Which Plants Should You Avoid This Summer to Prevent Poisoning?

[Un article de The Conversation écrit par Sandra Sinno-Tellier – Médecin de santé publique, spécialisée en épidémiologie et en toxicologie, Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail (Anses)]

In three quarters of the cases, young children or people with cognitive disorders, which caught leaves, flowers or bays and brought them to their mouths by ignorance of the risk or taste for exploration.

In 10 % of other cases, adults have consumed plants picked or picked up in the wild or their vegetable garden; They may have shared their meal with young children.

The remaining calls relate to exhibitions, most often by ocular or cutaneous contact, at the sap or latex of leaves or stem, during gardening, maintenance of interior plants or during other accidental circumstances.

A third of people exposed to plants report symptoms (see the figure below). 20 % of young children (under the age of 6) who have brought part of the plant to the mouth have symptoms. Often the unpleasant or spicy taste of the plant limits ingestion, such as the vigilance of adults. Adults are symptomatic in one in two cases, whether after consumption or other.

More frequent exposures in summer

The risks linked to plant exposures depend on the development and germination cycle of each plant. If the most frequent confusion concern toxic (narcissus, jaw, iris, glaïeul, tulip, jacinth, amaryllis, crocus …) and edible bulbs (onion, garlic, shallot …), which occur all year round, the summer period is particularly conducive to the confusion of berries, berries and leaves or roots.

Thus, half of the calls for anti-poison centers for this type of reason are recorded in summer, between June and September (see the figure below)-a third of the registered confusions are made this season, and the month of August is the most busy (with 15 % of annual calls for exhibitions to plants).

In a study on the confusion of toxic and edible plants recorded by anti -poison centers between 2012 and 2018, the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Work Safety (ANSES) and anti -poison centers had established the most frequent and/or most serious confusion depending on the seasons.

Following the ANSES had disseminated a memory aid on the risks of food confusion of toxic and edible plants depending on the seasons.

These works make it possible to point the plants to which we must be particularly careful this summer.

Beware of toxic berry ingestions!

The berries are fleshy berries (containing one or more seeds, the seeds) that mature in summer, which makes them attractive. Often within the reach of children exploring their environment, they are also picked to be consumed, prepared in jam, jelly or syrup.

In general in red or black in color when they arrive at maturity, toxic and edible berries can be alike. The non -ripe, non -edible fruits are green in color. Black berries can be green and then red before maturing, which can promote errors.

Depending on the substances they contain, toxic berries can cause (most often) digestive disorders, but also heart, respiratory and neurological disorders. The effects can be serious upon ingestion of a few berries. Here are the ones that they must be wary in priority.

• Belladone (Atropa Belladona))

You have to be particularly vigilant in the face of the bays of these plants from the Solanaceae family such as Belladone, which easily grows in clearings or on rubble.

His bays, black and shiny, resemble small cherries and have a deceptive sweet and sweet flavor because they are far from harmless. They contain tropanic alkaloids (atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine), a true paralyzing of the nervous system, which cause, among other things, dilation of the pupil, an acceleration of the heart rate, headache, buzzing ear, hallucinations …

If all parts of the plant are toxic, the ingestion of a few bays is enough to cause disorders of consciousness, even convulsions and a coma that can lead to death.

• The Morelles

Other toxic berries, containing alkaloids, can be confusing with edible berries such as black morrelle (Solanum Nigrum), moderately toxic, or the bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara), with red berries, sometimes nicknamed “dog kill”. All are toxic in humans as in domestic animals.

• The goatfeuilles

The Caprifoliased Family includes harmless members, such as blue honeysuckle (Lonicera Caerulea Kamtschatica), and others dangerous, including the honeysuckle with black berries (L. Nigra).

The black berries of L. Nigra are welded by two. They contain saponosides (or saponins), also present in the other parts of the plant, which have irritating properties for mucous membranes.

Their consumption can be responsible for severe digestive disorders: vomiting, abdominal pain but also bloody diarrhea, etc.

Its berries can also be confused with wild blueberries (Myrtillus vaccinium), which share the same environment but whose bays are bluish and isolated.

Its “cousin”, the blue honeysuckle, or May bay or blue camera, is shrub and produced edible bays with a characteristic, elongated and bluish acid tasting, covered with prieine (waxy and slightly powder layer that covers the surface as in blueberries).

• Enablines (Sambucus sp.))

