- All parts of the plant are poisonous
- What symptoms of poisoning could occur?
- Poisoning by pipe vines rarely occurs
Like many climbing plants, the pipe bindweed (Aristolochia macrophylla) is poisonous. Nevertheless, the plant does not pose a major threat to children or adults. The flowers give off an unpleasant smell of carrion or feces. They hardly invite you to eat them.
Pipevine is poisonous, but cases of poisoning are very rare
All parts of the plant are poisonous
All parts of the pipevine plant contain toxins:
- root
- leaves
- blossoms
- seed
- fruit
The toxins found primarily in the roots, flowers and seeds are aristolochic acids. They were formerly used for the production of mainly Chinese medicines such as slimming drugs and women's gold. Its use is now banned due to its toxicity.
What symptoms of poisoning could occur?
Pipevine poisoning would manifest itself as nausea, vomiting, stomach and intestinal problems, low blood pressure and an accelerated heart rate.
Poisoning by pipe vines rarely occurs
The fact that poisoning from pipe bindweed almost never occurs is because the leaves contain few toxins. Even if a child puts a leaf in their mouth, they are not particularly at risk of poisoning themselves.
The flowers are considered smelly by many gardeners, so they are not necessarily edible.
When cared for as a climbing plant, the pipe bindweed does not flower as often. Seeds, which contain the largest proportion of the poison, hardly develop in our latitudes and therefore no fruits either, so that there is no risk of poisoning here either.
tips
The hardy pipe vines are very hardy and are rarely visited by pests. An exception are the caterpillars from the family of knight butterflies. They have developed immunity to aristolochic acid and become poisonous from ingestion of the plant itself.