Oddberry's Guide to Poisonous Plants

Poisons are everywhere, hiding in the most innocuous of places. Some are easy to spot, others almost impossible to detect. An immunity can be built up to some if taken in small amounts regularly, while others save lives in small doses, and take them in large ones. Here’s a handy guide to some of the more readily available poisons in Middle Earth, although there are many more to be discovered.  

It must be noted that with plant-based poisons dosage is hard to monitor, or indeed measure. The amount of poison varies wildly with location, time of year, part of the plant, and indeed the plant itself.

Night’s Shade: A common plant found in much of Middle Earth; apart from Mordor, Haradwaith and Khand; the aptly named plant stands tall, flowers purple and tinged with green, and small shiny black berries. While the plant prefers a temperate climate and grows proficiently in Rhun, it also grows in recently disturbed soil, especially if it is of a limestone base, and favours hedgerows, field margins, and open woodland.

Night’s Shade is among the most poisonous plants in Middle Earth, and poison inhabits every cell. When ripe, the berries are sweet and easy to slip into a meal, and only a few are needed to ensure death. The rest of the plant is not so sweet-tasting and such is best used to create a poison for coating arrow-tips or blades with, with the roots being most potent.

The symptoms of Night’s Shade’s poisoning include dilated pupils, increased sensitivity to light, blurred vision, loss of balance, confusion, rash, and unpleasant hallucinations. This leads to delirium, convulsions, and death. If one is lucky enough to survive a low dose they are likely to be left with issues in the brain and problems with memory and learning. Mild sickness can also be caused by eating the honey of bees who collect nectar from the Night’s Shade plant.

The plant is also poisonous to most animals, causing paralysis. Cows and rabbits however are immune, and eat it with no ill effects. As many poisons, it is oft treated with charcoal, although the effectiveness of this treatment is yet to be ensured.

Wolfsbane: Another extremely poisonous plant, Wolfsbane should be given a wide berth by all but the most experienced of poison-masters, and even some of those choose not to take the risk. With dark green leaves and deep blue-purple flowers, which look like the hoods of cloaks, Wolfsbane is a thankfully distinctive plant.

Like most, it’s most potent part is the roots, although for some, merely brushing against it can cause severe illness or death, and there are those who have felt nauseous after merely smelling the flowers. In the case of a fatal poisoning death usually occurs within 2 to 6 hours. A sufferer will experience nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea. This is followed by burning in the abdomen, and numbness and tingling that starts in the face before spreading to the limbs. The poison kills by slowing the heart to an eventual stop and sufferers may also be dizzy, sweating, and confused before death.

There are other varieties of Wolfsbane, with pale yellow or pink flowers. These are not so poisonous, although their roots are still deadly. Fortunately, Wolfsbane is not a particularly palatable plant, and as such is best used to coat weapons. It can be found in many parts of Middle Earth, favouring well-drained woodland; but is most prevalent in the Shire, where it gained its name from ancient hobbits, who tipped their arrows with it to more effectively the slay wolves that terrorised their stock.

Cow Bane and Cow Parsley: Two plants that look immensely similar yet to confuse them could ensure a death sentence. Both plants can grow to the height of a man, with small green-white flowers (depending on ripeness) in an umbrella shape. The stems are smooth and hollow, branching rapidly. The whole of the Cow bane plant is poisonous, while Cow Parsley is completely harmless.

The two plants can be identified by two features. Cow Bane has both compound leaves and a bulbous growth just above the roots, whereas Cow Parsley does not. Both plants can be found across Middle Earth in marshy areas, and by rivers and ponds, although Cow Parsley has also been known to inhabit hedgerows.

Like many poisons, the symptoms are seizures, and display within 15 minutes, although this poison takes longer to kill. Seizures can last for up to 3 days, and a victim normally dies from respiratory failure. It doesn’t take a genius to guess how these two got their name, many inhabitants have lost valuable cattle to this confusion, for cattle cannot resist Cow Parsley.

The seeds of the Venom Orange: The Venom Orange is a tree only found in Rhun and is so named for the potency of its seeds hidden in a pleasant hard-shelled orange fruit. The poison contained within the seeds is both rare and exceedingly deadly. It causes death in under half an hour through convulsions and asphyxiation. It can be inhaled, swallowed, put into the bloodstream on a dagger or dropped into one’s eyes and mouth and is reputed to be one of the most painful ways to die, leaving it’s victim’s body contorted in agony.

The Venom Orange tree is short, with a thick, ash grey trunk, orange leaves growing at right angles to each other, and a foul smell. The flowers are pale green and only bloom in the cold season. Inside the hard-shelled orange fruit is a pleasant pulp, hiding the disk-like seeds which contain only death.

Bitter Almond: The most universal poison, found in everything from Almonds and apple seeds to peach stones, there is no place in middle earth you can escape this particular death.

Apple trees are found in most areas of Middle Earth, save Harad and Khand, and while one or two apples worth of seeds won’t kill you, it is quite possible to ingest enough seeds to cause death. Cherry, peach and nectarine trees can be found both naturally and cultivated in more temperate areas and contain bitter almond in the soft seed pods inside their stones.

Another deadly source of this poison is the Cassava bush, found in Rhun. It is a woody shrub and can be cultivated to produce an annual crop of tubers. The Cassava bush comes in sweet and bitter varieties. Both can kill if prepared improperly, the bitter being the more deadly of the two. Even so, the Cassava tuber is an important source of food in hard times.

