DUMBSTRUCK

Dieffenbachia or Dumb Cane
One of the most popular of house plants thanks to its' ease of care as to be almost fool proof. Since it is very tolerant of low light, inherited from its' understorey niche in sub-tropical forests, Dieffenbachia now gladdens dentists' waiting rooms world-wide.
   Supposedly, it is unkindly called Mother in Law's Tongue plant, although it's a name that I never hear actually being used. Most folk are happy with Dieffenbachia which makes me happy since it is botanically correct.
   It has nothing whatsoever to do with Canada's 13th Prime Minister, John George Dieffenbaker. He was a great talker and loved the sound of his own voice. Dumb Cane refers to the effect of the plants sap on the human voice box
that can be so inflamed as to make you speachless.
   Dieffenbachia is not a 'poisonous' plant but an 'injurious' plant; a distinction that is made in the title of the A.M.A. Handbook. It is a distinction that I would like to stress as I would prefer that the word poison be reserved for life threatening conditions not merely the unpleasant.

RUMINATIONS

 Dutifully doing due diligence I sought to discover why Delphiniums are deemed to be poisonous and Larkspurs lethal.
   They are not mentioned in the American Medical Association "Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants". Not in the 1985 edition nor in the revised 2002 edition.
 Both are indicted in Sick Kids' "Information for Families - Plant Safety"
   There is a level of discomfort in finding fault with an institution that does such laudable work in the care of our chidren but I fear that they have strayed beyond their mandate of human medicine and into veterinary science.
   Delphinium species grow in abundance on the Great Plains and westward.
They are usually divided into low larkspurs and tall larkspurs. The tall larkspurs favouring higher elevations from the Rockies to the Pacific.It was complaints from ranchers who were suffering great losses to their large herds that spurred (yes,I know) The U.S. Department of Agriculture to initiate a full study of the prairie flora. Dangers abound for sheep, horses and cattle. Not just the larkspurs but all the loco weeds, St. John's Wort and sleepy grass.
   The first of a cow's four stomachs, the rumen, is like a 50 gallon vat alive with bacteria and other micro-organisms that break down plant cellulose to a form that the animal can digest.  This process results in a great deal of gas and if the cow can't belch she is in big trouble.  Larkspurs appear to disrupt this normal activity and can result in the gases being trapped to the extent that the rumen explodes. The condition is referred to as bloat.
   While still ruminating on this intriguing subject I should not neglect to thank the people at Sick Kids' for alerting us to the perils of Delphiniums. Without their help we might never have known.
   As long as your children can still belch they will probably be fine.

YES. WE HAVE NO CHRYSANTHEMUMS

  We are told that chrysanthemums are 'poisonous to humans'. Is the entire plant poisonous or is it only the flowers or perhaps the leaves or just the root ? If you are keen to orchestrate your own exit how do you go about killing yourself with potted 'mums ? Can't you imagine a kitchen table conversation such as, " Look at this dear. Sick Kids' Hospital says that chrysanthemums are poisonous. Did you know that ? And we just sent some to your mother".
     When they say chrysanthemum do they mean all plants that were once placed in that genus or only the five or six that still retain the well-known name ?  Do they know that the perennial forms have been split into a number of new genera, leaving only a few annuals that you are hardly likely to encounter except perhaps the Corn Marigold, Chrysanthemum segetum ? If they don't know they had better find out and if they still believe that they are poisonous they should scurry and quickly issue a corrigendum listing the plants' new names.
     The popular Fall 'Mum was never quite sure of its name but usually answered to Chrysanthemum x morifolium but is now to be known as Dendranthemum x grandiflorum. This changed caused a hullabaloo in the florist industry and the last I heard it is to be re-instated as a Chrysanthemum. No use wasting a perfectly good name.   
     The new names for the other plants that we once called Chrysanthemums include, Ajania, Argyranthemum, Leucanthemum and Nipponanthemum.
 The familiar roadside Ox Eye Daisy and most Shasta Daisies are in Leucanthemum.
     When I checked in the A.M.A. Handbook I found that the name chrysanthemum appears only once. It does not get the usual treatment afforded to other plants. It is included only in a four page list of plants causing contact dermatisis. This I take to mean that if you are a florist cutting stems and arranging bouquets five days a week, you could develop a skin rash.
     Mothers-in law everywhere will love to receive your display of affection by card or letter, the more so if they accompany a potted chrysanthemum.

DON'T BE SO DAFF'

 Novice gardeners may have been non-plussed recently when shopping for daffodil bulbs. Despite the packages having brightly coloured illustrations of the well -known flower with spreading tepals and flaring trumpet, some folks were unsure enough to ask were there no daffodils as all they could see were Narcissus.
 The Dutch growers have decided to merchandise Daffodils using the more internationally recognized and proper botanical name. Narcissus includes Jonquils and Paperwhites.
     Daffodils are popular for a host of reasons; for their ease of culture, their bright cheerfulness in the spring garden and that the plant and its' bulb are distasteful to squirrels.
     Towards the end of the Second World War the people of Holland faced the very real possibility of starving to death and were reduced to eating floral bulbs such as tulips. They knew better than to eat daffodils. It is good to know that we are at least as smart as squirrels. That narcissus have a certain toxocity is well known. Workers tasked to clean daffodil bulbs of their outer papery scales quite frequently develop a painful skin rash.
     That livestock in occupied Holland were harmed by being fed with daffodil bulbs is at least plausible; but we do not eat like cattle, consuming a single item by the bushel. The more recent story from Suffolk, England saying that children were poisoned when a daffodil bulb was added to the soup during a cookery class, stinks to high heaven.
    Since we apparently have to warn that food from the microwave and coffee from the drive-through is going to be VERY HOT, then the least we can do is to label narcissus bulbs as NOT A FOOD ITEM.
     But then, some of our fellow earthlings might be so obtuse and take that to mean all other bulbs are edible.   So help me!

