Plant Metabolism: Poisonous Plants
Plant metabolism involves many types of chemicals and reactions occurring
simultaneously or in sequence. Some of the reactions help others while some
compete or interfere with others. The result of all the normal reactions is life
itself.
A toxic chemical causes a reaction that disrupts other reactions so
significantly that the normal reactions of metabolism cannot continue properly,
and the organism dies. For a list of some of the more common toxic chemicals,
visit the Cornell University "Poisonous Plants" page, then select "The types of
poisons present".
You might be surprised at the number of toxic chemicals present. This web
site is maintained by the Animal Sciences Department at Cornell, so these are
compounds that are present in plants and poisonous to animals: they interfere
with animal metabolism but not the plant's own metabolism.
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