The blue nightshade, or Solanum dulcamara, is a perennial. It has a woody base and a shrubby growth, with loose drooping clusters of flowers. Blooms are blue-purple with bright yellow stamens. Leaves are alternate and face a different direction than the flowers. Berries start green, turn orange, and the mature to a bright red. Poisoning occurs upon ingesting the plant.
Synonyms
The Blue Nightshade poisoning condition can be alternatively known by the names Bittersweet poisoning, Bitter nightshade poisoning, Scarlet berry poisoning, and Weedy nightshade poisoning.
Poison
The poisons in blue nightshade include solanine and atropine. It is found in all parts of the plant, but more so in the leaves and the fruits of the plant. None of it should ever be put into the mouth.
Poisoning Symptoms
Signs of this type of poisoning include sweating, paralysis, delirium, fever, hallucinations, headache, loss of sensation, shock, slow pulse, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, enlarged pupils, and dry mouth.
Treatment
Don’t tell the person to throw up if you find someone with blue nightshade poisoning, Call poison control and emergency personnel. They’ll want to know a bit about the patient, the amount ingested, and the time it was ingested. While at the emergency room they will monitor the patient and keep them stable. They will watch their vital signs. There may be IV fluids, breathing support, activated charcoal, and a gastric lavage (or a procedure to wash out the stomach’s contents).
The quicker that treatment is started the better the prognosis is for the person that has ingested the poison. The health of the person before the ingested and the amount of the blue nightshade plant consumed will also play a factor in prognosis.
Source: A.D.A.M., Botanical.com