Eating wild plants or garden greens in Japan: which poisonous plants are easy to confuse?
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Foraging for spring mountain vegetables (sansai), or picking the nira (garlic chives) and fuki (butterbur) growing in the garden: eating familiar wild plants is part of Japanese food culture. But every year there are poisonings from "mistaking daffodil for nira" or "mistaking autumn crocus for wild garlic", and some are fatal. MHLW statistics record several dozen cases of plant-toxin food poisoning a year. Here are the pairs most often confused, and how to prevent an accident for certain.
Pairs that are easy to confuse
| Poisonous plant | Edible plant it is mistaken for | How to tell them apart (but check the actual plant) | Symptoms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daffodil (suisen) (leaves, bulb) | Nira (garlic chives), nobiru (wild rocambole), onion (bulb) | No nira smell (nira smells strongly). Daffodil leaves are thicker and broader; the bulb is smaller than an onion | Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and headache within 30 minutes of eating. The most common plant poisoning in Japan |
| Autumn crocus (inu-safuran, Colchicum) (leaves, bulb) | Gyōja-ninniku (Alpine leek), myōga (Japanese ginger), potato and onion (bulb) | Gyōja-ninniku smells of garlic. Autumn crocus has no smell | Vomiting and diarrhoea from colchicine, leading to multiple organ failure. Several deaths |
| False hellebore (baikeisō, kobaikeisō) (young shoots) | Urui (hosta, ōba-gibōshi), gyōja-ninniku | False hellebore has deeply pleated leaves with parallel veins, wrapping the stem | Nausea, vomiting, low blood pressure, convulsions |
| Aconite (torikabuto) (young leaves) | Nirinsō (anemone), momijigasa, yomogi (mugwort) | Deeply divided leaves. Extremely similar before flowering. Grows mixed in the same spots | Numbness, arrhythmia and breathing difficulty from aconitine. Highly lethal |
| Angel's trumpet (chōsen-asagao, Datura) (root, seeds, leaves) | Burdock (gobō) root, sesame (seeds), okra (buds), moroheiya (jute mallow) | Thicker and shorter than burdock root; different smell | Hallucinations, agitation, dilated pupils, rapid pulse |
| Potato (sprouts, green skin, immature tubers) | — | See our separate article on storing potatoes | Nausea, stomach pain, diarrhoea |
| Pokeweed (yōshu-yamagobō) (root, berries) | Yamagobō (edible, used for pickles), grapes (berries) | Reddish-purple stems; clusters of blackish-purple berries | Vomiting, diarrhoea, convulsions |
| Kuwazu-imo (Alocasia) (tuber) | Taro (satoimo) | Long leaf stalks, no proper tuber | Severe pain and swelling in the mouth |
| Hydrangea (ajisai) (leaves) | Eaten by mistake as a garnish on a dish | — | Vomiting, dizziness |
| Ginkgo nuts (ginnan) (in quantity) | Edible, but children should have no more than 5–6, and adults should avoid 10–20 or more | — | Convulsions (a compound that causes vitamin B6 deficiency) |
Statistics and prevention
- Plant-toxin food poisoning: 20–50 incidents a year, around 50–100 patients, 0 to a few deaths a year (MHLW food-poisoning statistics). The number one plant is daffodil, followed by potato, false hellebore and autumn crocus. Autumn crocus causes few incidents but has a high death rate.
- How accidents happen: ornamental and edible plants side by side in the garden or vegetable plot (daffodil and nira, autumn crocus and onion); species growing mixed together on a foraging trip (aconite and nirinsō); eating wild vegetables you were given without question; children putting berries or leaves in their mouths.
- Principles of prevention: (1) If you cannot identify a plant with certainty, do not pick, eat, sell or give it away. (2) Do not plant ornamental bulbs near vegetables, and do not store bulbs with vegetables. (3) Go foraging with someone experienced and check every single stem. (4) Make checks with your senses, such as "does it smell of nira?", a habit. (5) Do not trust the result of a photo-identification app.
- If you have eaten some: nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, numbness, dizziness, hallucinations. Take the remaining plant, the cooked dish and any vomit and see a doctor at once (the emergency department is fine). Identifying the plant guides the medical care. Japan Poison Information Center hotline (中毒110番): Osaka 072-727-2499 (24 hours), Tsukuba 029-852-9999 (9:00–21:00).
- Children and pets: teach children not to put garden berries or leaves in their mouths, and know which poisonous plants (daffodil, angel's trumpet, oleander, red spider lily) you have planted around the house.
[Verify] Check the number of food-poisoning incidents and the ranking of plants against the latest MHLW year, and the Poison Information Center numbers and hours against the Japan Poison Information Center.
Misunderstanding 1｜The nira growing in my garden is safe
Daffodil leaves mixed in with nira is the most common accident of all. Smell every stem as you pick, and do not eat nira growing near daffodils.
Misunderstanding 2｜Compare with a field guide or an app and you can tell them apart
Before flowering, aconite and nirinsō, or false hellebore and urui, are so alike that even experts need the actual plant. Photo identification is dangerous.
Misunderstanding 3｜Cooking destroys the poison
The toxins in daffodil, autumn crocus and aconite are not broken down by heat. Not eating them is the only countermeasure.
Misunderstanding 4｜I have eaten these wild plants for years, so I will not get it wrong
Experienced foragers have accidents every year. Toxic species grow mixed with edible ones, and the young-shoot stage is when they are hardest to tell apart.
Misunderstanding 5｜I only ate a little, so I will wait and see
Autumn crocus and aconite can be lethal even in small amounts. Nausea or numbness after eating a plant means: take the rest of the plant and see a doctor at once.
---
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), "Risk profiles of natural toxins: higher plants" [自然毒のリスクプロファイル：高等植物]
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/kenkou_iryou/shokuhin/syokuchu/poison/
- Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), "Unknown wild plants: don't pick, don't eat, don't sell, don't give away!" [知らない野草、山菜は採らない、食べない、売らない、人にあげない！]
https://www.maff.go.jp/j/syouan/seisaku/foodpoisoning/naturaltoxin/
- Japan Poison Information Center [公益財団法人日本中毒情報センター], "Poison hotline (Chūdoku 110)" [中毒110番]
https://www.j-poison-ic.jp/
⚠️ Editorial note: the source URLs above were identified by search. Our working environment cannot reach go.jp domains, so the contents have not been checked against the text. Verify every source before publication and record who checked it and when.
About this article
What we share here are ideas and everyday practices passed down among people living in Japan, together with general information drawn from public sources. They are not official recommendations, and they are not professional instruction. Practices vary between households and regions.
This is general information. Results vary from person to person and depend on your own conditions and surroundings.
Please decide for yourself, using your own judgement, whether any of this suits your situation. We cannot accept responsibility for any damage, loss or injury arising from following this article.
Some ingredients need thorough cooking. Eat raw only foods that are sold for raw consumption. If you have allergies, check the ingredients.
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