Nelson has become home to a number of invasive species like Scotch thistle and broom, and one weed that has a particularly dark name has a local resident concerned.
“I just started noticing this plant in my yard at the end of last summer. There were these plants with small, bright purple flowers,” says Fiona Job.
Job went on the Internet and began looking into what the mystery plant could be.
She discovered the plant is known as deadly nightshade or climbing nightshade.
“I clued into it but I didn’t realize that they were that poisonous, so I just kind of left it,” she said.
When the flowers reappeared this year, Job went back to the Internet and did more research.
“I got really scared about it because my daughter picked some in the yard, and we went on a walk through Gyro [Park] and my friend’s daughter picked a handful of it,” said Job.
Now she is in a game of “whack-a-mole” with the nightshade, using Round-Up to fight them off.
“I’m not a person who would generally go to that, but from reading about it on the Internet, unless you’re willing to dig down three feet in all of your yard there’s no other way to get rid of it,” said Job.
Selkirk College botany instructor Brendan Wilson said nightshade is an introduced species to the area, “but we have a lot more deadly native poisonous plants.”
According to the Government of Canada’s Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, deadly nightshade “especially in its green immature fruits, contains steroidal alkaloids, which have caused poisoning in cattle and sheep. Humans may have been poisoned after ingesting immature berries.”
But Wilson said, “from my understanding it’s toxic but not as toxic as some other species. There are a lot of things that are native in the bush that have big red berries like the ones on baneberry that would kill kids instead of just making them sick.”
Deadly nightshade is related to belladonna, which is known to have medicinal uses, but is also used as a recreational drug. It can cause hallucinations and delirium, but recreational use is considered extremely dangerous because of the high risk of overdose.
Crystal Klym with the Central Kootenay Invasive Plant Committee said while deadly nightshade didn’t make it on to the priority list this year, “certainly if it is dangerous, as a private land owner it might be something that you want to deal with. I think it’s similar to poison ivy. It’s not something we target as an invasive plant committee but it does have hazards to human health and safety.”
For more information on deadly nightshade visit the Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility’s website at cbif.gc.ca.