Is dragon tooth flower poisonous?

Agrimony belongs to the genus Erythrina, and most Erythrina plants are poisonous. There is no doubt that Agrimony is also poisonous. The flowers, leaves and stem bark of Agrimony contain toxic alkaloids. Alkaloids mostly act on the nervous system and can cause great harm to the human body. Let’s take a look at what toxins are in Agrimony!

Types of Polygonum multiflorum toxins

Bis-fused piperidine alkaloids

This type of alkaloid is a gangliotoxin with effects similar to nicotine, but less potent than nicotine. Accidental ingestion can cause symptoms such as irritability, nausea, headache or vomiting.

Erythrina alkaloids

This alkaloid is a tetracyclic tertiary amine alkaloid unique to the genus Erythrina. It mainly acts on the motor nervous system and can cause muscle relaxation or spasm.

Saponin

Aralia dasyphylla is rich in triterpenoid saponins, a toxin that can strongly irritate the mucous membranes. In addition, various cyanogenic glycosides will produce harmful hydrocyanic acid when hydrolyzed, leading to symptoms such as dyspnea, failure, convulsions, and even death in severe cases.

Toxic flavonoids and isoflavones

It is mainly distributed in leaves and flowers, and can strongly irritate the human gastrointestinal tract, causing vomiting and severe dehydration.

Prevention and treatment of Aralia dasyphylla poisoning

In daily life, you must be careful not to eat dragon's tooth flowers. If you accidentally eat them, you need to seek medical attention immediately and keep the dragon's tooth flowers well for doctor's diagnosis and treatment. Patients can use 5% sodium bicarbonate solution for gastric lavage and enema within 4 hours after eating to destroy toxins in the gastrointestinal tract that have not been absorbed. The flowers of the dragon tooth flower are very beautiful and you can appreciate them, but be careful not to "gastrically appreciate them". In fact, as long as you don't pick them and eat them by mistake, their toxicity will not evaporate. So protecting flowers is also protecting ourselves!

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