Super essential Viewing, many thanks. Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:19 1 Giant Hogweed - Heracleum mantegazzianum 03:05 2 Hemlock waterdrop wart - Oenanthe crocata Water Hemlock, Dead Mans Fingers, Dead Tongue 06:01 3 Hemlock- Conium maculatum Poison hemlock 07:20 4 Wolfsbane - Aconitum napellus 09:15 5 Spurge- genus Euphorbia Euphorbia amygdaloides 10:57 6 Foxglove - Digitalis purpurea 15:15 7 Lords and L adies- Arum maculatum 16:52 8 Dogs mercury - Mercurialis perennis 18:21 9 Deadly nightshade - Atropa belladonna 19:34 10 Ragwort - Senecio jacobaea

As someone who has spent a great deal of time interacting with the outdoors I apparently must have survived by blind luck

I liked the way he wore gloves and kept touching his face and even rubbing his nose!

I can confirm the giant Hogweed burns your skin until it blisters like scolding, because I have experienced it when cutting it down, not knowing what it was. It is painful and horrendous and the blisters take ages to heal. Anytime I see this stuff now I notify the landowner or council. Steer well clear off this stuff!

I am 85 now,when were kids we were taught all about these plants. we were 100% country kids and this information was pass on to us all. and our parents insisted we leant to swim. also the dangers of fires . we lived deep in the country side. we gathered all fruits in summer and autumn. learning what mushrooms were safe to eat. those were the days we walked every where.

Another thing to add the my list of "Why is this not taught to everyone in school." Alongside law and politics.

When I was about ten years of age I discovered that the giant hogweed stem was hollow and that it fitted a hawthorn berry in perfectly . Just like a pee shooter . Me and my friends were like botoxed women within about twenty minutes . Lips swollen and and burning after using the stem as a pee shooter . Non of us died , but all of us looked like Jordan for a day .

Sometimes I wonder why this kind of thing was never taught at school, and likely still isn't. As a kid, I used to play in all sorts of water (canals, brooks, rivers, etc.), but I never knew about poisonous plants. Glad I survived to watch your video! I'll be doing a lot more walking/climbing outdoors, hence why I subscribed. You have some great content and really good advice. Thanks so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge.

I actually grown fox glove. I've seen white with purple on the inside, pink, light purple, light pink and yellow. They are beautiful flowers and mine gotten massive, bigger than what you would see in the wild. I grown it because I knew it was a good flower for bees. I had plenty of bees in my garden and it brought me joy watching them buzz around happily.

This should be made absolutely essential viewing in all schools across the country.

Well worth watching, should be seen by children in towns and cities as well as the countryside.

I never thought the UK had so many poisonous plants. I'm a person that loves plants and I have the tendency to pick up wild flowers, I find them beautiful. Now, that I've seen your video I'll be more careful. Thank you for your information.

Extremely useful. In fact, if you think about the number of kids and families wandering through the countryside daily who are oblivious to this, it's surprising there aren't more cases of poisoning than we actually get.

Very good video. Important to put into perspective. I've been a gardener since I was around 8. Mum taught me about poisonous plants such as Foxglove,Daffodils and parts of Rhubarb and Potatoes. As well as edible flowers such as Nasturtium and some Fuchsia berries. They all have their place in my garden. The biggest and most important lesson she taught me was, if in doubt do not touch without gloves and NEVER eat it. 60 years later I'm still digging.

One of my cherished memories of my late father was his knowledge of our native plants and which to avoid when foraging. He taught me from a very young age as we often went picking for wild fruits in the countryside. The golden advice was that if you weren't sure about it, or what was intertwined with it, then leave it alone. Excellent video!

As a Scout leader I think this is one of the best, informative and useful videos that Scouts should see before summer camp. Hogweed and nightshade are names I've heard of but seeing them in videos reinforces learning... Actually I think all your videos are very good and again they have "legs" to expand Scout stuff. Appreciate all your hard work and maybe good to catch up and shake your hand one day. Cheers Nick Mango🔥 Ps just watched the Afhan reflections.... very, very touching.

Wow, I’m a keen gardener but every day is a school day….really enjoyed this video….

