Hoya bella - poisonous?

I just noticed that Hoya bella description in PlantFiles http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/53934/index.html says it's poisonous! I hope it's a mistake... isn't it?

I don't think so. I often put my tongue to the honey on the blossoms and live to tell about it....

If it were i'd be a dead duck also as i'm just as guilty as Carol about sticking my tongue to the nectar dripping from the flowers of any of my blooming hoyas!!! I was just curious one day as to how it tasted so when a new one opens, if it has nectar drops i always taste it!


So I admitted it. I taste my flowers!!!! Nothing new!! I've always ate daylily flowers and happen to have a recipe stashed away somewhere to make a casserole from them. I have also eaten, pansies,rose petals,nasturtiums and several other types of flowers.


dmichael

I wonder if the green part of the plant may be poisonous but not the flowers? That is sometimes the case. This subject made me think "Wow, wouldn't hoya flowers be gorgeous on a wedding cake!" Or any cake for that matter. They remind me of those little sugar flowers they use at the bakery, only way prettier. Wouldn't that be spectacular if you could get enough different varieties blooming at the same time to do some kind of a sculpture, kinda like the Rose Bowl floats? I just think the hoya flowers are the most fascinating of all of them.

I was always told bella leaves is the only poisonous hoya.vicki

Wow! Tasting the nectar... that gives a new meaning to hoya addiction! But... um... I don't suppose anyone here tried chewing on leaves :)

Vicki, I have read that Hoya australis is poisonous: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/562964
But I couldn't find any info on Hoya bella toxicity. Do you know what amount would be dangerous? And what does it cause?

This message was edited Jun 9, 2007 8:15 PM

Hi figgra I am sorry i dont remember if i was looking around for info because of my parrots I just remember about leaves sap washing hand real well after handling this hoya. that it was poisonous i have never herd that about australis. Im going to look for this info. vicki

OK google hoya bella poisonous there is a coupl places that should help. vicki

I googled :) Actually I googled before starting this thread... The only page I see that says H. bella is poisonous is the same PlantFiles page. And there's another page that says it can cause allergic rash. I also see a page where someone says "Hoya is in a family of plants of which most members are poisonous" http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6560 Hmm, doesn't sound very reliable to me... Can you see anything else?

Well, my parrot has probably munched on all of my hoyas at least once, amoung many other things, and he is fine. He doesn't actually eat things, just tears them up, and since they have no saliva, maybe there is really no "vehicle" to take the so called poisons into their body...not that I am saying it is a good thing to let your bird have a field day chewing on everything in your house, but sometimes bird people make other bird people paranoid. You know how they say chocolate is poison to birds? A friend of mine has had a yellow nape amazon for over 20 years and for most of that time has given the bird oreo cookies at least once a day- that is one of the healthiest, most vigorous, most beautiful amazons on the planet. I also knew a german shepherd years ago who was regularly given chocolate bars as a treat. Now I am not saying I would give my bird chocolate based on this, nor am I encouraging anyone else to! I just think they have these 'danger' list so that people can play it safe, not take chances, a better-safe-than-sorry kind of thing.

I do believe back when my bird had chewed heavily on one of my plants, I checked a "dangerous plant" list and hoyas were not on it.

Please let us know if you find anything out.

I dont know much about birds other than they have wings and can fly!!!! I do recall my grandma always telling us as children though not to eat the berries off of the pyracantha tree because they were poisonous. Made no sense to us because the mockinbird who claimed that tree when in fruit always ate the beries and they never killed him.

So I guess my question is do birds actually have a resistance to plant toxins that might potentially be harmful to humans if ingested??


dmichael

In Austrailia H. australis is known as toxic to livestock...but I reckon they would be eating a lot of them. In some cultures some hoyas are used for medicinal purposes. I think eating the leaves would make one sick....I get rashes on my arms if too much 'milk' gets on them working in the Greenhouse.

BY the way...flowers on the Angel Wing Begonias are edible...and very tasty!!! They are beautiful in spinach salads (contrasting with the dark green leaves) and look beautiful on top of a cheescake or white icing....and taste good too!!!

Well, I 'm a better-safe-than-sorry kind of person... yeah, a.k.a. paranoid :) Some plants on those toxic plant lists are REALLY dangerous - like oleander, castor plant and such. A couple of leaves of oleander can kill a child or a pet. I am pretty sure no kind of hoya is THAT toxic (otherwise we would surely know by now), but still, if it's poisonous, I need to make sure my pets can't reach it.

I don't know about pyracantha, but some fruit are safe for the species that distribute them and harmful for others. For example, yew 'berries' are safe for birds (maybe not all birds!), but poisonous for mammals.

Livestock were eating a lot, yes, but it would probably take much less stuff to harm a dog or a cat, because they are smaller... Did you notice if only australis gave you rashes, or other hoyas with milky sap as well?

I wish I could be of some help here but I'm afraid I'm laughing too much to think straight.

We're ( and I mean all of you, not me! LOL) certainly an odd bunch... licking our hoyas.

With two dogs in my yard and an assortment of wild birds about, I don't touch anything that's "dripping" unless I know I just watered it :)

http://www.simones-hoyas.de/Medizin.html
There is some info on hoya toxicity in the last paragraphs on this page. Unfortunately, I don't know German, and Google translation is very unclear. The info is mainly on Hoya carnosa. As far as I understand, it can be harmful for birds and possibly cause allergic reactions. The same case of livestock poisoning by Hoya australis is mentioned. Nothing on Hoya bella.

In the case of poisoning cattle in Australia, during an autopsy the cattle's stomachs were found to be PACKED full of H. australis, and cattle have a very large stomach capacity. The same dose for a human would be in the neigborhood of consuming a whole medium sized plant. My cats have chewed on many different Hoya leaves, and had no noticeable symptoms. An older report on testing of toxicity of H. australis showed toxic symptoms in guinea pigs and sheep at 1-4% of body weight, with stems alone having a more intense effect than leaves and stems together.
For a 10 lb dog or cat (which weren't tested, but assuming a similar toxicity level) a toxic dose would be in the range of 1.6oz to 6.4oz. That would be quite a few stems and/ or leaves, not just a nibble. If H. australis is toxic to domestic pets or birds, which has not been proven, they would seem to be in danger only if they were actually grazing your plant. There are lots of plants which are harmless in small doses, but poisonous or toxic in very large quantities. Rosemary for instance.

Markroy, thank you so much for sharing this information! I admire your knowledge! I am relieved... more or less, he-he. But I am still curious what the info on H. bella in PlantFiles is based on.

I'm curious too. I don't know who filled out that plant file, but there are a few things that aren't entirely correct. The plant files are a good resource, but don't take everything you read there as an absolute fact.
The only Hoya I have heard of being poisonous is H. australis, which has a well documented history of toxicity if large quantities are consumed. I've never read anything to suggest that H. bella is poisonous in any way. However, if I had a cat, dog, or (especially) bird that liked to devour houseplants I would keep pretty much all plants out of its reach except those meant to be eaten.