Are azaleas poisonous? The latest answer is here
Are azaleas poisonous? Azalea, also known as yingshanhong and shan shiliu, is an evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub. Azaleas are very beautiful, and many people like to place them indoors to purify the air; they have the effects of promoting qi and blood circulation, tonifying deficiency, and treating internal injury cough, kidney deficiency deafness, irregular menstruation, rheumatism and so on. Below, the editor will introduce to you whether azaleas are actually poisonous!
Azaleas are indeed somewhat toxic. The plants and flowers of yellow azaleas both contain toxins, and ingestion by mistake can cause poisoning; the flowers of white azaleas contain tetracyclic diterpenoid toxins, and poisoning causes vomiting, difficulty breathing, numbness of the limbs and so on. Poisoned people will show nausea, pain, drooling, vomiting, tearing, numbness, slowed heartbeat, low blood pressure, diarrhea, epilepsy, coma, and may die.
Toxic azalea species include sheep azalea, large white-flowered azalea, and niupicha, among others. The main symptoms of poisoning in humans who eat them by mistake are nausea, vomiting, decreased blood pressure, and respiratory depression, generally dying from respiratory failure. Although some species have not been found to harm humans or livestock and are not common, they show strong toxicity in toxicity tests. When crude extracts of these plants in water or solvents such as chloroform are injected intraperitoneally into mice, at doses less than 1000mg/kg they can cause severe poisoning or immediate death in the test animals.
Okay, now everyone should be clear about whether azaleas are poisonous. Although azaleas are beautiful and have certain effects, many varieties are toxic, and everyone must pay attention to this.