While poinsettias have an undeserved reputation for being poisonous, as you’d have to eat a few hundred poinsettia leaves to get sick, an expert says two other traditional holiday plants are potentially toxic.
Janna Day, a nurse and the education and outreach manager at the Iowa Poison Control Center, says mistletoe can be dangerous if consumed by people or pets, and also the red berries in holly should never be eaten.
“They can cause gastrointestinal symptoms and upset,” Day says. “We might see things like nausea, vomiting, cramping, diarrhea if somebody ingests those or if a child ingests those.”
Day says those symptoms can show up quite rapidly and may last for 24 hours or more.
“If that does happen, we do recommend that you just go ahead and call us at the poison center,” Day says, “because then we can evaluate how many berries were potentially swallowed, and help give you some recommendations on what we want you to do next.”
On the subject of berries, mistletoe’s white berries can also be toxic, and while sprigs of the plant are often placed above doorways to promote kissing, Day says the entire plant should be avoided. Keep them out of kids’ reach and away from pets.
“The flower and the leaves, when we’re talking about mistletoe, they tend to be a little bit more toxic than the berry itself, but we do get more calls about the berry,” Day says. “It seems like those are what we have more ingestions of, the berry. Regardless, we still want you to call us if there is any type of ingestion.”
If you have questions or concerns about these and other poisons, call the Sioux City-based Iowa Poison Control Center any day, anytime at 1-800-222-1222.