The Menashe Medicinal Plant Garden
These species show how the same plant compounds can serve as medicine or become toxic, depending on the dosage.
The Menashe Medicinal Plant Garden
Explore a collection of plants used to produce a wide range of medicines and natural toxins. The Nissim and Julia Menashe Medicinal Plant Garden showcases species that serve as both healing agents and poisonous plants.
In this garden, you will find plants used in traditional herbal medicine alongside those from which modern pharmaceuticals are derived. Growing alongside them are plants containing substances that can adversely affect human health. Generally, toxicity occurs only after the ingestion of significant quantities or excessive physical contact. In many cases, the distinction is a matter of dosage: substances that act as medicine in small amounts can become potent toxins at higher concentrations.
These active compounds may be found throughout the plant or localized in specific organs, and their concentration varies based on the plant’s stage of development and environmental growing conditions.
The concept of "medicinal and poisonous plants" is therefore incredibly broad. Toxins can cause a variety of reactions: internal poisoning (primarily through ingestion), allergies (caused by pollen or other plant parts), and dermatitis (resulting from direct contact or heightened sensitivity).
Most medicinal and poisonous plants belong to a select few families, including Apocynaceae (Dogbane family), Euhorbiaceae (Spurge family), Asclepiadoideae (Milkweed subfamily), and Solanaceae (Nightshade family). Others are found within the Fabaceae (Legume family), Lamiaceae (Mint family), and various other groups. These species include both local wild flora and imported ornamental plants.
