Introduction

Happily, cases of severe harm caused by garden plants are very uncommon, but while examples of serious poisoning through eating plants or parts of plants are very unusual, skin irritation and allergic reactions to certain plants arise quite frequently. Luckily, most reactions are short-lived, but there are a few plants which under certain conditions can cause long-lasting skin problems. Most common, yet little-known, is rue, Ruta graveolens . Contact with this plant in strong sunshine can cause severe blistering dermatitis which will often leave the skin discoloured for several months. However, if gardeners are aware of the potential dangers and handle all plants using common-sense precautions, most problems are easily avoided.

With the aim of providing a well-researched body of data on the subject, a collaborative project was set up in 1992 involving scientists from the National Poisons Unit, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Royal Horticultural Society, with funding from the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA). This led to the publication in 1994 of an HTA code of practice for labelling potentially harmful garden plants at point-of-sale, which most garden centres and nurseries now follow. Early in 2000 this code was reviewed in the light of further research carried out at Kew and a revised code is now in preparation.

For a list of plants click here.

More information is available on potentially harmful garden plants in a printable format (RHS Conservation & Environment Guideline Leaflet) (236KB)

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