About 200 Australians have been reported being poisoned this week as a result of eating contaminated spinach.
The contamination was traced back to the noxious weed thornapple, a poisonous invasive species that is found across Australia.
Here's what you need to know about thornapple.
What is it?
Thornapple, also known as jimsonweed, devil's snare and devil's trumpet, has the scientific name of Datura stramonium.
It comes from the Solanaceae family of plants, which includes both highly toxic plants such as nightshade and belladonna and kitchen staples like tomatoes and potatoes.
Common thornapple is a leafy annual herb that generally grows from 30-60cm in height.
The plant has oval or broadly triangular-shaped with jagged edges and produces white flowers from the summer to autumn, before dying in late autumn.
Thought to have originated in Central America, the weed was introduced in Australia in the early 19th century as a garden plant before spreading to every state in the country.
Once used by chemists as a treatment for mania and epilepsy, the dangers of the plant have been known for a long time, with an 1873 newsletter from the Adelaide Philosophical Society claiming that of all the toxic plants in the Solanaceae family, "the thorn apple is one of the most dangerous".
How dangerous is it?
Every part of the thornapple plant is toxic to both humans and animals.
Children in particular are very sensitive to thornapple poisoning, with common symptoms including:
- thirst
- dilated pupils
- high temperatures
- weak or rapid pulse
- incoherence or hallucinations
- vomiting
- breathing problems
- convulsions.
Touching the plant can also cause dermatitis, nausea and headaches in some people.
NSW Poisons Information Centre medical director Darren Roberts said the onset of symptoms was generally obvious and rapid.
"Most people are being affected very soon after eating, usually within a few hours, often within 30 minutes," Dr Roberts said.
"With larger amounts they can get delirium or confusion, they can have hallucinations where they're seeing things or hearing things — vivid things, scary things."
Anyone who believes they may have been poisoned is urged to call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26.
How did it get into spinach?
Thornapples prefer warm-temperate and sub-tropical regions and fertile soils, meaning it is often found on river flats, roadsides, agricultural lands where it competes with summer crops.
Common thornapple spreads by seed, with each plant producing up to 30,000 seeds and living for up to 40 years in the soil.
Spinach producer Riviera Farms confirmed on Wednesday that thornapple had been found in its baby spinach products.
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria director Tim Entwistle said it was likely that the high amount of rainfall this year had contributed to the spread of the weed.
“I suspect it was just because there are a lot of weeds around at the moment and there was just these few young leaves that were picked up,” he said.
“These leaves would have been young leaves, they would have been looking like spinach leaves."
Riviera Farms said on Wednesday that all neighbouring crops of spinach had been destroyed as a precaution.
Thornapple in gardens can be removed physically with hand weeding, or chemically with herbicide.
