Adenium sap contains many toxins. One of them is a class of chemicals called cardiac glycosides; these paralyze heart muscle. They must get into the blood stream to be effective. The Khoisan and other peoples of southern Africa use adenium sap as an arrow poison and to kill fish (which game is nonetheless then safe to eat).
Poisoning by eating is extremely unlikely because the sap tastes horrible. After a day of grafting or pruning, I scrub my hands three times with pumice soap (Lava), and I still can't eat a sandwich because my fingers still taste bitter. I have worked with adeniums when I had cuts on my hands, and experienced no symptoms, so it isn't a big worry. But be aware that infants have no sense of taste; that's why they will eat anything within reach. (Mothers: when do babies start spitting out foods they don't like?)
My friends with adenium collections have cats and dogs, and there has never been a problem.
Apparently not all adeniums are toxic. In some parts of Africa animals, including exotic cattle, will feed on some adeniums but not others. In other places not even goats will eat them.
Mark A. Dimmit
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1 comment:
Hi there,
I thought I'd comment on adenium toxicity on pets, since our cat tried some this morning:
So, my wife was working on the balcony and a few adenium leaves fell on the floor. Our curious cat came and licked sap off one of the leaves. He immediately started to froth at the mouth and stick his tongue in and out looking unconfortable. We panicked, read about rabies on the Internet, dismissed the advise and just cleaned his mouth (careful, the cat will slobber everywhere). After about 10 minutes he stopped slobbering, then pretty much resumed a normal activity. He's fine.
So I'd second your opinion that there is no problem having cats around adenium, even if they may try to lick it.
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