have to go out of town or cadge from an old garden.

My favourite form of this old-fashioned plant is the pure white although in this modern world of choices a pink form can be found and even a double-flowered.  Typical of monocot plants the spear-shaped leaves have parallel veins. In the variety ‘Striata’ the veins are gold. The white veined is ‘Albostriata’.

When Kate Middleton became Mrs William Wales and Duchess of Cambridge Lily of the Valley was in her bridal bouquet as it has often been for many brides. With her Royal endorsment it is now to be de rigueur.

They are easily forced into flower indoors in winter where their intoxicating scent will be nicely captured, You should do that. You deserve it.

I'VE GOT A DATE WITH AN ANGEL...

Should Datura stramonium appear in your garden unbidden as it easily can, please enjoy it. Commonly called Jimson Weed or Thorn Apple it is a gorgeous plant. Unfortunately it is only an annual. The fast-growing plant with its’ many 4 inch unfurling white or violet-tinged flowers would be very acceptable as a perennial.

 Do not be dissuaded by any horror stories you may hear.  It does have a bad reputation as a producer of strange hallucinations. The abuser does not know the apparitions from their normally sane state. Some imagine that they have been dismembered and their body parts scattered about or that an army of insects are wriggling and scratching under their skin. If you like that sort of thing then this is the sort of thing you will like. It is not going to kill you but you just might wish you were dead.

      None of this happens to you or your children from the mere presence of Jimson Weed. You must be proactive and learn the techniques of poisoning your brain. All such knowledge is freely available on the World Wide Web so while young children will be perfectly safe, parents might be wise to monitor the Internet use of their young adults. The explicit information is all there.

   Angel’s Trumpet was once included with Datura but is now Brugmansia. They both produce egg-sized prickly capsules that split open in four parts with many small black seeds. The developing capsules of Jimson Weed can very easily be removed  or the whole plant might be dispatched once flowering is over and that it is only an annual after all. Better yet would be to allow the seeds to ripen and plant them where you want them and not rely on the whim of sparrows that drop them where ever they please.
     Brugmansia seed could also be saved but they are  very tender plants from South America (Zone 9). You would need a heated greenhouse with a sufficiently high roof to accomodate their height of 2 to 3 metres.
     It is an old joke and an obvious one but I will use it anyway. That if you ingested either plant then the next sound you hear will be angel's trumpets.