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Flowering Plants That Are Potentially Poisonous to Desert Animals

Potentially toxic flowering plants are common in the desert, as are a number of desert animals. Flowering plants potentially poisonous to desert animals, however, is a much narrower field. A handful of flowering plants native to North America and the desert of the American southwest are potentially dangerous to desert animals. From massive flowers with lethal hallucinogenic properties to flowering weeds strong enough to kill horses, these plants are potentially harmful to both wild and domesticated animals of the desert.
  1. Datura Wrightii

    • Alternately known as sacred thorn apple, jimsonweed, angel's trumpet and scared datura, Datura wrightii is a flowering desert plant that is toxic across the board, potent enough to kill most animals. Used ceremonially as a hallucinogenic by various Native American tribes, sacred datura is a tall and thick-stalked plant with a round, broad, trumpet-like white flower. Datura wrightii is an annual white herb in the potato family that blooms each year between May and November.

    Apocynum Cannabinum

    • Apocynum cannabinum is colloquially known as dogbane because it is poisonous to dogs. This flowering desert plant is also known as Indian hemp, wild cotton and General Marion's Weed, and is toxic to desert canines like coyotes and foxes. The desert perennial grows up to 3 feet tall, with a thin reddish stalk and small cup-shaped white flowers. Native to large portions of North America, the plant was used by Native Americans indigenous to the Southwest to create ropes and cords prior to the cultivation of cotton.

    Halogeton Glomeratus

    • Halogeton glomeratus is a flowering milk weed native to the American desert that is toxic to both domestic and wild animals. The desert annual is poisonous to grazing and herd animals and potentially lethal to feral beasts like sheep, goats and horses, as well as livestock such as cattle. Halogeton glomeratus flowers in multiple dense clusters from June through September. The plant grows throughout Colorado, Nevada, southern Idaho, the northern Sierra Nevada, Mojave Desert and the Great Basin, which encompasses parts of Nevada, Utah, California and Arizona.