A Partial List of Inedible or Poisonous Flowers!

A Partial List of Inedible or Poisonous Flowers

Azalea                              Azalea spp. (Rhododendron spp.)

Boxwood                         Buxus spp.

Burning Bush                    Euonymus spp.

Caladium                          Caladium spp.

Clematis                           Clematis spp.

Daffodil                            Narcissus spp.

Delphinium (Larkspur)      Delphinium spp.

Elephant Ears                   Colocasia antiquorum

Four O'Clock                   Mirabilis jalapa

Foxglove                          Digitalis purpurea

Hyacinth                           Hyacinthus orientalis 

Hydrangea                        Hydrangea spp.

Iris                                    Iris spp.

Ivy (English Ivy)                Hedera helix

Jack-in-the-Pulpit              Arisaemia triphyllum

Lantana                            Lantana camara

Lily of the Valley               Convallaria majalis

Lobelia                             Lobelia spp.

Morning Glory                  Ipomoea violacea

Mountain Laurel               Kalmia latifolia

Periwinkle                        Vinca spp.

Privet                               Ligustrum spp.

Rhododendron                 Rhododendron spp.

Sweet Pea                        Lathyrus spp.

Wisteria                            Wisteria spp.

Source:  "Edible Flowers:  From Garden to Palate" by Cathy Wilkinson Barash 

My buddy, Kathleen Gips at The Village Herb Shop asked about petunias.  I remember in our garden when I was growing up, the rabbits loved our petunias.  I thought they might be an edible flower and the link I gave you for inedible flowers has an edibles list and petunia is on it.  I wanted to dig a bit deeper.  When I did talks on edible flowers,  I found a photocopy of a February 1990 article in Organic Gardening magazine by Rosalind Creasy.  She is one of my go to authors about edible flowers.  I'm going to add these following flowers to my list because she says to avoid them because no reliable documentation for their safety has been found:


Impatiens                         Impatiens spp.
Mullein                            Verbascum spp.
Petunias                           Petunias spp.
Primrose                          Primula spp.
Snapdragons                    Antirrhinum spp.

I greatly respect Rosalind Creasy and think that it is better to lean on the side of avoidance than to have a bad reaction because you aren't sure and decide to experiment!

I have given you a lot of the more common plants and flowers in this list.  Here is an additional source list from Home Cooking at about.com called Non-Edible Poisonous Flowers Chart.  Oh, look, black locust is still on the list.  You now know that black locust has some toxic parts, but the flowers are edible.  So do your own research and just make sure that you are eating an edible flower!  I have placed this in my pages under the banner photo so you will always have access to it and I will make sure to put your additions on the page when necessary.

The warm weather is coming to an end here.  We didn't get the major thunder storms we were supposed to get, but the temperature is dropping.  We made it to a high of 66!  Just crazy.  We're back to normal tomorrow, snow and cold.  It is January!  Hope you are having a great day.  Talk to you later.