We have a very comparable vegetation here in Bavaria, Germany, so thank you. I grew up around masses of nightshade along the river Danube and my father had such an eye on me because those cherrie like berries were so inviting that as a kid, I always thought: just one and I still remember how intensely I got blamed for hiding one behind my back. What nerves I must have cost my father... Also the others are very common for me but I didn't actively recognize the first giant and wouldn't have recognized Schierling (Sokrates fate) as easy, especially had no clue how leathel it is alone through such little contact. So I am very grateful for you, since I plan to be more around forest and creeks now again, since my dog is finally healed after all those weeks. Thank you for your always so valuable information, very detailed lessons and super helpful. I appreciate this very much and my father may sight in his grave that his stubborn donkey head daughter finally got some brains ;-) and senses and learned to listen to good advice. (The mother thing may have caused the change in the end, especially since I had to deal with my own clone... Gosh...).

I am surprised Bluebells didn't make the list. When young they resemble multiple edible plants like wild garlic. But the bulbs are pretty nasty and are fairly common in woodlands around the UK.

As last comment , I spent my entire childhood ; and , now , a huge chunk of my mature life surrounded by these plants , amidst / and in the thick of them . Apart from the Giant Hogweed , which I was taught to recognize as it grew around the village I grew up in (thanks to the Rothschild's) , I've always treated hemlocks as various types of Cow Parsley . As children we made blowpipes , pan pipes , flute-ee type instruments , the dried stems I have very often used as fire starters as light , dry and hollow . This wasn't just me , it was all of us , all the kids in my village LIVED in the surrounding countryside , pretty much unsupervised week in week out . I absolutely don't doubt any of the info you're putting forward here ~ BUT.... the chance of myself , or one of 100+ children not being accidentally poisoned seems EXTREMELY unlikely - through chatting with Stuart Coyne , (you'll like him if he's not already known to you) , I became aware what Burdock looks like , realized I'm still surrounded by it , and have proper casually interacted / cleared even it on many many occasions . Why did none of us EVER get accidentally poisoned as children..!!? Odds on , at least one child a year should've been poisoned - we didn't know to differentiate between the "Cow Parsleys" , they were just bigger or smaller , slightly different flowers etc. This has baffled me this morning ~ all the best to you good people , Adam .

I touched a plant in my garden the other day that left blisters in my arm and kept itching for 2 full days, extremely painful and annoying. Now looking to find out what plant was that, thanks to your video, I know! It was that evil Hogweed you showed first...and we have loads, which will be all cut properly now! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us, extremely helpful and important!!!

Great info. A lot of these things (esp Ragwort) are great for wildlife (Cinnabar caterpillars) so it's really about being wise to them rather than bludgeoning it to death. Having said that, i am certainly not keen on Giant Hogweed. Ty :)

Mate, this is brilliant. I've just started out as a self-employed gardener and had no idea we had so many asshole plants! Good to know. Cheers o/

We have been letting ragwort grow in our garden to attract cinnabar moths as the larvae mostly eat ragwort. They actually often die of starvation as they tend to eat all the ragwort before reaching maturity. I explained to my daughter about this plant growing in our garden and about the moths and of course, to stay away from it as its very toxic. Just last week we see the moths flying about. She was so happy to see them and told all her friends about them. They all know what it looks like now and to stay away, but enjoy the creatures that live on it.

i got giant hogweed sap on my face when i was working as a landscaper, we were strimming the grass verges along a motorway and i got some sprayed in my face.. i didnt think anything of it to start with, but it soon started to get nippy.. i walked back to the van and washed off the mulch/paste and when i looked in the mirror i had big blisters around where my glasses had been. still got the scars 10 years later, extremely happy i was wearing ppe or i would be blind.

A fun fact about Belladonna: We still use atropine (and derivatives thereof) in a medical context today. Atropine is used to dilate pupils when examining eyes, and ipratropium (a derivative) is used in the treatment of astma and COPD.

For Agatha Christie fans - any time a character mentions ‘eyedrops’ you know that’s going to be the murder weapon. Old Agatha was very keen on her atropine (ooh, poetry!)

