Popularization
The importance of plant identification – Part 2
24 January 2014
Hubert Marceau – Popularization Figure 1: A. ursinum (source) In 2004, in the canton of Neufchâtel, Switzerland, clients from a restaurant who ordered fish with a bear’s garlic sauce, Allium ursinum (Figure 1), went on a painful adventure. Shortly after eating they started to have severe gastrointestinal troubles. After analysis, it was found that the sauce contained colchicine, a toxic alkaloid.