Why Are Some Plants Toxic?
Have you ever been scared enough that the hairs on the back of your neck stand up? Fear comes in many forms, and people experience it in different ways. Terror of “monsters” such as wild cats, wolves, or bears lurking in the dark can stop one from walking in the wild alone. Plants, seemingly innocent, very seldom make the top of anyone’s list of fears.
Plants are generally seen as good, being associated with “going green” and bodily health. These associations can be quite deceiving, since many plants are extremely toxic. Even those that aren’t toxic may mimic or be similar in appearance to other plants that are toxic, increasing the likelihood of making a fatal mistake. This knowledge is powerful, and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Knowing what plants are toxic and how to approach them is very important, and will be one of the topics that we discuss. First, we are going to take a step back and understand exactly why some plants are toxic.
Evolution
According to Darwinism, life since the beginning has been a fierce battle of survival of the fittest. Thanks to malfunctions in genetic duplication and reproduction processes, life has diversified time and again. This has allowed single-cell organisms turn into multi-cell organisms, and multi-cell organisms to diversify even further into kingdoms such as plants, animals, and fungi.
These little mistakes in the genetic duplication process are known as mutations. They are what fuel the ever-changing evolutionary process. While most of these mutations are not beneficial, those that are helpful stick around, since they help their species live longer lives and reproduce. Reproduction is the name of the game for these mutations. If they are able to help their species reproduce, they have accomplished their goal, and ensured that they are passed onto the next generation.
Each kingdom is unique in the way that it plays the game of life — and that’s only the beginning. Every species in each kingdom is wildly different. For the plant kingdom, surviving until reproduction can be a challenge since most plants are immobile. The plants need to go through the energy-taxing experience of seed production all while standing out in the open, hoping predators don’t decide they are a tasty snack.
This is where the handy mutation of toxicity comes into play. Simply put, all plants use DNA to produce proteins that will help perform the functions of life. When plants are consumed, the proteins within the plant are digested. Many plants are perfectly digestible, but due to random happenstance, when DNA was copied for reproduction in certain plants, it copied wrong. When these plants with the new genes sprouted, their DNA coded entirely different proteins, which just so happened to be toxic.
This accident caused these plants to perform better than their contemporaries, allowing them to pass on the new, toxic genetic trait. This is the main reason why a lot of plants are toxic. They develop their toxic traits by accident, and because those traits help them perform better they stick. They pass along the trait to their offspring. It is important to point out that even though some plants are toxic to certain species, that is not always an indicator that they will be toxic to humans.
However, it is very important to know what the common symptoms of plant poisoning are, which we will go over now.