False hellebore-Veratrum viride Ait.-Poisonous plant

False hellebore

General poisoning notes:

False hellebore (Veratrum viride) is a native perennial plant that is found in parts of eastern and western Canada. The plant contains several steroidal alkaloids. Jervine was shown to be teratogenic in laboratory animals. Livestock do not often ingest the plant, but cattle, poultry, and sheep, have been poisoned. Some deaths may have occurred. The roots, rhizome, and young shoots are most toxic. Humans have been poisoned after ingesting the plant. Extracts from the plant have been used in cases of hypertension and as an insecticide (Fyles 1920, Dayton 1960, Campbell et al. 1985, Mulligan and Munro 1987, Jaffe et al. 1989).

Nomenclature:

Scientific Name: Veratrum viride Ait.

Vernacular name(s): false hellebore

Scientific family name: Liliaceae

Vernacular family name: lily

Geographic Information

Alberta, British Columbia, Labrador, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Quebec, Yukon Territory

Notes on Poisonous plant parts:

The steroidal alkaloids are most abundant in roots, rhizomes, and young shoots. Sheep can apparently eat, with impunity, plants that were frosted in the autumn (Dayton 1960).

Toxic parts:

Rhizome, roots, young shoots.

Notes on Toxic plant chemicals:

The steroidal alkaloid jervine has been isolated from false hellebore. This alkaloid can exert teratogenic effects in several animal species. The LD-50 for jervine in two strains of mice was 220 mg/kg and 260 mg/kg. Some strains of mice were resistant to the teratogenic effects of jervine (Campbell et al. 1985). Several other alkaloids have also been isolated. Germidine is an alkaloid that was studied as a possible drug for hypertension (Claus and Tyler 1965).

Toxic plant chemicals:

Germidine, jervine

Chemical diagram(s) are courtesy of Ruth McDiarmid, Biochemistry Technician, Kamloops Range Station, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Kamploops, British Columbia, Canada.

Animals/Human Poisoning:

Note: When an animal is listed without additional information, the literature (as of 1993) contained no detailed explanation.

Cattle

General symptoms of poisoning:

Abdominal pains, blindness, temporary, diarrhea, heart rate, slow vomiting.

Notes on poisoning:

Cattle generally avoid ingesting the plant, although young animals may ingest it, sometimes with fatal results. As with humans, the plant causes depression in an animal''s heart rate, low blood pressure, and vomiting (Fyles 1920, Reynard and Norton 1942).

Humans

General symptoms of poisoning:

Blood pressure, low, heart rate, slow, nausea, vomiting.

Notes on poisoning:

Humans have ingested false hellebore, mistaking it for another plant. The symptoms include reduced heart rate, low blood pressure, and vomiting. Other symptoms include blurred vision, cramps, nausea, dizziness, and chills. Atropine is used in initial treatment (Boivin 1948, Underhill 1959, Jaffe et al. 1989). False hellebore was used by West Coast Indians to commit suicide (Long 1981).

Poultry

Rodents

General symptoms of poisoning:

Oligodactylism

Sheep

General symptoms of poisoning:

Nausea, salivation.

Notes on poisoning:

Sheep are apparently less affected by ingesting false hellebore and can eat the leaves with apparent impunity after the leaves have been killed by frost (Reynard and Norton 1942, Dayton 1960).