Lily of the Valley – a Sweetly Scented Woodland Flower That Is Highly Poisonous
Lily of the valley is a wonderfully smelling May flower. It grows mainly in forests, but also on meadows and in gardens. To have them around your house, you need to transplant a few and they actually grow without your extra efforts. Everybody knows its bell-shaped flowers. However, only a few remember that this plant is toxic.
Lily of the valley in the garden
This plant grows almost everywhere. It spreads so fast that sometimes you have to stop the growth, with kerbs for example.
It grows very fast and its flowers look so charming. They smell so sweet in vases on our tables. So many of us use them as a traditional spring decoration.
They are poisonous
Due to its properties the plant is used in perfume production. They are also an ingredient of epilepsy and heart-disease medications.
However, for the rest of us, especially children, the whole plant is poisonous. Eating the flowers can be deadly. Eating even a few of the berries on lily of the valley by a child may kill them. Even the vase water in which lilies were standing could pose serious threat.
It is also toxic for animals
Symptoms of poisoning
The toxins lily includes are harmful for our heart and digestive tract. Problems with breathing, heart malfunctioning, vomiting and diarrhoea are first symptoms of poisoning with lily of the valley. You need to go to hospital immediately, at the same time trying to get rid of the poison by forcing vomiting or using salt-based laxatives (magnesium sulphate or sodium sulphate).
