Common groundsel
General poisoning notes:
Common groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) is a naturalized herb found across much of Canada in fields and waste places. This plant contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which cause irreversible liver damage after chronic exposure. Cattle and horses have died after ingesting common groundsel. Humans use this plant in teas and herbal remedies in some parts of the world. Death occurred after some species of the genus Senecio were ingested. Humans should not ingest foods that contain any plant material from this genus. In a case of prenatal exposure, a mother ingested tea containing an estimated 0.343 mg of senecionine, resulting in fatal veno-occlusive disease in a newborn infant (Huxtable 1989, Spoerke and Smolinske 1990).
Nomenclature:
Scientific Name: Senecio vulgaris L.
Vernacular name(s): common groundsel
Scientific family name: Compositae
Vernacular family name: composite
Senecio vulgaris L.
Geographic Information
Alberta, British Columbia, Labrador, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan.
Notes on Poisonous plant parts:
The highest concentration of pyrrolizidine alkaloids is found in the flowers and the lowest in the roots. The amount of toxin increases in the leaves, reaching a maximum just before flower maturity (Johnson and Molyneux 1986).
Toxic parts:
All parts, flowers, leaves
Notes on Toxic plant chemicals:
Senecionine, a pyrrolizidine alkaloid, is found in common groundsel. A total of less than 1% alkaloids was measured (Johnson and Molyneux 1986, Huxtable 1989).
Toxic plant chemicals:
senecionine
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:
Blindness, death, incoordination, liver, cirrhosis of, prostration.
Notes on poisoning:
Cattle were poisoned after ingesting common groundsel. In some cases, calves 3-8 months old died, whereas older cows showed no clinical signs. Calves from cows eating contaminated hay during pregnancy died the following autumn. The same effects were obtained experimentally from the offspring of rats fed the toxins during pregnancy. Other symptoms include nervousness, incoordination, pushing against objects, walking in circles, and blindness with glazed eyes (Fuller and McClintock 1986).
Horses
General symptoms of poisoning:
Anorexia, ataxia, death, depression, diarrhea, hemoglobinuria, liver, cirrhosis of
Notes on poisoning:
Ingesting common groundsel leads to sickness and death. Early symptoms include anorexia and listlessness. Animal owners do not usually notice problems until liver damage occurs. Experimental tests show that routine measurement of food intake and weekly body weight can alert owners to pyrrolizidine poisoning early enough so that liver damage can be reduced. Measuring the serum bile acid is the best way to predict animal survival. Liver damage was induced in horses after they ingested an average of 233 +/- 9.2 mg of pyrrolizidine alkaloid per kilogram of body weight. Other symptoms include ataxia, head pressing, and stall walking. Megalocytic hepatopathy develops. Liver damage is often severe before obvious clinical signs develop (Lessard et al. 1986, Mendel et al. 1988).
Humans
General symptoms of poisoning:
Liver, cirrhosis of
Notes on poisoning:
Common groundsel is used in herbal medicine and teas around the world. Humans should not ingest any foods, teas, or remedies that contain any plant material from the genus Senecio. Chronic poisoning occurs, resulting in veno-occlusive disease in children and Budd-Chiari syndrome (more commonly) in adults (Huxtable 1989).
