Tokyo Food Safety Information Center » Good things to know » Poisonous plants easily mistaken for harmless ones » Introduction
Introduction
Some plants are edible and some are used for medicine. On the other hand, many plants contain poisonous substances. Eating some poisonous plants with strong toxicity by mistake can be life-threatening. In Japan, there are said to be about 200 varieties of well-known poisonous plants. (this website does not cover toxic mushrooms and seaweeds)
Every year, food poisoning caused by poisonous plants occurs in all around the country, and most of those incidents are caused by accidental ingestion due to lack of knowledge about poisonous plants. As there is no method for easily distinguishing poisonous plants, it is important to be certain to learn their respective characteristics. Moreover, be careful not to eat wild plants about which you lack specific knowledge without careful consideration. ?
This section will look at poisonous plants and well-known poisonous plants which have caused food poisoning incidents in the past and explain their poisonous parts and poisonous substances. We hope that the information provided here can be of some help to prevent incidents due to lack of knowledge about poisonous plants and accidental ingestion.