Home grown succulents may be poisonous? You're still fooled. You know, after reading it,

Expert in this article: Fei Xue, Ph. D. in Plant Molecular Biology (fengfeixue0219)

In recent years, among all kinds of green plants, succulent plants are welcomed by the public because of their various forms, short and cute, and most easy to maintain, and gradually become the fastest growing and most popular plant type in family plant cultivation.

However, with regard to the cultivation of succulent plants, there are still some claims that many succulent plants are toxic, pose a threat to health, and are not suitable for family care, which makes some consumers have doubts when choosing succulent plants. So do succulent plants really pose a threat to health? Let's sort it out together.

What is a succulent plant?

Succulent plant is not a kind of plant, nor a category in botany, but a general term for a variety of plants with thick succulent tissues and organs and succulent water in the field of horticulture.

In fact, succulent plants contain dozens of families and hundreds of plant species in botany. Among them, cactus, apricot, crassulaceae, Liliaceae (some traditional succulent plants of Liliaceae are sometimes classified as Liliaceae in the new classification system) are the most common.

Most of these plants grow in dry and rainy environments, so they evolve succulent characteristics to store water in order to survive the adverse environment.

Are succulent plants poisonous?

Because plants need to face a variety of environments, as well as the invasion of diseases and insect pests and animal feeding, many plants will produce a variety of chemicals in the body to resist these external factors that are harmful to their lives. Because these substances are not the basic substances to maintain plant survival, they are called "secondary metabolites". Precisely because many secondary metabolites are used by plants for defense, some secondary metabolites are indeed toxic to animals, including humans.

However, because there are great differences in secondary metabolites in different plants, and there are many groups of succulent plants, we cannot generally call succulent plants "poisonous" or "non-toxic". We must analyze specific examples.

one

Amygdaceae

All kinds of apricot succulent plants, such as stone flower, shrimp pincer flower, dew grass, branch apricot and so on, are the most lovely and safest succulent plants. They are not only lovely in shape, but also almost free of secondary metabolites harmful to the human body. Some of the apricot family succulent plants, such as heart leaves and flowers, can even be eaten as vegetables. However, as an ornamental succulent plant, do not import it.

two

Liliaceae

For traditional lily succulent plants such as stone lotus, black mage, cornstone and 12 rolls, their secondary metabolites are usually not toxic to the human body and can be purchased and planted at ease. The only thing to pay attention to is that some plants will enrich oxalic acid and other ingredients, if accidentally eaten will stimulate the mucous membrane, there is a strong dry, tingling and so on. But these phenomena usually disappear after a certain period of rest.

three

Cactus family

Cactus plants also belong to the group of succulent plants that can be planted at ease, in addition to the need to beware of their sharp thorns, it is a good choice for family succulent plants. However, there is a kind of cactus plants that need to pay attention to, that is, the black feather jade cactus, which is characterized by no thorns and soft quality. Black jade contains substances such as aconitine, which is hallucinogenic, so you must not eat it by mistake.

four

Euphorbiaceae

Among the succulent plants, the most controversial is all kinds of Euphorbiaceae, such as iron begonia, unicorn palm, cloth ball and so on. It has been reported that many Euphorbiaceae plants have been blacklisted by many families because they contain "cancer-promoting substances", which is the biggest origin of the rumor that "succulent plants are harmful".

In fact, the so-called "cancer-promoting" substances are due to the fact that terpene esters in the milk of these plants have the ability to activate the EB virus infected in the human body, while the activated EB virus can increase the probability of tumorigenesis because of the replication and recombination of its nucleic acid. In addition, the terpenoids in the milk of Euphorbiaceae plants are mostly irritant, which may cause inflammation, swelling, pain and other symptoms after contact with mucous membrane.

How to avoid the health risks of succulent plants?

Summing up the above information, we can see that, in fact, for these succulent plants, although they contain different types of secondary metabolites, what they have in common is that they all need to be eaten into the body. or exposure to the juice from plant damage can pose a health risk to the human body.

In fact, whether it is oxalic acid, toxic alkaloids or terpenoids in the pulp, these secondary metabolites are not volatile, but exist in plants and will only be released into the environment after damage, and then come into contact with the human body.

Therefore, when taking care of these succulent plants, especially Euphorbiaceae, it is necessary to pay attention not to break the plants, not to touch the plant juice, and to prevent young children's pets from eating plants by mistake. If you pay attention to these points, you can avoid risks to a large extent and enjoy the fun of planting succulent plants.

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