Is Adenium Sap Dangerous?

When I told Mom about my interest in adenium growing, she was surprised. She considered adeniums harmful. To some extent she was right.

So, is adenium dangerous? Its sap contains a lot of toxic elements. The most dangerous is cardiac glycosides, which is even used as poison in South Africa.

But it can be poisoning to people only if injected directly into the blood stream. And this is unlikely to happen even while cutting and repotting adeniums. I always use rubber gloves to protect my skin. And of course wash hands carefully after working with adeniums.

I’ve got two cats and they also don’t mind living with the adenium. To be sure that my pets won’t get poisoned by adenium and my plant won’t be damaged by them I placed the adenium so that they couldn’t reach it.

Now adenium is one of my Mom’s favorite flowers. Even though she never touches it.