DIEFFENBACHIA – Dieffenbachia is regarded as an easy plant to care for and makes for a good house plant. It is also a good pollutant absorber as such it is best kept in a kitchen or bedroom.
Commonly known as the Dumb Cane, It can be quite harmful when ingested in large quantities and can render a person speechless or “struck dumb”, hence the name Dumb cane. Common symptoms include oral irritation and difficulty swallowing. Though ingestion may not be fatal, if left untreated, the after-effects of ingestion could last for weeks or months.
If you have kids or pets at home, do try to keep them out of reach by for example placing them on high cabinets.
The leafy nature makes for a good addition to your interior décor when elevated.
DEVIL’S IVY – This plant makes for good foliage addition to any space. It creeps and crawls its patterned greens over pots, beds, malls and hangings, giving a natural earthy feel to any design. The Pothos plant is more commonly known as devil’s ivy, Pothos contains insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which are released when the leaves or stems are sliced open.
Symptoms after ingestion typically include lip, tongue, and throat irritation. Kids and pets are potentially in more danger of ingesting. Now with this plant, you might want to be a little more careful since it is a creeper. Even when you elevate it, it can overgrow and still hang low. The Devil’s Ivy must be kept trimmed and out of reach of children and pets as it is a creeper.
PHILODENDRON – Technically one may have to ingest a lot of philodendron for it to cause any major harm. The various varieties make it quite a common house plant. Its toxic insoluble calcium oxalate crystals make may lead to a skin tear or puncture.
These molecules, when ingested, can therefore cause serious stomach upset, diarrhoea and vomiting. Like the Ivy, it is advisable to keep out of the reach of children and pets.
OLEANDER – Stop for a second. This is a plant you should know. With its innocent colourful flowers, it would be easy for you to be misled by the Nerium Oleander plant.
Many use this plant in hedges and on borders. One can argue that Oleander may as such be Greta Thunbergs’ possible favourite due to its significant use. However one cannot be in imaginary land for long as this is a very toxic plant. All parts of the plant can cause damage to the human body.
Oleander is one of the most poisonous plants on earth and ingesting even a tiny leaf can lead to death. This plant contains many toxic elements which can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness, seizures, loss of consciousness, headaches, blurred vision, drowsiness, rash, and an irregular heartbeat.
You may want to get rid of this plant if you have children or pets around. There are many plants you can use as a substitute, such as ixora, gerbera or any dwarf bougainvillaea.
PEACE LILY – It is a well-known fact that lilies, which are usually put in flower bouquets, are very toxic for cats. Well, the Peace Lily is not an actual lily, it is in fact part of the Araceae family with the dieffenbachia. This means, it also contains insoluble calcium oxalate which irritates the mouth, tummy, and throat when ingested. This plant does very well in low sunlight conditions, and it also acts as a part air filter. This makes it an ideal indoor plant for the living room or kitchen. It is not particularly life-threatening, but where kids and pets are concerned, care must be taken to avoid any unsupervised ingestion.
You may want to keep this plant elevated as its leaves grow well to still give the aesthetic value of improving the feel of space.