A review on most important poisonous plants and their medicinal properties

Abstract

Plants produce poisons to protect themselves, sometimes at levels toxic enough to kill human or livestock. Through trial and error, our forebears established which plants were edible and which caused harm. They then avoided the harmful species or in some cases also knowingly used them as weapons to kill rivals, criminals and animals, or as drugs to evoke hallucinations or subject victims to trial by ordeal. While knowledge of poisonous plants may have been lost among the majority of us who now buy our food in shops, scientific understanding of plant toxins and their effects has increased greatly. Poisonous plants which cause serious problems or even death are considered as ‘Plant Biological Weapons’. In this review article, 12 poisonous angiosperm plant species belonging to eight different families are discussed. The general characteristics of plant species, its distribution, etymology, its toxic nature, symptoms and medicinal uses/properties are systematically deliberated.