WHY ARE PLANTS POISONOUS?
The substances responsible for poisonings or toxic reactions originate from many different pathways within plants. However, most poisonous principles are considered to be secondary metabolites or by-products from the essential functions of the plant. These are compounds that arent considered fundamental to the life of the plant. Although there are many theories as to why plants produce these nonessential compounds, one of the key theories maintains that plants have evolved to produce these compounds in order to deter animals from grazing on them and to keep insects from eating them. Plants can differ by degree of toxicity and many references classify plants as extremely, moderately, or minimally toxic. However, it is difficult to categorize plants with regard to their toxicity since this varies with the age of the victim (directly related to body weight) as well as other factors that influence levels of toxic principles in plants such as environment and stage of plant growth. For examp