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS

     An entertaining show that began as a regular segment of Art Linklater's House Party and later revived for a couple of seasons by Bill Cosby was premised on the hilarious utterances of innocent children saying the darndest things. It is now not the children but the adults at Toronto's Sick Kids' Hospital that are saying the darndest things and we are not amused.
     In this blog that I call Iconoclastic Tom, the icons that I am attacking all enjoy high public esteem: World Famous Hospitals, the Medical Establishment and a battery of authors and scientists all with impressive credentials; while I am just a guy that works at a garden centre and a lonely voice.
     I am working my way through a list of plants that are said to be 'known to be poisonous to humans'. I have now reached Cyclamen and I'm sputtering.
     In the last few years I have accumulated a considerable library on the subject but could not find any accusations of toxicity being levelled at Cyclamen. Until: Mind-Altering and Poisonous Plants of the World. (Timber Press 2008)  The authors classify its ' toxicity as mildly hazardous. "However, the rhizomes are bitter and hidden below the ground.  Despite the fact that the plant is quite toxic, very few actual cases of poisoning have been recorded in recent years."  Yes. Very few to none.
     In 1980 on a visit to the Golden Gate park in San Francisco I was awestruck by a most spectacular display of Cyclamen; more varieties than I ever dreamed existed. The park covers more than 1000 acres and includes a golf course, a Japanese Tea Garden, museums and one of the largest conservatories in the world.
 The Cyclamen were displayed in perfectly clean 10 inch clay pots. in military order on tiered redwood shelving. Every one of their fleshy silvery- splotched and veined leaves was pristine. They were all in full flower. If their was one their was five hundred with each variety different from its neighbour. Whites and every possible shade of coral, fuchsia, aubergine and purple. Cut and serrated petals, colour-streaked petals (think parrot tulips) ; a kaliadoscope.
  I left my heart in San Francisco.                                                                                                             

CROTON AND OTHER SPURGES

Croton is a Spurge. a member of the Euphorbia family that provides us with a number of interesting perennials with their diagnostic flowers. Cushion Spurge, Euphorbia polychroma might be called a beginners' perennial, it has showy yellow flowers, is very hardy and easy to grow. Croton, ( properly Codiaeum) comes from Brazil and elsewhere in South America. We use it as a house plant mainly for its bizarrely multi-coloured foliage.
             Checking as best I could to find out why it was considered poisonous, I went on the Internet. There was a response to the name Croton but the text immediately started to talk about other spurges, Icicle Spurge and Sun Spurge but not another word about Croton.
 In the A.M.A. Handbook Croton is mentioned only once; not as a poisonous plant but included in a list of plants that the general public had called the Poison Control Agency to ask if it was toxic. The office in Miami, Florida reported that they had this question. No it's not.
 Many spurges contain an acrid sap that could cause a blistering rash in some people. A friend who was weeding Sun Spurge by hand and then blew his nose on a tissue, immediately felt a red-hot pain in his nasal passages. Spurges affect some people but not others.
  The one spurge that is totally harmless and yet  gets the worse press of all; is the popular Christmas Poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima. It had been widely reported that in Hawaii a child had died from eating a Poinsettia. It is a story that should never been given any credibility what so ever. Children might gorge themselves on Plum Pudding but not ornamental plants.
 A long time ago when Hugh Downs was the main man on the NBC Today show the U.S. Department of Agriculture would put on an extravagant display of this very colourful Christmas plant. Each year the audience was assured that the story of poisonous Poinsettias was a myth and then to prove his point the presenter would eat one!
    

PLEASE. NO COTTON EASTERS

   






 Cotoneaster has five syllables; not four.
 The E is pronounced and should carry an umlaut, those two little dots above the letter that are the diacritical marks that tell you to do so.  Cotonëaster.
     One other odd thing about Cotonëasters is that the are listed in all nursery catalogues as 'broadleaf evergreens'.: more than odd, downright strange as they are not evergreen, not in these climes at least or not any variety that is sold in this area that I am aware of. They do however carry a display of red fruit well into winter.
     Cotonëasters are in the Rosaceae along with Apples, Cherries, Pears and Saskatoon Berries. It would be odd indeed if suddenly one member of this important family was poisonous as is claimed by this mean-spirited list.
     Supposing all along that Toronto Sick Kid's were depending on the A.M.A. Handbook I discover that Cotonëasters are not mentioned; so I don't know where they got their information.

     Patient friends, I'm having lots of fun with the umlaut. I am using a Windows 7. I searched for umlaut and the instructions were easy. For the two dots over the lowere case e, Hold Alt and type 0235 on the number pad and you get ë. Other codes are there for other vowels in upper and lower case.