Are Morning Glory Poisonous to Humans?

Who doesn’t fall in love with a flower that delivers something glorious with their multi-colored blossoms. Yeah… We guarantee that you will fall in love with the Morning Glories that will bloom early in the day and close in the afternoon. Not only humans, the Morning Glory flowers are also favored by butterflies, bees and also birds.

Unfortunately, it is reported that the Morning Glories are poisonous that can cause side effects for humans and also animals. So, is it true that the Morning Glory plants are poisonous? And what are the side effects for humans? To know more about it, let’s see the result of our little research through this post below!

Is It True the Morning Glories Poisonous?

That’s actually true that the Morning Glory seeds are poisonous. Fortunately, the flowers of Morning Glory are not, and can be eaten by humans as long as in low doses. Well, the part of the Morning Glories that contains the poison is the seeds, not the flowers and the leaves.

Many people do not realize that the seeds of the beautiful multi-colored flowers contain compounds that are associated with drug effects similar to those of LSD. Furthermore, the Morning Glory seeds contain alkaloids that some people may try to consume for a legal high. The main psychoactive substance in the Morning Glory seeds is ergine, or D-lysergic acid amide (LSA).

According to eBasedPrevention.org, if eating 50 Morning Glory seeds or more, it will be like ingesting marijuana which gives an intoxicating effect. In the case of eating the Morning Glory seeds in large quantities will lead to some health problems that we’ll explain in the next section.

For more information, the Morning Glory seeds have been used since ancient times in ritual ceremonies. It is known that Morning Glories used by Maya in a beverage to facilitate communication with the spirits to understand the incomprehensible events or to predict the future.

Even though eating the Morning Glory flowers will not be directly toxic, but when consumed in significant quantities will lead to hallucinations and diarrhea. For some people, both the Morning Glory seeds and flowers may be abused. In fact, there are some online forums that provide the discussion about extracting the Morning Glory plants for recreational use.

What Are the Effects of Morning Glory Seeds for Humans?

As we’ve mentioned, the Morning Glory seeds contain the LSA that is touted to have a high like that of LSD, but it’s not a controlled substance. In fact, people will get sick by consuming large-enough amounts of the Morning Glory seeds before they can reach the high that they desire. However, the seeds are relatively easy to obtain, as they can be purchased legally from garden supplies, nurseries, and other retail settings.

Sure, the ease of access probably leads the adolescents and teenagers to easily obtain the seeds to LSA experimentation that can be pretty unsafe. In fact, some teenagers in Massachusetts ended up in the emergency room once they tried to get high from LSA in 2016.

Some Morning Glory consumers may often take a lot of seeds and then place them in a coffee grinder. After that, they add them to their food or beverage and consume them. Sure, when people consume the Morning Glory seeds even in significant quantities, they may get some side effects, including:

Hallucinations
Visual distortions
Elevated mood
Sense of deep insight

Those effects are commonly felt within 20 to 40 minutes and reach within 3 to 4 hours. Then, the effect will usually disappear within about 8 hours. The Morning Glory plants do not always deliver the negative effect, but some of the effects may be positive. Unfortunately, a lot of people who abuse the Morning Glory plants will experience uncomfortable and dangerous symptoms as quickly as possible before they begin to feel high.

Here are the other uncomfortable side effects of the Morning Glory plants:

Diarrhea
Cramping in the stomach
Gas
Rapid heart rate
Increased blood pressure
Dilated pupils
Anxiety
Paranoia

Furthermore, the fatalities from LSA abuse are uncommon. If they do happen, it is often the result of self-harm that results from severe agitation.

Toxicity of Morning Glories to Pets

The Morning Glory plants come in more than 1,000 varieties. Behind the beauty of the vibrant colors of flowers, this plant actually contains hallucinogenic alkaloids in its seeds. Even though not all varieties are poisonous, however some probably cause significant symptoms when consumed in large amounts of seeds.

Not only for humans, the Morning Glory seeds are also poisonous for animals, especially your pets. They are toxic to cats, dogs, horses and also other pets. If your pets ingest the Morning Glory seeds, the clinical signs of incoordination and agitation will be immediately seen including tremors, gastrointestinal upset, ataxia, disorientation, and loss of appetite.

Meanwhile, the ingestion of foliage only causes mild vomiting and diarrhea. Therefore, this is one of the plants that you should avoid, as many side effects will occur.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals reported that dogs ingesting the Morning Glory flowers may exhibit gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, and loss of appetite. For mental problems, ingesting the Morning Glory seeds will cause hallucinations in your pets.

If your pets ingest the Morning Glory flowers, you should contact your veterinarian as quickly as possible. You may need to take a sample of the flower that is ingested by your pets to the veterinarian for proper plant identification. Sure, it will enable the veterinarian to form the correct treatment plan for your dog.

Considering the Morning Glory plants are poisonous, make sure to keep them away from your pets to prevent an unwanted thing from happening.