Symptoms of poisoning by bitter almond occurs within minutes and is characterised in the early stages by dizziness, shortness of breath, and vomiting swiftly followed by seizures, loss of consciousness and heart failure. If one is so unlucky as to survive they will be mentally impaired and may also suffer paralysis. If the poison is inhaled it works faster, however in its gaseous form it is only dangerous in enclosed spaces and as it is less dense than air, will rise.

Tick Bean: While Bitter Almond may be the most universal poison, the Tick Bean is on rivalled in it’s potency by the Venom Orange. It is only found in Harad’s few oases, or cultivated in their gardens. Those who live in Harad undoubtedly have their own name for the Tick Bean, but in the Common Tongue, it is named after the parasite it so resembles.

The plant can grow to the height of a small tree in favourable conditions, and cannot cope with the cold. The leaves are a dramatic purple-red colour, almost as a warning to stay away. The flowers have no petals, consisting only of a spiny green seed-pod containing a reddish-brown seed, full of poison. This fast-acting poison causes seizures and death within minutes.

The Tick Bean is not all bad however. It also contains a highly beneficial oil that has been rumoured to improve the constitution, and is highly effective when included in barrier creams against insect bites. If you can separate it from the poison that is.  

Nereum: A large shrub/small tree, it is unknown where the plant originated for it is now grown ornamentally in many gardens of Middle Earth. It is extremely adaptive to different weather conditions, even thriving in salty air along the coast. The leaves are dark and waxy, and the flowers delicate, coming in a variety of colours from cream to red. It can bloom all year if the weather is favourable.

Every part of this plant is poisonous, but it is bitter, and it would take great dedication to eat enough to make one ill, let alone cause death. However, the plant is equally toxic when burnt, and many have died from inhaling its smoke. It causes death by heart failure, and symptoms including vomiting and irregular heartbeat.


Mushrooms: The most innocuous of natural killers, or discomfort-causers, it is probably wisest to not eat any random mushrooms you find growing in the wild. The chance of regretting the decision is extremely high. Thankfully the list of those that kill is far shorter than those that merely cause extreme distress.

Death Cap. This particular mushroom favours the western reaches of Middle Earth, preferring to grow beneath the oak. It is most identifiable by its unpleasant smell that bears a little resemblance to urine. Most varieties have a long stem, between 1 and 2 lengths of the average thumb. When immature the cap is very rounded and closed, but when mature it can be between 1 and 2 thumbs length in diameter. The cap colour varies between species from white to grey-ish brown. Another tell-tale feature is that the cap is tacky to the touch, and the bulbous growth at the base of the stem. The gills are white and crowded close together.

This mushroom, like many mushrooms, attacks the liver and causes vomiting, hypothermia and death. Even cooking the mushroom will not make it safe. There a several non-toxic mushrooms that resemble the death cap; though they do not have the sticky cap or smell it is advised to proceed with caution. Half a Death Cap is enough to kill.

The Balrog: A dark mushroom, with red-brown caps, it is not hard to see how the Balrog gets its name. A fungus that grows in rotten wood, it is found in most areas of Middle Earth, though it is more common-place in the western reaches. The cap is shiny and for the most part, flat, once the mushroom is matured. The colour can also change. In moist conditions, it is a fiery red, but when dry it darkens almost to black.

Mature mushrooms can be easy to mistake for the far more tasty Chestnut Mushroom. Watch out for brown gills and the shiny, lubricated top. Like the Death Cap, very little mushroom needs to be consumed to cause death, and The Balrog produces the same symptoms.

Fool’s Death: This mushroom is only found in the Shire and other areas of Arthedain during the spring. Pure-white with a small skirt about three-quarters the way up the stem and a large flat cap, there are no more innocent varieties to confuse this killer with. It is a slower killer than most, with symptoms not appearing for at least a day after consumption. The symptoms are the same as our previous two killers.

Fool’s Death has a cousin in Rhun which also only appears during the spring, with a more curved cap which ranges from white to yellow ochre.

Hidden Fire: Another fairly universal mushroom, this one is rather more interesting. It is not guaranteed to cause death which makes it a little inefficient for assassins, but if one wants to cause entire communities great discomfort is is far more effective. This fungus grows on all varieties of cereals, hiding amongst the grain. Once consumed it causes burning in the limbs and reduced circulation leading to gangrene and amputation. It has been known to cause death but this is rare.

The spores and mature growths of this fungus can be harvested. The spores can be released in a field where cereals are flowering and the mature growths placed in an appropriate field where they will lie dormant until the appropriate time.

If one wishes to be especially sneaky the leaves and stem of the tomato plant can also cause death when used as a tea - if the victim is already sickly - although this method is more likely to cause extreme nausea and anxiety. The tomato plant is of the same family as Night’s Shade, as is the wild potato (unlike the cultivated version). The consumption of large amounts of the wild potato will also cause death similar to that of Night’s shade, although cooking the potato is sometimes enough to lessen the effect of the poison to mere sickness. Most varieties of bean are also toxic when uncooked, requiring at least 10 minutes of boiling to be regarded as safe, although one is unlikely to die from their consumption.

There are many more mushroom varieties that kill, and even more that will make a victim very ill. That can be said for other plants, some of which require special conditions to grow. Some plants can cause harmless hallucinations in small quantities while being utterly devastating in larger ones. The above is but a small glimpse into the extensive list of plants that can cause sickness or death. If in doubt, leave the plant/fungus alone.