Contribution of poisonous plants in herbal remedies

Poisonous plants.

South Africa is blessed with one of the richest floras in the world, which--not surprisingly--includes many poisonous plants. Theiler in the founding years believed that plants could be involved in the aetiologies of many of the then unexplained conditions of stock, such as gousiekte and geeldikkop. His subsequent investigations of plant poisonings largely laid the foundation for the future Sec...

Poisonous plants.

Some Common Poisonous Plants

Poisonous native range plants

Plant poisoning is a common problem throughout North America, causing significant economic losses not only through death loss, but through the costs associated with reproductive loss, poor growth rates, herbicides, etc. Through good pasture management, recognizing toxic plants, and by understanding the effects of toxins on animals, plant poisoning can be largely avoided. Plants contain a variet...

Hepatotoxicity of herbal remedies.

The hepatotoxic effects of conventional drugs are well recognised, but herbal medicines are often assumed to be harmless and are advertised as such. The error of this assumption has recently received attention in the press,' but we think that doctors are not sufficiently aware of the potential toxicity of herbal medicines. We report on four women, three from Edinburgh and one from Tyneside, who...