As many have mentioned before in comments, this sort of video needs to be shown around classrooms along with basic first aid skills! Thankfully I grew up in the countryside and had keen gardening parents who taught about most of what’s shown here, I in turn have shown my kids! Just found this channel and have now subscribed!👍👍

Great video, thanks. Very clear. Unfortunately you've made a common error with plant no.9. The plant you showed is Woody Nightshade, or Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara) which is often mistaken for Deadly Nightshade. Woody Nightshade is very common in hedgerows and elsewhere in the UK, while Deadly Nightshade is actually quite rare. The berries of Woody Nightshade, which are initially green, then yellow and finally red, are toxic however, but nothing like as toxic as the shiny black berries of Deadly Nightshade.

This should be taught in school. Excellent video.

Really important information and your the first person I know of that's dedicated a video to the subject, 👍

A masterpiece video and much needed. These are potent plants that don't usually give second chances. Thank you for taking the time to do it.

I live in central Otago NZ, and sadly have a number of these plants here too. Hemlock, Deadly Nightshade, Ragwort, Fox gloves and Arum, to name a few! I only knew about these because my elder sister was a passionate gardener who knew the latin names of everything, whilst I struggled to know the common name! She showed me what to avoid, but no effort was made here to educate the general populace. Mind you, I am talking about 65 odd years ago! Thanks for your clear and well described warnings. Cheers, Diane.

Thank you for this.. I’m only just getting in to foraging and edible so this was a shock. Very informative cheers. I really wonder what 52 people who disliked the video had to be disappointed over. Baffles me!

This is the sort of thing that should be taught in schools along with first aid and numerous beneficial topics.

Thanks Nick, another great informative video for all who venture in to the great outdoors 👍 awesome 👍

"Euphorbia, next to me here. Now, there are a number of different types." Chilled, Ibiza...

I’ve had the hogweed treatment, clearing it from a river bank not knowing what it was tearing it down with my bare hands, I remember wiping my hands on my T shirt, it was a miracle I never rubbed my face or itched my eyes. Next thing my whole mid section was burning and blistering, it lasted about 6 weeks and was burning agony, especially at night trying to sleep. Thanks for making this video 👍🏻

Thankyou. 👍 A neibours kid took some hemlock flours to her dad. I have shared your vid on my facebook. Thankyou. 👍👍

I lost a rabbit to a poisonous plat last year. It isn't just people but family pets who get killed. People don't realise that rabbits learn what they can eat from older rabbits, it isn't an instinct and apart from grass most things bad for us poison them. Great video.

So impressed with this documentary. I’ve lived in the country side for much of my life and have been aware of most of these plants from my childhood, however I don’t remember who taught me. My neighbours grandchildren are town bred but spend time here loving the forest. I immediately shared your video with her to show the children. So important, especially as my cousins son died at the age of 17 from monkshood poisoning in a mistaken attempt to “see what making a brew from the leaves” would do. So thank you for the knowledge you are passing on.

That’s it! In future, I will obtain leaves and berries from the wilds of Asda (and hope for the best!)

Excellent video. I knew a couple of these plants but was interested in finding out more. Sadly I've only just found your channel and am now working my way through the other videos. Brilliant stuff!

What a great informative video, really opened my eyes to things I never knew were there in our countryside! Thanks for sharing your knowledge :)

I just subscribed. I'm in the Southern US 🇺🇸. I'm not familiar with what's here yet. just recently moved from a northern state... where I've seen several of the plants on your video. I had no idea some of them were so deadly. I'll definitely be paying closer attention and researching my local flora. looking forward to more of your videos also. and I love EVERYTHING UK 🇬🇧 💞

Another great informative video. One I’ll have to watch another dozen times for it to sink in 👍

I had a nasty brush with giant hogweed. Reaching round a bush while wearing a sleeveless top, I hadn’t noticed a hogweed growing next to it - the damn thing brushed my underarm area. It took around 10 weeks to heal because, of course, every time I moved my arm, the blisters were aggravated some more :(

Not entirely sure how I stumbled upon this video, but I am very glad I did. Was fascinated by the array of poisonous plants, and working in cardiology I realise where "digoxin" comes from now! Love your presentation by the way, relaxed and very nice manner.

