Wilderness and Travel Medicine: A Complete Wilderness Medicine and Travel Medicine Handbook (Escape, Evasion and Survival Series)

Toxic Plants

There are a wide variety of toxic plants with have a wide range of symptoms, and some can be fatal. Sometimes a part of a plant can be edible while another part is not, e.g., you can eat the flower but not the stem. In others perhaps they are only edible when cooked a certain way etc.

In fact, there are so many plants and so many variables that for a majority of them, no specific treatment exists.

As a rule, do not touch, and especially do not ingest any plant that you are not 100% sure about.

Treatment for Toxic Plant Contact

Treat symptoms.

Use local knowledge.

For skin irritants, e.g., poison oak:

Thoroughly wash area.

Use alcohol to neutralize.

If ingested:

Take the following history:

Ø Amount and part of plants ingested.

Ø Initial symptoms.

Ø Method of preparation, e.g., drying, cooking, boiling.

Ø Number of persons who ate the same plant, and their symptoms.

Ø Time between ingestion and onset of symptoms.

Ø Time of ingestion.

Do not induce vomiting unless it is a specific treatment, but be prepared for it as a symptom.

Activated charcoal is preferable. If that is unavailable, mix tea and wood charcoal (not briquettes) and add milk of magnesia if available.

Note: be extra careful of passing on the toxin, e.g., touching your mouth or face after handling, giving rescue breaths.

You can learn more about plants at SurviveTravel.com/Useful-Plants.



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