Poisonous Plant of the Year

The poisonous plant of the year has been presented every year since 2005 by the Botanical Special Garden in Hamburg-Wandsbek . It is elected in a public vote. The first election was called in November 2004.

Plants that have been chosen as the poisonous plant of the year are specially presented for one year. The point of the action is to think again about the poisonous effects of some plants and to consider them when designing the garden. Poisonous plants should be used consciously; this is the only way to avoid poisoning accidents. Plants that are unknown are a great danger to adults and children.

Electoral process

Plants with toxic effects are available from a list of suggestions from the Botanical Special Garden. Anyone can propose additional candidates. The most frequently mentioned proposals are nominated for election from June 1st of each year. There must be at least five years between two nominations. A plant that has already been chosen cannot be nominated again as a candidate. The vote runs until December of that year. So the chosen plant can be presented at the beginning of the year.

Previous poisonous plants of the year

year	German name	scientific name	group	Main active ingredients	Illustration
2005	Blue monkshood	Aconitum napellus	shrub	Aconitine
2006	Pfaffenhütchen	Euonymus europaeus	Wood	Evonin , cardiac glycosides ( Evonoside )
2007	Red thimble	Digitalis purpurea	biennial plant	Digitoxin
2008	Hercules shrub	Heracleum mantegazzianum	shrub	Furocoumarins , psoralen ( xanthotoxin , bergapten )
2009	tobacco	Nicotiana sp.	annual plant	nicotine
2010	Autumn crocus	Colchicum autumnale	shrub	Colchicine
2011	yew	Taxus baccata	Wood	Taxin
2012	Common laburnum	Laburnum anagyroides	Wood	Cytisine
2013	Cherry laurel	Prunus laurocerasus	Wood	Prunasin
2014	lily of the valley	Convallaria majalis	Herbaceous plant	Convallatoxin , Convallatoxol , Convallosid and Desglucocheirotoxin
2015	delphinium	Delphinium sp.	Buttercups	Diterpenoids , often methyllycaconitine
2016	California poppy seeds	Eschscholzia californica	Poppies	Alkaloids
2017	crying heart	Lamprocapnos spectabilis	Poppies	Isoquinoline - alkaloids , especially protopine , sanguinarine , chelerythrine and Cularin
2018	wondertree	Ricinus communis	Spurge family	Ricin
2019	Arum	Arum sp.	Arum family	Oxalate , saponin , coniin
2020	Black deadly nightshade	Atropa belladonna	Nightshade family	Hyoscyamine , scopolamine

See also

• List of poisonous plants

Web links

• Homepage of the Botanical Special Garden