Very useful. Didn't know there are two types of hemlock. Knew about the one with purple markings, but not about the 'celery stalks and parsley leaves' variety. Very good way to remember it. Thanks again.

Many thanks for this. I had heard some of these names before but wouldn't have recognised them and didn't realise they are so common. I enjoy the outdoors and sometimes like to pick, scrunch and sniff random leaves and flowers. I now realise I have been quite lucky👍

Love your videos! I'll be booking a course or 2 next year with you, aswell as referring Vets to you. Nature is a massive cure for a lot of illness both physical and especially mental. Keep up the great work.

Socrates was not a playwrite. He is one of the most influential philosophers of all time....

I'm originally from a town in the North East of England and when I was around 5ish, a bunch of kids from our street decided to pick and eat the "pea pods" from the trees at the bottom of our garden, that evening we all found ourselves in A&E having our stomachs pumped, the offending tree - Laburnum....

Really good and informative video Nick, keep up the good work :)

thanks for this video!! very important

Very informative video. As someone who works outdoors and who only knew about giant hog weed this video was an eye opener. You’ve earned my Subscription.

Wow, this stuff is awesome. So informative. Never thought we had so many killer plants next to us. Subscribed.

The plant you identified as deadly nightshade looks more like woody nightshade to me.

Absolutely love this, think it highlights very well what to look out for, very clear and educational

This video has blown. My mind , potentially life saving , thank you for your efforts mate 👍

My brother was injured by Giant Hogweed while clearing weeds from an allotment. He got the sap on his arms and lower legs while working on a bright sunny day. Within a couple of hours he looked like he'd been whipped with hot wires - skin blistered and swollen in streaks. He was in a lot of pain, barely able to walk or move his arms for a couple of days. It took two weeks to scab and heal, and he had very visible scars for six months. He still has a few faint scars more than ten years later. Don't mess with this stuff.

Thank you for this video, I'm from Australia but living in the UK now, so this was super helpful as I'm not familiar with the plants here (yet)!

In the Netherlands foxglove it is very common across the country. We call it "vingerhoedskruid". Different color flowers ranging from pink to purple, white, yellow, reddish. It is considered a a beautiful ornamental garden flower. Many people also have them in their gardens in cities and towns. Especially the leaves and flowers are poisonous and most toxic when the flowers bloom. Cases of poisoning people don't occur often. One leaf or flower is enough to cause toxicity causing symptoms of nausea and vomiting. Main effect is bradycardia, or slowing of the heart beating. Substance is digitalis which is used commonly today to treat a certain common heart disease. Sporadic accidents happen where people accidententally pluck a leaf for a salad and mistake it for a non toxic leaf of another plant.

Excellent and very accurate information great video thanks. I hope all woodland adventurers watch this

Fantastic video, truly educational and as an avid outdoors guy, this is certainly something children should be educated on. Very grateful for the video look forward to more.

Alarmingly informative! - made me think hard about our daily walks though, thanks.

Second Video and again good engagement and informative. Thankyou for the time and explaining all these plants we see when out and about. The triffid reference was funny, as scary as Jaws music when swimming in the sea.

Very informative, good work and real examples!

Brilliant advice, thanks so much

To answer your question - I have four variant colours of foxglove in my garden here on The Isle of Wight - dark purple, light purple, white with purple throat specks and true white with faint beige throat specks. I love them and let them spread and don't touch or eat them!

Such an informative video. Really interesting. Learnt a lot. Thank you.

Brilliant video. Thank you SO much HVB.

Just for clarification, the species of plant at 18:36 IS NOT deadly nightshade (atropa belladonna), this is "bitterweet nightshade" (Solanum dulcamara). Both plants are poisonous but contain very different toxic alkaloids. Atropa belladonna contains the tropane alkaloid "Atropine" which has similar effects to that of "Scopolamine" found in all species in the datura genus. Solanum dulcamara contains toxic alkaloids named Solanine, Solasodine and Beta-Solamarine all found in different parts of the plant. The deliriant effects of atropine (found in atropa belladonna) are very unlike that of Solanum dulcamara's cocktail of compounds which cause extremely slowed down breathing and depress the central nervous system. Atropine found in atropa belladonna does the opposite and actually boosts heart rate. Both varieties are extremely toxic but if you're one of the idiots who try to "trip" on tropane alkaloids then eating the berries of solanum dulcamara is not going to have that deliriant effect and will be extraordinarily more uncomfortable and probably kill you. Also the berries of solanum dulcamara are bright red or green and definitely not black.

