Beware of Poisonous Plants When Foraging Spring Wild Greens

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Korea National Arboretum under the Korea Forest Service announced on the 14th that there have been cases of poisoning symptoms such as enteritis caused by mistakenly harvesting and consuming poisonous plants, confusing them with wild edible greens, and urged special caution.

Since 2020, a total of 26 cases of poisoning from consuming poisonous plants with symptoms such as abdominal pain have been reported to the Consumer Harm Surveillance System, with 85% of the cases occurring between March and June. April recorded the highest number of cases with 10 incidents.

The reason poisoning cases from poisonous plants mainly occur in spring is that it is difficult to distinguish wild edible greens from poisonous plants by leaves or roots alone before the flowers bloom.

Edible Gomchwi (above) and the poisonous plant Donguinamul, which is easily confused with it.
[Photo by National Institute of Forest Science, Korea Forest Service]

The poisonous plant Dongui-namul is easily confused with Gomchwi, which is characterized by a slightly bitter taste. Gomchwi has a pleasant aroma, soft leaves without gloss, and sharp serrations. The poisonous plant Yeoro is often mistaken for Wonchuri, a wild edible lily. Yeoro has hairy leaves with deep wrinkles, whereas Wonchuri’s leaves have neither hairs nor wrinkles.

Also, Baksae is often difficult to distinguish from wild garlic, commonly called Myeong-namul. Baksae has several leaves densely arranged alternately with distinct wrinkles. Wild garlic has a strong garlic scent and bears 2 to 3 leaves per stem. There have also been cases of mistaking the roots of American ginseng for ginseng, bellflower, or deodeok, or confusing San-goebul-jumeoni with mugwort and consuming them.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety advises that individuals should not arbitrarily harvest and consume wild plants without sufficient prior knowledge of wild edible greens, and if symptoms such as abdominal pain or vomiting occur after mistakenly consuming poisonous plants as wild greens, they should immediately visit a hospital. It is recommended to bring any remaining poisonous plants to assist in diagnosis.

Even edible wild greens such as Wonchuri, Durup, and Gosari contain trace amounts of inherent toxic substances, so they must be thoroughly boiled in boiling water before consumption. Wonchuri contains a substance called Colchicine, which can cause symptoms such as vomiting. This substance becomes stronger as Wonchuri grows, so only young leaves should be thoroughly cooked before eating.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Korea National Arboretum emphasized, "It is generally difficult to distinguish wild edible greens from poisonous plants, so the best way to avoid poisoning is not to harvest them," and "even edible wild greens should be consumed only after confirming the correct cooking methods."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.