Severe or even fatal poisoning
Each year, the network of poison control centers registers regarding 250 cases of confusion of poisonous plants with edible plants.
The colchicum (Colchicum autumnal) is most often confused with thewild garlic (Bear garlic), more rarely with wild leek (Allium polyanthum). These three plants grow in the spring in the same undergrowth, especially in the regions of the eastern facade and in Occitanie.
The ingestion of colchicum can cause serious or even fatal poisoning, depending on the quantity of leaves ingested, the very variable concentration of colchicine present in the plant, and the combination with certain common drugs (macrolide type antibiotics, antivitamin K…) which can significantly increase the toxic risk. The first clinical manifestations are digestive disorders (vomiting and diarrhoea) which can be severe, in the hours following ingestion.
How to distinguish wild garlic from colchicum?
L’wild garlic is an edible wild plant, 15 to 40 cm high when mature, which has a characteristic smell of garlic, especially when its leaves are crumpled. Its star-shaped flowers and elongated bulb are white. The leaves are more or less shiny, oval and pointed, carried by stems. This plant often grows in large carpets in the cool undergrowth, the bottoms of shaded and humid valleys or along the streams. The leaves appear in February-March and the flowers from April to early June. The harvest period ends with the first flowers.
The leaves of colchicum are stiffer, stemless, and the bulb is round and dark. The mauve flowers only appear in autumn, only the leaves are visible in spring; they are fleshy, blunt-tipped, and seem to come straight out of the ground. All parts of the plant are poisonous.
The Agency’s recommendations:
If you pick wild garlic:
- don’t improvise: make sure you know the plant well;
- check for the presence of a garlic odor when crumpling each leaf;
- do not pick the leaves in armfuls to avoid picking several species and mixing toxic species with edible species;
- in case of doubt of identification: do not consume!
- stop eating immediately if a bitter or unpleasant taste occurs;
- photograph your picking to facilitate identification in case of poisoning.
At the slightest doubt following ingestion or in the presence of symptoms, in particular digestive symptoms, in the hours following the consumption of a dish with wild garlic or wild leek, contact a poison control center immediately.
