• George Huntington.
• The Royal London, Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK.
• Postgrad Med J. 2023 May 22; 99 (1170): 252258252-258.

AbstractEpisodes of poisoning due to plant-based toxins are an unusual presentation to the emergency department. Plant poisons may be ingested if the source plant is misidentified as benign (eg, Lily of the Valley being mistaken for wild garlic and water hemlock being mistaken for wild celery), or taken as part of a complementary medicine regime or otherwise for psychotropic effect. Numerous plant poisons demonstrate cardiotoxic effects resulting from action against cardiac myocyte ion channels, or other cardiac receptor targets. These mechanisms will produce stereotyped symptoms and including electrocardiogram (ECG) changes dependent on which ion channels or receptors are targeted. These mechanisms are stereotyped and may be grouped by toxidromic effect. This article proposes a novel classification of cardiotoxic plant poisons based on these actions. Given that these mechanisms mirror the Vaughan Williams classification used to categorise therapeutic antiarrhythmic agents, it is felt that this will serve as a mnemonic and diagnostic aid in clinical situations of cardiotoxic plant ingestion.© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Postgraduate Medical Journal. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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