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How Seriously Do You Want The Character To Be Incapacitated?
Oxalates plants, soluble or insoluble, the writer decides.
The first thing to know is that there are two kinds of oxalate plants: insoluble oxalates and soluble oxalates.
Insoluble oxalates include Dieffenbachia, Jack in the pulpit, elephant’s ear, skunk cabbage, philodendron, and calla lily. These oxalates (particularly dieffenbachia) have needle-like calcium oxalate crystals and are highly irritating to the skin and mucous membranes.
Some, like Dieffenbachia, have specialized cells which forcibly eject the needle-like oxalate crystals when the plant is crushed, which aids the penetration through the skin and mucous membrane. Ouch!
One benefit of the intense oral irritant effects is that they usually prevent significant ingestion. These oxalates are poorly absorbed from the stomach.
Soluble oxalates include star fruit, docks, and some sorrels. These oxalates become oxalic acid in the stomach and can cause systemic issues with large ingestions. When calcium oxalate gets into the kidneys, it obstructs the kidney tubules and causes direct cell damage.
Toxic Dose
The oxalate content of a given species may vary considerably. Small quantities of juice from…
