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Saturday - August 20, 2011

From: Hanahan, SC
Region: Southeast
Topic: Poisonous Plants, Shrubs
Title: Is Savannah Holly poisonous to burn in Hanahan, SC.?
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

Can you please tell me if the wood from a savannah holly bush is poisonous to burn?

ANSWER:

The questions that we usually get about poisonous plants deal with the ingesting of plant material, so this brings up a new perspective.

Savannah Holly (Ilex attenuata) is a hybrid of Ilex opaca (American holly) and Ilex cassine . A look through a couple of poisonous plant databases( University of Arkansas and the Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System ) indicates that several members of the genus Ilex are toxic but none specifically list Ilex attenuata. The toxic principal ( a glycoside) usually causes nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, and in some cases, it is the berries that contain most of the toxin.

Since the site of the toxic interaction is in the digestive tract, it seems unlikely that the amount of toxin in smoke from burning the wood would have any effect. However, I would err on the side of caution and avoid burning the wood if possible.