TempoLife › Features › House plants: care and pet toxicity › dieffenbachia

Dumb cane: toxicity, first aid and care

Dumb cane (Dieffenbachia seguine and hybrids): toxic for cats, toxic for dogs, toxic for small children. The toxic principle, the signs, what to do, and how to grow it.

Cats: ToxicDogs: ToxicChildren: Toxic

Also sold as: Dieffenbachia, leopard lily, difenbahhia.

This is a reference table, not a diagnosis and not veterinary or medical advice. It cannot tell you how much of a plant matters for a particular child or a particular animal — that depends on body weight, on the part eaten and on how long ago. If a person or an animal has eaten part of a plant, phone the poison information centre or a clinician; do not wait for symptoms, and do not make anyone vomit unless you are told to.

What is in it

Toxic principle: Insoluble calcium oxalate raphides plus proteolytic enzymes — Calcium oxalate needles.

The worst of the aroids, and for a mechanical reason. Specialised cells fire needle-sharp crystals of calcium oxalate into whatever bites the leaf, and the plant's enzymes ride in through the punctures. The result is not slow poisoning but immediate injury to the lining of the mouth and throat.

What it looks like when it goes wrong

Instant intense burning pain, violent drooling, pawing at the mouth, refusal to eat or swallow, and swelling of the lips, tongue and throat. The old English name records the effect on speech when a human tongue swells. In a small child or a small animal, that swelling is an airway problem and is the real danger.

What to do

Wipe the mouth out, rinse it with cool water and offer something cold — milk, yoghurt or ice cream helps bind the crystals and soothes. Then phone the poison centre or a veterinary clinic. Go straight to emergency care if there is any difficulty breathing, swallowing or speaking, or if drooling does not settle.

Anywhere in the European Union, 112 reaches emergency services and can put you through. Lithuania's poison information bureau (Apsinuodijimų kontrolės ir informacijos biuras) publishes its own round-the-clock line; if you do not have it to hand, use 112. For an animal, your own veterinary clinic or its out-of-hours service is the first call — human poison centres do not advise on animals in every country.

How to grow it

A fast, generous foliage plant that will make a metre of trunk and then go bare at the base; when it does, cut it back hard in spring — it reshoots readily and the cut top roots in water. Wear gloves for that job and keep the sap off your face. Brown leaf edges mean dry air or fluoride in tap water.

What it gets confused with

It is sold as a beginner plant because it is nearly unkillable, and the label rarely says anything about the sap. Of everything on this page it is the one most likely to hurt a curious two-year-old today rather than theoretically, simply because it stands at floor level in a lot of living rooms.

A plant that is not on the toxic lists

If you are deciding what to keep in a home with a cat, a dog or a small child, this one fills a similar role and is not flagged by the veterinary services.

Others that work the same way

Calcium oxalate needles — these behave alike, and what you would do about them is alike too.

Source: ASPCA Animal Poison Control — toxic and non-toxic plants · checked 2026-09-06

Care guidance is standard horticultural practice for a cool-temperate northern climate. Poison-centre numbers are listed on the hub page and are worth confirming against your own country's health service.

Frequently asked questions

All 38 plantsPet food safety