If you aren't planning on eating the leaves in a salad, you should be safe.

Many thanks for the reply, houstonpat. No, not for salads, but I recall reading that the leaves of aroids generally give off an irritant which can be breathed in and affect throats. Since my husband had a throat illness a few years ago from which he thankfully recovered after radiotherapy, I'm just a little anxious to make sure they are ok. The plants are really beautiful, I would hate to have to pass them on.

Marguerite the element in most aroids is Calcium Oxalate. Eating them can cause minor problems for most but in no way will breathing around the plant cause any harm to your husband. Calcium Oxalate is not an airborne element given off by the plant. You are very much ok to grow this beautiful plant.

Scott

I thought this would be a question about danger to one's wallet...

LOL, Purple! I thought so, too! Marguerite, I have a syngonium podophyllum & a monstera deliciosa & a dieffenbachia. They're all the Aroid family. I have had them for years & never had a problem in my house full of asthmatics. The only caution is to watch kids & pets around these plants. They are poisonous to ingest. My son, who's 4 now, decided when I told him not to put the plant into his mouth b/c it's poisonous, to take a bite of my monstera. Immediately, he says, "OW! It BURNS!" & we rinsed well with water. No lasting damage. But when you repot this family of plants, make sure that when you get any of their juices on your skin, to wash your hands well with soap & water. The calcium oxalate that Scott is referring to causes some irritation on skin. I repotted mine the other day & got some juices on me & it started itching & burning mildly. But I was fine as soon as I washed my hands.

Don't worry about them. All aroids have the oxalates and being near the plant will not cause any problems. On the contrary, Peace Lily has been proven to help detoxify the air as a houseplant.
I own/run a cyber cafe here in Mexico just south of San Diego and I have spathiphyllums there and they add a great flair to an otherwise dull room.

Spathiphyllum is one of my favorite houseplants, along c some other Aroids. Have taught my dog to FEAR plants lol

G'day faerybutterflye,

monstera deliciosa are one of the most sweetly delicious fruits you can eat. The rest of the plant is toxicly defensive. Probably evolved that way to survive being devoured by animals.

The long cucumber sized fruit has to be ripe to be enjoyed. If you run your hand down the fruit and the skin comes away in little hexagonal pieces it's ready to to eat. You'll quickly realize if it aint ripe enough if you try eating an unripe one.

When ripe it tastes between a custard apple and pineapple. Extremely sweet and satisfying.

When tasted raw it's very unpleasant. About the same way an unripened banana makes your mouth go really dry.

The best thing about monstera deliciosa is that most people don't know the fruit is edible which means us lucky knowalls get to eat all the wild ones.

If I come across a vine with ripe fruit I'll demolish as many as I can.

I'm not up on their vitamin or nutritional value but any fruit that tastes as good as these and makes you wanna just keep gorging on them must be up there with most other fruit per weight etc.

They're triffik with a mountain of ice cream. Yuuuuuuummmmm!!!!

Here's a link about them

https://www.google.com.au/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=fuRAWOV3rsPwB9emjdAI&gws_rd=ssl#q=monstera+deliciosa+fruit

Hi Marguerite, we corresponded and traded many years ago, at least a decade or more. I think some succulents and sansevierias. I probably still have a plant or two from you but have lost the labels. I remember one in particular that I very much regretted losing, a Sans you called Twist. I don't suppose you still have this?

In my opinion, dieffenbachia is the only aroid that has oxalate crystals in enough strength in sap to cause any problems. Dieff sap is very irritating if on the skin, and ingesting or getting it in the eyes can be very bad. I often have itching on hands and arms when taking stem cuttings, even when I haven't directly contacted the sap. So there might be an airborne effect at least for a very short range. The smell of dieff sap is a warning to me, it's very distinctive and unlike any other aroid.

When trades include dieffenbachias I always ask if individuals have children or pets that might be tempted to eat or chew on leaves or stems. If they do I recommend they trade for something else, but will send as long as they're aware of the issues.

Great to talk to you again Marguerite!

Russ

Calcium oxalate crystals aren't as dangerous as their reputation has made them out to be. Many plants contain these crystals. It is no worse than eating spinach. However, that doesn't mean that we should be going out and eating these aroids. The Exotic Rainforest website has an entire page dedicated to calcium oxalate crystals, if you want to read further into this. But I've taken a few excerpts from it that pretty much sums it all up in a nutshell:

"Perhaps, just perhaps, if you ate enough of some of these plants they could be bad for your health. Interestingly common vegetables women love to try to force their kids to eat, since they are 'good for them', have the same exact chemical in a relatively high concentrations. Spinach is near the top of the list!...

People often find the taste of spinach to be bad. Guess why? They don't like the taste of oxalate crystals."

As for Dieffenbachia:

"Studies of Dieffenbachia demonstrated that a proteolytic enzyme, as well as other compounds, are responsible for the severe irritation caused by this plant and that raphides of calcium oxalate do not play a major role."

One of my cats loves trying to chew on the leaves of some of my plants. If I left my ponytail palms within her reach, they would have no leaves left on them, HaHa! When I brought my ZZ plant back indoors for the winter, she chewed on one of the smaller leaves. I guess she didn't like the taste of it, because she pretty much ignores it now. It kind of makes me wish that all of my plants were more like this, lol.

I agree that the claims of aroids like philodendrons being 'poisonous' are over-stated to say the least .

However, regardless of the source of the irritant in its sap, folks with small kids or pets should be aware of potential problems with dieffenbachia. The results of ingestion of the sap might not be deadly, but it'd likely be an experience you wouldn't want to happen again.

In 40+ years of handling aroids, except for dieffenbachia, I've never had any negative effects from handling philodendrons, monsteras, aglaonemas and other aroids in my collection.

Russ

Hi Marguerite, I'm doing okay, just getting too darned old. I'm only on Gardenweb once in awhile. Get with me next spring or summer if you want some plants for postage, my collection is bigger than ever.

I can send my lists if you'll send me your email address, maybe something to read on a cold day. Russ

Bluesea14808@yahoo.com

No idea about pets but aroid sap gives me a rash like poison ivy. And a lot of other plants that I love. After I finally figured that out, I have avoided contact with the sap and have no problems with them anymore. For that reason, I would keep these plants out of reach of children, but I always kept all plants out of reach of my kids when they were small because they're also likely to eat the soil or knock plants over & make a huge mess. It's easier to baby-proof for things like that for a couple of years than clean up avoidable messes. It goes by so fast! Don't waste a second saying "no, no" over a potted plant.