By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Pothos, philodendron, elephant's ear, and many other common housesplants contain miscroscopic crystals in their leaf juices that feel like splinters of glass if you try to eat them, I recently learned in a post Julie Bawden Davis wrote on this subject on the OC Register Homebody blog.  Though eating these plants is rarely life-threatening to pets (the sensation is too painful for them to continue long), it does cause them intense pain.  For a list of these plants and more details, see Julie's post.