Handle lily of the valley with care

CONVALLARIA majalis, or more commonly called Lily of the Valley, a valued plant in many gardens, is just one of a large variety of plants found in most cottage gardens that is toxic. The toxic elements are cardiac glycosides, convallarin and convallatoxin.

All parts of the Lily of the Valley are highly poisonous, and all contain cardiac glycosides and saponins, although the plant has been used as a folk remedy in small amounts. If the plant is touched or handled, hands should be washed thoroughly before doing anything else. Symptoms of poisoning from this plant are ataxia, vomiting, cardiac arrhythmias and finally death.

A woodland plant, it is native throughout the cooler northern hemisphere, in Asia and Europe, and there is a species in Eastern USA.

The plant is a herbaceous perennial, that spreads through underground rhizomes that send out stolons. These produce numerous stems each spring. The flowers are white, bell-shaped and sweetly scented. Sometimes the flowers can be a very pale pink. The plants produce orange-red seed pods but do not produce seeds if there is only one plant (or many plants coming from the same rhizome).

If you have, or intend to purchase a new puppy and need to prepare a safe, fenced area for the puppy to play in, this is one of the plants that you would dispose of - either transplant to an area of the yard that the puppy will not have access to, or give the plant to someone without puppies or toddlers.