14th November 2024 - Plants in Defense ! Be Aware!

 

The members of the Viaduct Gardening Club were entertained at their November meeting by a well delivered and lively presentation by Lyn Brunetti, a professional Gardener. Lyn has worked at many prestigious places and currently gardens at the stunningly, beautiful Warnell Hall in Cumberland.

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/gardens/warnell-hall-cumbria-sympathy-experimentation-go-hand-hand-176538

The illustrated talk Lyn gave was all about the defence strategies evolved by many plants in order to protect themselves against hazards caused by animals and insects which threaten their survival in a ‘hostile’ environment.

Lyn began by explaining how plants protect themselves in many different ways such as by stinging, poisoning and emitting saps which cause skin irritation. This armoury includes thorns, prickles, and spines. Razor sharp leaves, leaves which sting and leaves which emit poisonous spores, including too, those which have toxic hairs and produce indigestible fruit.

Common plants which use thorns as protection include roses, thistles, holly, monkey puzzle trees, gooseberries and most cacti. Others which exude an irritating sap are all euphorbia, henbane, hogweed, hyacinth bulbs, rue and fig stems.
Nettles are our only indigenous stinging plant. The tiny needles on the leaves contain histamine acids which cause painful skin blisters. Hairy vegetation found on plants such as comfrey, both leaves and stems, goose grass, cucumbers, courgettes and phlomis, to name just a few, can cause skin to be adversely affected.

Also unpleasant to many people are the spores of some plants, especially bracken, and also ivy which should only be cut down when damp in order to suppress the spores escaping into the air and causing breathing difficulties.

Many bulbs are poisonous. Bluebells, daffodils, narcissus, and tulips must never be eaten.

Edible plants can also have defence mechanisms. Chilli plants and capsicum can be hugely irritating when ingested! Whilst rhubarb stems are edible, the leaves should never be eaten.

 Florists and everyday gardeners must take protective action by wearing gloves when regularly handling such plants as alstroemeria, aconites, asparagus foliage, euphorbia and hellebores.

Some berries and flowers are very toxic when consumed and although they might be attractive to look at, they must never be consumed. Arum berries, daphne, deadly nightshade, foxgloves flowers, laburnum and nicotiana are some of the well known culprits but there can be nasty side effects from consuming other common vegetation.

Many pharmaceuticals now mimic the properties within plants to make drugs. Yew used to be collected from the wild to make certain drugs (but now can be chemically produced). Poppies (opium) also provide many familiar commercial drugs.

Lyn described frequent personal incidents when either she or colleagues had unfortunate experiences and reactions whilst working in their plant filled environments!

Written by Jude Jansen