This week, the series “Plus Belle la vie” sowed concern among its fans. Three characters from the cult series turned black after drinking herbal tea containing “devil’s weed”. But what is this toxic plant present almost everywhere in France? We carried out the investigation.
Devil’s weed (Datura stramonium), what is it?
According to the National Agricultural Research Institute, devil’s weed (Datura) is highly toxic because its flowers, leaves, seeds and even sap contain high levels of alkaloids (atropine, scopolamine and hyoscyamine).
However, if the alkaloids “are natural substances of plant origin, used in pharmacology for their therapeutic properties“, they “can also be very toxic if the symptom-producing dose is exceeded or when taken repeatedly“, specifies the Ministry of Agriculture.
Indeed, the alkaloids contained in datura can cause a “anticholinergic or atropinic syndrome“, the cause of many symptoms:
- Increase in pupil diameter (mydriasis);
-
Hallucinations;
- Hustle ;
- Tachycardia;
- Vasodilation;
- Mental confusion;
- Dryness of the mucous membranes.
In the episode of “More beautiful life“, precisely, the three characters in the series are victims of acute poisoning after drinking a herbal tea containing devil’s weed (they had confused this poison with an edible plant). Their biological analyzes confirmed the presence of the Datura plant (Datura stramonium) and Lucie, seriously affected, even had to be hospitalized.
Effects, confirmed by the Ministry of Agriculture.
“They (alkaloids) can cause moderate intoxication lasting 8 to 12 hours or severe intoxication lasting 2 to 3 days (the dilation of the pupil being particularly slow to disappear). Very small quantities are enough to trigger intoxication. The symptoms generally require hospitalization,” warns the body.
Datura: how to recognize it?
Datura, or devil’s weed, has large (3 to 24 cm) oval-shaped leaves, unevenly toothed and these teeth end in sharp points. Its white flowers are large (6-11cm) and funnel-shaped. Finally, the datura fruits form a spiny capsule of approximately 5 cm that can open.
“The strong virulent smell of its leaves must also question gardeners and wild plant harvesters.“, warns Xavier Reboud, INRAE researcher in agroecology.
In France, datura grows almost everywhere and proliferates quickly. He likes summer crops, corn and sunflowers, or even field vegetable crops. But this powerful hallucinogen is also sold as an ornamental plant in garden centers and is used as a drug by some drug addicts.
Caution is therefore called for with this herb which contaminates crops and sometimes even certain foodstuffs – batches of buckwheat flour, contaminated by datura seeds, as well as frozen or canned vegetables polluted by fragments of the plant have recently been withdrawn from the market.