Flower power

City police have issued a warning to parents about a plant that youngsters are experimenting with to get  ‘high’.

This follows after a Richards Bay teenager started hallucinating after he ate the poisonous flower last week.

His mother confirmed that her 18-year-old son had ingested the plant, commonly known as ‘moonflower’, which has powerful hallucinogenic properties.

She says she was contacted by the school he attends at around 10.30am after her son started hallucinating and his pupils became dilated.

Shocked and unaware about the plant and its poisonous properties, she was besides herself witnessing the symptoms and rushed him to a local doctor for treatment.

‘He still had a piece of the flower and told me he had eaten that morning.

‘It was difficult to speak to him at the time because he was hallucinating so badly, I could not even understand what he was saying and he could not sit still,’ the mother said.

‘I was extremely worried as he had been on antibiotic medication for an ear infection and I was afraid that it could have a terrible effect.

‘I believe it was a few children who were experimenting with this flower and I just want parents to be aware and be on the lookout for the symptoms.’

Richards Bay SAPS Communications Officer, Captain Debbie Ferreira, said it was important for parents be aware of the danger this plant poses, as well as be able to recognise the symptoms should their children ever eat this plant or swallow its juice.

‘There have been reports in the past where children have experimented with this poisonous flower and it had bad consequences, some even undergoing treatment in hospital.

‘It is not classified a drug, but high doses of the plant can be lethal, and moderate doses can be terrifying.

‘The main active ingredients of the plant are hyoscyamine and hyoscine.

‘Hyoscyamine causes drying of the mucous membranes, dilation of the pupils with visual disturbances, flushing and dryness of the skin, alternating slow and rapid heartbeat with palpitations, difficulty in urination as well as constipation, vomiting, confusion and dizziness.’

Expert

According to South African National Biodiversity Institute’s Head of Ethnobotany Unit, Professor Neil Crouch, the common name ‘moonflower’ could refer to a number of species in different genera and different families, but he suspects that material of Brugmansia (Solanaceae – potato family) was ingested in this case.

Mentioning another plant, Crouch said Datura Stramonium, the seeds of which are ingested for their hallucinogenic effect, sometimes leads to fatalities.

Neither are indigenous to South Africa.