Is Columbine Poisonous? Information for children and pets

The columbine is a flowering plant that in the local latitudes is often cultivated in a flower bed in the garden due to its graceful blue flowers. Because it is easy to care for and enchants with its flowers in summer. But the question arises again and again whether Aquilegia, which belongs to the buttercup family, can harm children or pets. Because it is slightly poisonous and horses in particular should not be able to nibble on the plant.

Columbine

Appearance

The Columbine grows up to 80 cm high and herbaceous. Between May and July it kindles its flowers, which are usually purple, but can also be pink or white in some varieties. The flowers are bell-shaped and hang on stems.

Toxins

Aquilegia is poisonous in all parts, but the poison is particularly pronounced in the seeds. However, the toxicity of the plant is not as high and therefore not as dangerous as is the case with many other plants. Symptoms can occur when touched or even consumed, but these usually do not lead to life-threatening situations. However, caution should be exercised if there are small children in the family, or if free-range pets or even horses could get to the plants.

The plant has the following toxins in particular:

• Hydrocyanic acid glycosides
• Magnoflorin
• particularly high concentration in seeds
• also present in all other parts of the plant

Because of these toxins and because they could also be transmitted through skin contact and absorbed by the body, the plant should not come into contact with the skin. It is therefore advisable to always wear long clothes and gardening gloves when working.

Symptoms

Was there direct skin contact with the columbine or was it from pets or small animals Children even eating leaves or seeds can cause the following symptoms of poisoning come.

• diarrhea
• Vomit
• general nausea
• Stomach and intestinal cramps
• Cardiac arrhythmias
• Shortness of breath
• severe circulatory problems

If one or more symptoms occur in a person or a pet, it is advisable to go to the doctor directly or, if necessary, to call the emergency call center. In such a case, it is just as important to contact the poison control center to inquire about a possible antidote or other appropriate measures. Here, for example, www.gizbonn.de/285.0.html also helps by explaining initial measures.

Drying

Non-toxic when dried and heated

However, the columbine is also known as a medicinal herb for various ailments and is even offered as a tea. As with many poisonous plants, this is completely non-toxic after the leaves have been dried or the plant has been boiled, and the toxins lose their effect as a result. The columbine can be used as a medicinal herb for the following ailments.

• not popular as a tea
• very bitter taste
• applied externally as an envelope
• against gout
• against abscesses
• for indigestion
• in rheumatism
• against ulcers

Precautions

With children

If there are mainly small children in the household, it is important that they cannot come into contact with the plant. Older children, on the other hand, from about the third grade of elementary school onwards, can already be told that one or the other plant in the garden is poisonous and that they should not touch them. Small children, on the other hand, like to pluck leaves or flowers from plants for their play or use the seeds, for example to cook in a playful way.

Therefore, the following precautionary measures should be strictly observed:

• completely renounce the cultivation of Aquilegia
• Fencing in the garden bed with plants
• cultivate in the pot and place out of reach

Even if there have not yet been any deaths from the poison of the plant, the symptoms are even more pronounced in young children than in adults. Therefore, a family with young children should decide against cultivating the plant for reasons of health.

With pets

Free-roaming pets, such as dogs or cats, live in the household and are also in the garden at all times are allowed to enter, then these must also be protected from contact with the poisonous plants will. Because even when touched, the poison can pass into the body and cause the symptoms described. But especially in smaller animals, the poison can cause greater damage, but this can be avoided.

So the dogs and cats should be protected as follows:

• Only plant in an area to which the animals have no access
• Protection for dogs is easier
• a fence around the garden bed is sufficient
• Cats can jump and climb better
• Better to refrain from cultivation for the sake of the pet

Not only dogs and cats, but also all other pets that are allowed to run free in the garden, such as rabbits or guinea pigs, like to nibble on the various plants. Therefore, if rodents are also part of the household that have their run in the garden, then in such a case the Columbine, which is very poisonous and therefore dangerous for the small animals, cannot be reached by them either be.

Columbine and horses

The plant can also pose a great danger to ungulates. Because Aquilegia is not only being cultivated more and more frequently in the local gardens, the plant can also be found on many roadsides where it grows in the wild. If the animals nibble on the plants, the toxic substances quickly enter the body and can affect the entire circulatory system. In such a case, the veterinarian should be consulted immediately.

The following measures are helpful to protect the horses:

• Examine pastures for any plants that may be poisonous
• Check plants on the edges and fences of pastureland
• Pay attention to the plants along the way when riding
• Do not cultivate columbines on your own farm

Source:

• www.gizbonn.de/285.0.html