White camas
General poisoning notes:
White camas (Zigadenus elegans) is a native perennial herb that grows from a bulb. The plant can be found across most of Canada from British Columbia to New Brunswick and in parts of northwestern Canada. The plant contains several steroidal alkaloids, including zygacine, which can poison livestock and humans. White camas has caused poisoning in sheep and may have been involved in poisoning cattle. Ingesting the bulbs can also cause poisoning. This plant is considered to be about seven times less toxic that death camas (Zigadenus venenosus). Poisoning is most common in early spring because this plant often is available before other forage is plentiful (Kingsbury 1964, Panter and James 1989).
Description:
Plants 2–8 dm, from bulbs; bulbs not clumped, tunicate, narrowly ovoid, 1.5–3 × 1–2 cm. Stems without persistent leaf bases. Leaves: proximal blades 10–30 cm × 3–15 mm. Inflorescences loosely racemose to paniculate, 10–50-flowered, with 1–4 branches, 0.9–2.5 dm × 3–6 cm. Flowers: perianth perigynous, rotate to rotate-campanulate, 15–20 mm diam.; tepals persistent in fruit, cream colored to greenish, ovate, 7–12 × 4–5 mm, somewhat narrowed at base; gland 1, obcordate; pedicel erect at anthesis, 1–2.3 cm, bracts often tinged with purple or pink, ovate, 5–20 mm. Capsules narrowly conic, 10–20 mm. 2n = 32.
Zigadenus elegans Pursh
Nomenclature:
Scientific Name: Zigadenus elegans Pursh
Vernacular name(s): white camas
Other name(s): Mountain death camas; zigadène élégant
Scientific family name: Liliaceae
Vernacular family name: lily
Geographic Information:
Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan.
Notes on Poisonous plant parts:
All parts of the plant are toxic. The early leaves are the most common cause of poisoning because the plants grow early, before other forage is plentiful. The bulbs may be pulled up and ingested if the ground is wet (Cheeke and Schull 1985, Panter and James 1989).
Toxic parts:
All parts, bulbs, flowers, leaves.
Notes on Toxic plant chemicals:
A steroidal alkaloid, zygacine, is one of several alkaloids contained in death camas. The lethal dose is estimated at between 2.0-6.0% of animal body weight. This plant is considered to be less toxic than death camas, Zigadenus venenosus(Kingsbury 1964).
Toxic plant chemicals:
Zygacine.
Zygacine
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
Horses
Humans
General symptoms of poisoning:
Blood pressure, low, coma, dizziness, heart rate, slow.
Notes on poisoning:
Ingesting the bulbs, mistaken for onions, can cause poisoning in humans, even though this species is considered less toxic than death camas (Zigadenus venenosus).
Sheep
General symptoms of poisoning:
Ataxia, breathing, rapid, coma, death, death, mouth, frothing of, nasal discharge, nausea, salivation, urination, frequent, vomiting.
Notes on poisoning:
Symptoms of poisoning are similar for all species of animals. Symptoms in sheep include excessive salivation, froth around the nose and mouth, nausea, vomiting, muscular weakness, ataxia, possible coma, and death. The heart fails before respiration. Postmortem findings reveal the heart in complete diastole. Lesions include severe pulmonary congestion, hemorrhage, and edema. One-time loss of sheep has been reported as 500 head in some species of Zigadenus (Cheeke and Schull 1985, Panter and James 1989).
