The flowers of the hibiscus are beautiful to look at, but the question arises again and again whether the hibiscus is poisonous for humans or animals. We clarify.
It blooms beautifully in summer and adorns many gardens, hedges or living rooms. The one from Asia hibiscus (Hibiscus) belongs to the mallow family (Malvaceae) and impresses with its brightly colored flowers. In German, the hibiscus is also known as marshmallow. However, the question always arises whether we should be careful of the hibiscus? In our article we investigate the myth of the poisonous hibiscus.
Poisonous hibiscus?
Everyone who feared the marshmallow might be poisonous can now breathe a sigh of relief: the two most famous ones Hibiscus species - so both the room hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) and the garden hibiscus (Hibiscus syriacus) - are completely harmless. Neither the flowers, nor the leaves or roots of the plant are poisonous or harmful to health. The only exceptions are some wild species. Ingredients such as oil, mucus, malic, lemon, hibiscus or ascorbic acid can lead to poisoning. However, this is not the case with domesticated species.
Our tip: Information on most potentially toxic substances and plants can be found at Information center against poisoning of the University of Bonn.
Is hibiscus poisonous to humans?
Although the hibiscus is considered non-toxic, one should still be careful. This is especially true for parents of young children. Since the hibiscus contains numerous acids, the parts of the plant are indigestible in too high a dose and can lead to heartburn or nausea.
With the low body mass of small children, this critical dose is of course reached more quickly than with adults. Especially with small children you should therefore be careful that they do not nibble on the hibiscus unsupervised.
Is hibiscus poisonous to cats and other animals?
The hibiscus is not poisonous for animals - especially cats. So there is no danger if your cat eats some hibiscus.
Our tip: Put cat grass next to your hibiscus. Your cat will definitely prefer this one and will not want to eat any of the hibiscus.
You can find more plants that are especially suitable for cat lovers and their house tigers in our article about non-toxic indoor plants for cats.
