All parts of taxus are poisonous except the bright red currant fruit, which occurs only on female specimens. The most frequent planted species in Belgium is the Taxus baccata or venison tree. Avoid taxus planting in an area where young children play or in places that are accessible to cattle.
Symptoms
By people
One to two hours after ingestion of needles or seeds, the following symptoms occur: vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, dizziness, hallucinations, pupil dilation. Following severe intoxication, convulsions, an irregular pulse rate (first fast, later slow), cardiac arrhythmia, a sharp drop in blood pressure and sudden death by heart and respiratory arrest are followed.
By children
Young children sometimes put the brightly colored berries in their mouths. Usually they do not chew on the pit or spit out the pit because of the bitter taste. Such cases usually occur without symptoms.
By animals
Animals are also affected by the poison of the taxus. There are poisons described in horses, donkeys, cattle, sheep, pigs, rabbits, poultry, dogs and cats. Animals are especially exposed at the time when taxis are cut or weathered. An acute poisoning usually occurs as a sudden death without previous illnesses. Especially horses are sensitive to this. They may fall dead five minutes after the intake of taxus needles. The lethal dose for a horse is estimated at 0.5 to 2 grams of needles per kg of body weight.
Sometimes an intoxication initially manifests less seriously with symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, tremor, excitement, fallen nose and slow heartbeat, but ultimately leads to loss of consciousness and death.