Certain rags, shrubs and herbaceous plants of the caprifoliaceae family, can also be toxic or edible. Their bays appear, still green, from the end of June and reach maturity between August and September. Ripe fruits are laxative consumed raw.

Unlike black elderberries (Sambucus Nigra), edible and cooked in jam or jelly, the hieble or yèble elderberries (Sambucus Ebulus) are toxic and can be responsible for severe digestive disorders (abdominal pain, vomiting diarrhea, etc.).

How to distinguish them? If they have the same black fruits, the dangerous fruits of the hieble elderberry are erected upwards, while those of the black elder are hanging. In addition, unlike black elderberry, hieble elderberries is a herbaceous plant and therefore does not make wood.

Other risks of serious summer poisoning

• By leaves

In summer, certain plants, especially mountain, flourish late (between June and September), and edible and toxic plants can be confused when looking for their leaves – consumed in salad, herbal tea or decoction. Confusion is explained by their neighboring morphology before flowering and sharing of the same habitat.

Purple digital (Digitalis Purpurea), toxic or even fatal, can thus be confused with disbursement of officinalSymphytum officinalis) which is an occasional edible (prolonged daily consumption can be toxic to the liver). All parts of the digital are toxic. In case of ingestion, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, drowsiness or agitation, headache, visual disorders can be observed. In the most serious cases, a slowdown in heart rate, up to cardiac arrest, can occur.

Please note, confusion between toxic and edible bay leaves, consumed in decoction, culinary preparation or infusion, are described throughout the year. If the bay sauce (Laurus nobilis) is edible, the pink laurel (Nerium Oleander) is highly toxic. To a lesser extent, the cherry bay leaves (Prunus laurocerasus) are also toxic.

• By the roots

Yellow gentian (Gentiana Lutea) is wanted in summer for its roots in order to prepare aperitifs, wines or liqueurs. This edible plant can be confused with the white verator (Veratrum album), highly toxic due to the alkaloids contained essentially in its roots.

The case of phytophototoxic plants

Finally, it should be noted that during leisure activities in fine weather (picnic, gardening, walking in the forest or in parks …), a particular risk concerns exposure to so-called “photosensitizing” plants: these contain substances (furocoumarins) which become toxic under the effect of ultraviolet rays.

This is the case, for example, of aromatic plants such as parsley (PETROSELINIUM CRISPUM), common fennel (FOENICULUME OFFICINALE), dill (Graveolens Anethum), from the angelica (Angelica Archangelica) but also fruit trees like the fig tree (Ficus Carica) or the lemon tree (Citrus Limon) and other citrus fruits.

A skin burn, sometimes intense with redness, pain, even blisters, can be observed on the discovered areas (hands, forearms …) under the effect of the sun, several hours after being in contact with the plant.

Good gestures to prevent poisoning

To avoid the risks of poisoning, especially in summer, ANSES and anti -poison centers recommend:

• Hold children far from risk plants and raise awareness of the dangers linked to picking;
• Do not consume the plants picked up in case of doubt about their identification, including those picked in the orchard or the vegetable patch;
• Be vigilant about the harvest period (flowering, fruiting, etc.), compared to the plant's life cycle;
• Photographing your picking to facilitate identification in the event of poisoning;
• Immediately stop eating if the plant has an unusual or unpleasant taste;
• Do not pick up by brewing (essentially leaves), to avoid mixing toxic and edible species;
• Wash and sort the plants well before their consumption;
• Avoid direct skin contact with photosensitizing plants: if necessary wear long and covering gloves and covering to protect the skin from the sun.

Finally, if plant recognition applications (Plantnet type) can be used to give first information, they should not be the only means of identification. The risk of error of these applications is not known. If in doubt, do not hesitate to call on a pharmacist or botanist from a local association.

In case of poisoning:

• In case of severe disorders or signs of vital distress (difficulties in breathing, loss of consciousness, etc.), Call 15 or 112 or 114 without delay For deaf or hard of hearing;
• If a child has put leaves or bays in his mouth, rinse the inside of the mouth with a damp cloth, wash their hands, and Call an anti -poison center Or see a doctor In the event of a symptom or at the slightest doubt about the identification of the plant;
• Do not wait for symptoms to occur to take the advice of an anti -poison center in the event of ingestion of a toxic plant;
• These plants are also toxic to animals. In case of ingestion, contact a without delay veterinary antipoison center.