Poisonous Rare Plant Used by Russian, Chinese Assassins

The official state flower of South Carolina since 1924 has been Carolina jasmine Gelsemium sempervirens. Native to southeast United States from Virginia to Texas and onwards south through Mexico into Guatemala, it is one of the classic flowers of the American South, its scented yellow blooms heralding the arrival of spring. Given full a rich, moist, organic soil in full sun the twining vine will cover arbors, verandahs, porches or, unsupported a formal groundcover. The small print at the bottom of the page tells us that the foliage and blossoms are also poisonous.

This bit of botanical knowledge can come in useful for Russian and Chinese billionaires. Especially for those whose countrymen are eager to assassinate them and whose knowledge includes a close relative equally if not even more toxic: Gelsemium elegans. Know colloquially as heartbreak grass – it is actually another twining vine – and renown as a source for suicides in its native Asian habitats. These extend from India, through northern parts of Myanmar and Thailand, on into Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam and the southern Chinese provinces, out into the offshore island of Taiwan in forests and wooded areas. Not exactly ‘so rare it only grows in far-flung corners of China’ as one eager British scribe would have it. Neither is it unknown to the medical profession. In March 2007, for example, a 69-year-old man and his 65 year-old wife were admitted to a hospital in Hong Kong. She mistook G. elegans for Mussaenda pubescens, the latter used in traditional Chinese medicine (Hong Kong Journal of Emergency Medicine, October 2007). In 5 January 2012, The Poison Review reported that the death of Chinese billionaire Long Liyuan the previous month had been caused by Gelsemium elegans slipped into the cat meat hot pot on which he was dining. Long was having lunch with a local government official, Huang Guang, whose corruption he had apparently discovered and was about to expose. Three people at the luncheon – including Huang – became sick and were hospitalized. Following an investigation, police believed that Huang had slipped the plant into the timber tycoon’s stew and ate some himself in an attempt to divert suspicion.

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The Poison Review explained that the plant contains several toxins, including gelsamine and gelsenicine, that block transmission at the neuromuscular junction and other sites with muscarine or nicotinic receptors. The journal added that symptoms of poisoning begin 10 minutes to 1 hour after ingestion. Respiratory failure and death can occur rapidly. Since there is no specific antidote, treatment involves good supportive care. The unfortunate Long Liyuan expired despite such care. Unsuspecting physicians might, however, attribute such a death to cardiac arrest. Such was initially the case in the death in his early forties of Russian tycoon Alexander Perepilichnyy. Living at high security home on St. George’s Hill estate in Weybridge, Surrey, he died after going jogging shortly after returning from a trip to Paris. Perepilichnyy, called a ‘supergrass’ by the British press, had been the key witness at a £140-million tax fraud investigation that had ultimately been costly for Russian organized crime. Surrey Police had dismissed his death as “not suspicious.” They might have done better to referred to the creator of the world’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle reported dosing himself on increasing amounts of G. elegans in a letter to the British Medical Journal dated 20 September 1879. He had continued until he could no longer stand the pain. Indeed, extracts were prescribed for various afflictions up until the early years of the 20th century, until superseded by safer and more effective preparations. A Surrey coroner’s court was told, however, that there were grave suspicions that Perepilichnyy had been murdered. Plant material found in his stomach had been identified by a Kew Botanic Gardens expert as the notorious G. elegans. The coroner halted the four-day inquest last May and ordered further scientific inquiries. How did the unfortunate Russian come to imbibe such a poisonous plant? It may have been slipped into his food or drink during a trip to France according to the latest theory, claimed The Sunday Telegraph. The paper noted he died within ‘hours’ of returning from the French capital. How this agrees with statements from The Poison Review that victims succumb in 10 minutes to 1 hour after ingestion remains unexplained. Regardless of its grim history, extracts of Gelsemium continue to be marketed as a homeopathic remedy for migraine, asthma and even malaria, writes Sam Greenhill, covering the case for the Daily Mail. Meanwhile, Carolina jasmine remains much valued both as South Carolina’s state flower and an ornamental in gardens worldwide.