Wild onion-Allium canadense-Poisonous plants

Wild onion

General poisoning notes:

Wild onion (Allium canadense) is a native herb found in parts of eastern Canada. This plant can cause gastroenteritis in young children who ingest parts of this plant. Chronic ingestion of the bulbs reduces iodine uptake by the thyroid gland, which can lead to problems. No specific treatment is suggested other than to prevent dehydration (Lampe and McCann 1985). Livestock have also been poisoned by ingesting wild onions, and some have died (Pipal 1918). Horses have developed hemolytic anemia from ingesting wild onion leaves (Scoggan 1989).

Description:

Stems - From a bulb. Bulb covered with a dense network of criss-cross fibers. Fibers tan in color. Bulb to 3cm long, ovoid. Aerial stems to +40cm tall, erect, glabrous, terete, single to multiple from the base, simple. Leaves - Basal, linear, glabrous, to +40cm long, 2-7mm broad, green to pale green, with a broad shallow groove adaxially, sometimes folding at the base, pale green to whitish at the base. Inflorescence - Terminal umbel of zero to many flowers. Sometimes the flowers replaced with reddish bulblets. Sometimes inflorescence a combination of bulblets and flowers, or all flowers. Bulblets sessile. Flowers with pedicels to +4cm long, glabrous, erect. Pedicels much longer than the flowers. Bud of inflorescence covered with a scarious tan bract. Bract persistent at the base of the umbel after anthesis. Flowers - Tepals 6, pink to white, glabrous, oblong-lanceolate, to +/-8mm long, +/-3mm broad. Stamens 6, erect. Filaments pinkish, glabrous, expanded at the base, adnate to the base of the tepals, +/-5mm long. Ovary subglobose, glabrous, 3-locular. Style glabrous, +/-5mm long, pinkish. Ovules 3-4 per locule.

Nomenclature:

Scientific Name: Allium canadense L.

Vernacular name(s): Canada onion, wild garlic, meadow garlic, and Canadian garlic

Scientific family name: Liliaceae

Vernacular family name: lily

Geographic Information:

New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario.

Toxic parts:

Leaves, bulbs.

Notes on Toxic plant chemicals:

The three onion species (Allium spp.) mentioned in this information system contain S-methyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide (SMCO), which is a sulfur- containing alpha-amino acid . The empirical formula is C₄H₉O₃NS. The common garden onion (A. cepa) contains the following:

- 100 mg/kg wet weight of SMCO in the leaves,

- 1600 mg/kg wet weight of SMCO in the bulbs (Benevenga et al. 1989).

Toxic plant chemicals:

S-methyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide (SMCO).

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:

Breathing, rapid, gastroenteritis, death, heart rate, elevated, Heinz bodies, recumbency, weakness.

Horses

Humans