[Skin and mucous membrane reactions caused by Dieffenbachia species house plants]

A survey, based on 60 essays in the relevant medical and botanical literature, reviews the erosive effects, on skin and mucous membranes, caused by contact with plants of the Dieffenbachia species. Although these common house plants are the most frequent cause of skin and mucous membrane damage by flora and fauna, the pathogenesis of these rapidly occurring caustic actions has not been satisfactorily explained. The assumption that "injection" of proteolytic enzymes into healthy tissue by "shooting cells" (raphid-idioblasts), full of calcium oxalate needles, is responsible, must be viewed as the most readily acceptable explanation. Unfortunately, this hypothesis can not be regarded as proven.