Didn’t expect so many deadly plants in the uk, thanks for telling us about them 🤔

Fantastic video, super informative. Thanks so much for sharing. This is the sort of information that can save lives. I knew some of these but not all. Excellent work as always. Your knowledge is really impressive. Keep up the great work 👍

Thank you for sharing this , very helpful 🌟

Now THIS is what our children should be learning in schools instead of the garbage being pushed on them today. EXCELLENT video, thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

Always annoys me when people say natural is harmless, but then I grew up with a mother knowledgeable about wild plants. Even so, I wasn't prepared to find myself in hospital with my toddler son who had been helping me plant seeds, and then asked for more "to eat". I phoned the doc as a precaution but as the seeds turned out to be corncockle, eradicated from the farmer's fields because of the toxic seeds, it wasn't long before Junior was in A and E vomiting to clear his stomach. The nurses asked if he had had laburnum seeds as it was coming up to "that time of year". Another one for the list.

Another great video, very educational, binge watching all your videos 🙏🙏🙏

Best days of my childhood were spent with Ragwort. Loved pulling it in the fields.

I live in Virginia, USA. I was just talking to my best friend yesterday about Giant Hogweed he had been burned with and I have seen foxglove also but did not know of its potential bad side. Thank you very much

I recognise a few of the plants mentioned. Definitely the hogweed, foxglove and cuckoo pint. I've taken this list of plants and plan to go searching for them to make myself familiar with them. Many thanks for the information

Most instructive. Thank you.

Incredibly informative and useful info! Thanks very much. You are truly an expert!

Another excellent video, keep them coming. I was digging out the wild section of our garden a couple of years ago and found some lords and ladies roots - quite chunky with the appearance of ginger root. Not knowing what it was at the time (I only knew the above ground bit) I thought it could be a source of starch so I tried a bit. The burning started pretty blinking quick so I washed out my mouth for a few minutes with changes of water. It lead me to decide that on my gravestone I'd like it to read. "I WISH I'D LOOKED IT UP BEFORE I ATE IT"

Nice presentation Nick, hope you and your family are doing well, hopefully this covid thing will slow down enough for us to get back to the outdoors with the kids, Take care mate. Nige.

Thank you so much Nick. Fascinating video. My grandchildren are very young and their parents are very keen to get them outdoors and explore the garden (new house with massive mature garden) and into the woods etc. The information you have shared here is amazing, if not quite a bit frightening. Thank you again for posting.

Brilliant!! I'm a very keen rambler and love our flora and fauna, it's amazing how many plants I see every day out and about are pretty dangerous. Top work and you've found yourself a new subscriber!

Poison hemlock has become a hugely invasive problem in the states, we found it growing next to a playground a few weeks ago!

PRICELESS.... GREAT INFORMATIVE VIDEO NICK LEARNED SOME MORE IMPORTANT INFORMATION THANK YOU HAVE A BLESSED DAY TO YOU & YOUR FAMILY 🙏🙏🙏

Excellent video. Very informative.....Many thanks.

I just started a gardening job, this was really useful, great vid!

Here's me thinking the most dangerous plant in the UK was nettles!

These are great tips as I remember touching some deadly nightshade as a kid. My dad first spotted what I'd done and both parents quickly kept my hands away from my mouth and managed to find an outdoor tap where they washed my hands thoroughly. Who knows what as a kid I might have done otherwise. Everyone should learn these skills.

Brilliant video, really worth while watching

Such a valuable source of information, thank you ❤

Big thanks! Just dug up what looked like Hemlock from the wild flowers in the front where the kids play! I'd assumed it was a big cow parsley, but had the stem had purple splodges and was smoother.

Commenting for the algorithm - everyone should see this. Great job 👏

Great informative video. Was lucky enough to have been taught these by my late Mum who was full of botanical information, which i pass on today when needs must along with having few of her books. Great presentation of indentifying features Thanks😊

Great vid glad i found this channel!