Native Plants

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Monday - December 01, 2008

From: Fort Worth, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Poisonous Plants
Title: Is scarlet buckeye (Aesculus pavia) poisonous?
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Is a scarlet buckeye poisonous? Anna

ANSWER:

Yes, Aesculus pavia (red buckeye), is highly toxic. Eating the seeds or drinking tea made from leaves or sprouts can cause severe illness or even death. Cattle in a pasture with a red buckeye tree often eat the seeds and become ill or even die. The principal poison in them, aesculin, causes muscle weakness, paralysis, vomiting, diarrhea and, eventually, coma and death. You can read more about its toxicity in the Texas Toxic Plant Database and in the Poisonous Plants of North Carolina database. You can learn more about poisonous plants in Texas in C. R. Hart's Toxic Plants of Texas.

Aesculus pavia

Bibliography

Toxic Plants of Texas: Integrated Management Strategies to Prevent Livestock Losses (2004) Hart, C. R.

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