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Toxic☠️ To avoid

🍃 Cuckoo-pint (Lords-and-ladies)

Arum maculatum · Aracées

🌳 Temperate Europe
🧠 To remember it“Green horn, burning red berries” — your mouth burns before you even swallow, that's your warning sign.
Cuckoo-pint (Lords-and-ladies) — Arum maculatum

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

Understory plant recognisable by its green, horn-shaped spathe wrapping around a purplish central spike (spadix), with arrow-shaped leaves often spotted with purple. In late summer, it bears a dense spike of bright red berries that are very attractive to children and responsible for most poisonings, although immediate oral burning usually prevents massive ingestion.

  1. arrow-shaped leaves (sagittate), often spotted with purple-black, appearing in spring before the flower
  2. green horn-shaped spathe surrounding an erect purplish spadix (April-May)
  3. spike of shiny bright red berries in summer-autumn, the only part remaining visible after the leaves disappear
  4. typical presence in cool undergrowth and shaded hedgerows
Size20-40 cm
FloweringApril-May, berries July-September
Habitatcool undergrowth, hedgerows, shaded banks on rich soil

⚠️ Not to be confused with

No common food confusion at the adult stage (—)—

To tell them apart: the main risk concerns young children attracted by the spike of shiny red berries; calcium oxalate crystals cause immediate burning in the mouth, which usually limits ingestion to a single berry

Wild garlic (Allium ursinum)toxique (cristaux d'oxalate de calcium irritants)

To tell them apart: broad arrow-shaped leaf, often spotted with black, no garlic smell, very different netted venation

Common sorrel (Rumex acetosa)forte (l'arum est toxique, cristaux d'oxalate de calcium irritants)

To tell them apart: arum has no sour taste, its leaves are broader arrow-shaped and often spotted with black, without ochrea

☠️ What kills

nomCalcium oxalate crystals and irritating proteins (raphides), throughout the entire plant, especially the berries and rhizome
dose letale estimeerarely fatal in adults; in young children, ingesting several berries can cause dangerous upper airway edema (approx, exceptional deaths)
delaiimmediate for oral burning, a few hours for digestive distress
symptomesimmediate burning and swelling of the mouth, tongue, and throat, excessive salivation, difficulty swallowing, sometimes vomiting and diarrhea
antidoteno specific antidote; symptomatic treatment, airway monitoring in case of edema
morts documenteesexceptional; severe cases mainly involve very young children with severe pharyngeal edema (approx)

First steps : Rinse your mouth with clean water and call poison control, especially if a child has trouble swallowing or if their voice changes (a sign of edema). Do not induce vomiting. Monitor airways as a priority.

Sources (2)

No entry replaces a certain identification in the field, or medical advice. When in doubt: don't eat it. If ingestion is suspected: poison control or 112/911.