DUMBCANE PLANT

I am sure like me, many of you would have seen this plant in your own garden or the gardens of people you know. Perhaps, it can also be found in business premises or government buildings. The Malay name for it is Keladi Bisu (Dieffenbachia seguine) and it serves as an ornamental plant. At the Perak Herb Garden, the information given was that it was used in traditional medicine to treat skin diseases. However, I read that it was considered a poisonous plant.

In Malay it is called Keladi Bisu or Dumb Tapioca. Its English version is Dumbcane. Chewing dumbcanes (Dieffenbachia spp.) leaves or stems causes immediate pain and swelling in the mouth and throat. In severe cases, speech may become unintelligible and that is why the name dumbcane. In the past these plants were used as a means of human torture. Family pets have also been poisoned after chewing on dumbcane plant material. The effects are almost instantaneous, before the plant material is actually ingested. The plant juices can also cause inflammation and contact dermatitis in some individuals (Arditti and Rodriguez 1982, Lampe and McCann 1985). Mrvos et al. (1990) determined that in many cases where people had contact with broken leaves of dumbcane plants, symptoms occurred within 5 minutes and were short and of minor consequence.

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